Shortly after writing my lengthy, thorough yet negative review about SlimFast products and my reasons for deciding not to proceed with the blogger challenge, I received an email from Slim.Fast’s PR company asking if they could respond to some of the points I had made in the interests of transparency.
Whilst they were extremely understanding in the reasons for my negative review, they did ask to address the concerns I had. Of course we were all too happy to provide them with the opportunity to have their say – there are two sides after all – so here is their response in its entirety:
Hi Tania,
We’ve been monitoring the social conversations and blog posts of our willing #SlimFastChallenge bloggers and came across your recent post, with details around the reasons you’ve decided to opt out of the challenge.
We wanted to drop you a line as we’re sorry to hear your negative thoughts on the 321 plan. We completely understand and agree that you need to provide open and honest reviews and this by no means makes you a ‘difficult’ blogger, we love hearing community feedback on our product range and the overall 321 plan and wanted to have a conversation with you having read the post.
In the interests of transparency, please allow us to respond to some of the points you’ve made around the products and plan;
In terms of nutritional value, Slim.Fast meal replacement products are formulated in line with National and European legislation and each meal replacement product provides 30% of a dieting person’s recommended daily allowance of 23 vitamins & minerals, the products are also high in protein and fibre. So two bars, shakes or a combination of the two will supply 2/3’s of your daily nutritional requirements, with the final third coming from your healthy, nutritious meal.
We are working hard to reduce the amount of sugar in our products but it is currently within government guidelines. We are aware some consumers eat a lot of sugar in their daily lives and limiting it too much would make it hard for them to follow a diet plan. Our products are also free from artificial colours and flavours.
We find that many of our consumers like the range most because it’s convenient. They can grab a ready to drink shake or pop a bar in their handbag and know they’re prepared for the day ahead, and won’t be tempted to over indulge or eat the wrong things if they have to pick something up while out and about.
We understand that Slim.Fast may not be for you but wanted to stress it’s a proven and safe weight loss plan. But, as with all diet plans, it doesn’t suit everyone’s individual tastes and preferences.
It was really helpful to get your feedback, and would welcome any further questions from you. We hope we’ll be able to work together in the future.
Best wishes,
I appreciate their points and their attempt to justify the plan’s success and popularity but I’m afraid I’ll be sticking to my original thoughts: that anyone can lose weight if they eat less. Substituting a meal with a bar of chocolate is not healthy or a long-term solution to sustainable weight loss. That the bar of chocolate is a Slim.Fast brand or anything else off the shelf is irrelevant; if you keep below 1200 calories a day and exercise more, the calories you do eat (regardless of the food the calories are comprised of) will result in weight loss. This doesn’t mean that it’s healthy.
In case you hadn’t read my previous posts on Slim.Fast to which this refers, please click here for my original post at the start of the Blogger #SlimFastChallenge and the subsequent negative post explaining why I decided not to diet with SlimFast.
