Some twenty years ago a friend of mine started what has today become one of the largest fitness centers in the city. I remember asking him some years ago what the secret was to running a successful gym. His reply took me by surprise when he said, “The secret is for members to not show up”. He went on to explain that if everyone actually went to the gym, inevitably the place would have to close down because there wouldn’t be enough room or equipment to serve the clients – the owners would have a riot on their hands. Built in to every gym then, is the expectation that only a very small percentage of those who sign up will ever actually show up! In other words, a successful gym is predicated on the failure of its members.

I remembered this story as I was listening to yet another commercial for some magical diet cookies that you eat instead of meals, and that are supposed to provide both perfect nutrition and a special fiber that fills you up and keeps you from feeling hungry. Now, every fat person worth his salt will tell you that “hunger” has almost nothing to do with how full your stomach is, and that in pretty short-order those cookies will be eaten in addition to normal food, adding even more calories to the poor slob’s expanding waistline.

But fat people are the ultimate golden goose, trapped by nature to use food for comfort and doomed to perpetually looking for some way to become normal, desirable, and love-able. The diet industry counts on this cycle of short-term success and medium-term failure to keep its economic wheels greased. Talk about an industry designed for failure!