Well stated report, Jill.
I would just like to warn others out there who may be shopping for a diet program that every single thing written in Jill's report is absolutely true of DietDivas, and potential customers should seriously and carefully consider whether or not they want to give their hard-earned money to this organization. Be warned that, unless you buy dietary supplements from them on a pretty regular basis, you will be deleted from their system and denied access to their popular "forum, " a bulletin board feature which is a major selling point of a Diet Diva membership.
The conduct of Paula Altare, the company's CEO, is very unprofessional, and she seems to not care a whole lot about the satisfaction of her customers. She frequently posts "scolding" messages on the site's bulletin boards, and sometimes in private e-mails to people, telling them to keep messages and postings positive and upbeat, and threatens frequently to shut the boards down all together. Members are frequently blocked out of the forum for not buying the company's supplements and for posting topics Altare deems "controversial" (i.E., venting about a not-so-good day on your diet; cheaper places to buy dietary supplements; complaints about DietDivas management or mismanagement; nutritional questions about the program for which Divas management seems to sometimes have no answer, etc.).
Today, she posted a message informing members that they would no longer be allowed to share personal e-mail addresses with other members (there are several lists in existence for people seeking "deeper" discussions and personal connections with other dieters who may be going through similar experiences.) Paula clearly seems to have control issues and isn't willing to realize that she's only sabotaging her business by working so hard to control every single one of her 10,000 members.
As Jill stated, Altare's "nutritional counselors" are nothing of the sort — many of them don't even have college degrees or any experience or education in nutrition. They are just women who had success with the diet and were hired by Altare. Misinformation abounds among the handful of "personal counselors." One member may be told, "pasta is fine three times a week, " while another member with a different "counselor" may say, "No pasta, EVER!" The Divas explain these indiscrepancies away by saying, "It's a personalized diet program for each member." Trust me, it's not. There are certain levels of food intake, dependent upon a person's weight, and there are alterations for diabetics, etc. But basically, it's the same diet for all who join.
You'd be well advised to stay away from this program, friends. Your money would be better spent by getting yourself a low-carbohydrate cookbook or how-to book and having fun with it! Don't waste your money here like I did.
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