Social Networking and Obesity, Part 4
As with any other subject important to humans, personal testimony carries (excuse the expression) a lot of weight. Today’s peek at social networking includes examples of individual stories meant to hearten and encourage others who have had enough of obesity and/or food addiction. People share their epiphanies: I realized yesterday after a family dinner that […]
The Perfect Storm Revisited
A meme is like a mental gene, a little packet of information that carries a cultural idea from one mind to another. The “perfect storm” meme illustrates a truth that has been around forever, in an original way that can be adapted to many situations. Bob Case, a meteorologist, is credited for naming it in […]
Comfort Eating and Kirstie Alley
Actress Kirstie Alley is a wild woman who has freely admitted to an interviewer, “It was the greatest thing in the world getting fat.” But being fat? Not so much. Still, if there is one public figure (besides Oprah Winfrey) whose every ounce of gain and loss has been tracked, minute by minute, by millions […]
Think Tank Asks, What Works?
Housed at the School of Public Health and Health Services at George Washington University, a group is looking for innovative and practical ways to end the obesity epidemic. Its purpose statement says, The Strategies to Overcome and Prevent (STOP) Obesity Alliance is a collaboration of consumer, provider, government, labor, business, health insurers and quality-of-care organizations… […]
Roots of Childhood Obesity Found (or Not)
One amazing feature of the childhood obesity epidemic is that so many things correlate with it. When that happens, it’s always very tempting to assume a cause-and-effect relationship. Sometimes the relationship exists, other times not. Of course, poor nutrition (in the form of overfeeding and unhealthful choices) is the most glaringly obvious culprit. As a […]
How Evil Is Sugar?
How evil is sugar? Let us count the ways. Or rather, sing along as Gary Taubes counts them. Taubes is an independent investigator in health policy, connected with the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation, which is of course deeply concerned with the obesity epidemic and is constantly exploring ways to put an end to it. Taubes’ […]
Can Veggies Be Comfort Food?
When we are stressed, depressed, lonely, downhearted, or suffering from any other kinds of bad feelings, we often tend to self-medicate with comfort food, in hopes that it will cheer us up. But comfort foods are so often laden with sugar, fat, carbohydrates, and special chemicals to make them taste extra yummy. Like mother’s milk, […]
Is Childhood Obesity Inescapable?
With a title like this, you have to read the story: “Childhood obesity almost ‘inevitable’, say experts” (link is ours). Which experts? Could this be? Must we resign ourselves to the prospect of the ever-enlarging children? Journalist Madeleine Brindley has been talking to people who fear this might be the case. In Wales, as in […]
Snacks and Labels, Junk and Nature
In December, Bruce Horovitz reported on a rather interesting event, the announcement by Frito-Lay that the corporation will start making half of its snacks from all-natural ingredients. (Frito-Lay, incidentally, is part of PepsiCo, so you know what kind of natural, healthy credentials we’re talking about.) According to Ann Mukherjee, the chief marketing officer, there will […]
Reviews, Presentations, & Publications
How gracious of Zoë Harcombe to send flattering words out into the world, in her review of Overweight: What Kids Say! For any author, the good opinion of a respected peer is a substantial reward. When that reviewer puts as much attention into the matter as this one did, it’s even more gratifying. And, by […]