We’ve seen it on bumper stickers and t-shirts, a saying that is short and to the point: I can resist anything except temptation. Ain’t it the truth! Especially when it’s an obese person wearing the t-shirt. And that goes double when the person in the s …

Earlier this month, Dr. Pretlow was a guest on a radio show, where he talked about childhood obesity and his book, Overweight: What Kids Say. So you may be thinking, “Now, the Childhood Obesity News blog returns the favor by promoting Dr. Fitness & …

Connie Bennett quit sugar more than 10 years ago, and wrote about it in her book, Sugar Shock! This all-pervasive substance can be a problem not only for the obese, but for just about anybody. Bennett says, The theory of sugar addiction or dependency – …

Here is the goal, as stated by President Barack Obama: [… W]hen our kids walk into the lunch room, we want to be sure that they’re getting balanced, nutritious meals that they need to succeed in the classroom. Obviously, children who are malnourished a …

Let’s see what Dr. Mark Hyman, founder of The UltraWellness Center, has to say. We have quoted him before, by the way, on the subject of food addiction. He and Dr. Pretlow share an interesting characteristic. Neither of them are prejudiced against what …

The Council on Size & Weight Discrimination (CSWD) has issued a statement of its position on obesity, discrimination, prejudice, equality, business best practices, false advertising, economic exploitation, negative publicity, and other aspects of t …

Every now and then, the subject of wide seats will float to the top of public consciousness. It came up again earlier this year, when a group called Theatre Projects Consultants speculated about whether, at an average of 22″, the seats in performing ar …

One of the features of the Weigh2Rock website is the Comfort Eating Board, which is typical of the several different discussion groups that are available so kids can talk about and seek help for their obesity problems. It even has a search function. Ju …

The childhood obesity perfect storm continues — the combination of circumstances that have accumulated to bury children in layers of fat, and not only our own home-grown American children, but children all over the world. Something very ominous is hap …

Dr. Mark Hyman does not speak in polite euphemisms, but titles an essay in the bluntest terms, “Food Addiction: Could It Explain Why 70 Percent of Americans Are Fat?” Yes, it could! This is what Dr. Pretlow has been saying all along. There really is su …

Be Our Voice is an organization of healthcare professionals. The group was created by the National Initiative for Children’s Healthcare Quality (NICHQ), and its object is to persuade healthcare professionals to put on their “community leader” hats to p …

As we all know, the winter holidays are prime time for emotional turmoil. Being a fat kid is no fun at any season, and now the relatives who haven’t seen you all year come around and say, “My goodness, Johnny is certainly… growing.” Meredith Melnick of …

The childhood obesity epidemic can be reversed, but nobody ever said it would be easy. Here is the question posed by journalist Mike Lillis on The Hill: Why, when faced with a childhood obesity epidemic, would the federal government continue to subsidi …

The Nurturing Nutritionist is a pediatric dietician who treats children and families. At her website, we find a guest post by Beryl Henzy. It’s called “Part 1: Kitchen Essentials for Easy Cooking.” Have you ever been to a wedding and thought, “What are …

The Onion is known as one of the hottest works of satirical art on the planet throughout history. Bearing that in mind, have you ever had the experience of seeing a news story that you figured has to be from The Onion? And then you found out that it’s …

We have talked about the Perfect Storm concept before. This is what happens when a whole lot of conditions converge to cause a large problem. Probably no single one of them alone would have done it. But when they gang up and come at us all at once, we’ …

Let’s check in with some people who have experienced childhood obesity or observed it from a nearby vantage point. Jane Shure is a psychotherapist specializing in eating disorders and the transformation of shame. She trains healthcare professionals and …

When a big load of research comes to fruition and becomes a published study, there is nothing finer than an articulate professional who can break it down for you. Dr. Ayala Laufer-Cahana is splendid at doing just that. The controversial new report is f …

How many excuses can a bully find for picking on another kid? Well let’s see, there’s color, religion, sex, economic status, and, of course, size. And childhood obesity isn’t even the issue here, obesity being defined as a Body Mass Index at or above t …

Nothing can make you feel as smart as a page full of numerical trivia. That’s why Harper’s Index has so many fans among the magazine’s readers. This information comes from an old clipping. Way back in 1983, the average child in America had been tempted …

Childhood obesity is just adult obesity getting an early start, and we had better get this thing figured out before 100% of us are overweight or obese. To encourage us, Justin Stoneman recently published an essay in The Huffington Post titled “America: …

We’re taking a closer look at the elements of the childhood obesity perfect storm, as Dr. Pretlow terms the combination of circumstances that all came together in just the wrong way. The first element is the use of high technology to develop and manufa …

“Perfect storm” is a term that has been around since at least the 1930s. A perfect storm is what happens when a number of powerful factors concur in such a way that a disastrous or critical situation is created. No single one of them alone would have h …

There are 28 million school-age children in the U.S., Sally Sampson says, and she wants every single one of them to have a copy of her magazine, ChopChop, whose mission is to reverse and prevent childhood obesity. It’s a quarterly, and the first issue …

Rule #1: Geography is destiny, so do not live near fast food outlets. From the University of Leeds, in Northern England, comes scientific confirmation that childhood obesity is more likely to be found in kids who live near fast food restaurants, or att …

“In the interest of fighting the childhood obesity epidemic, I’ve decided to eat all the Halloween candy I bought.” Just kidding. The line is from Someecards, a company that devises — you guessed it — greeting cards in electronic format. The picture …

“My ‘AHA’ Moment” is a short and to-the-point message written by an overweight blogger named Rebecca, who says, I finally realized that even if others can eat junk foods, foods high in the (bad) fats and carbs and drink coffee and colas, I just cannot …

“Will Marriage Make You Fat?” is the question asked by Cynthia Ramnarace in an article that follows the histories of three different couples. She got interested in the emotional basis of obesity because of something she read: A 2008 study in the journa …

Today, the focus is on a piece written by forensic psychologist Karen Franklin, Ph.D. What, you may ask, does forensic psychology have to do with the childhood obesity epidemic? Well, it turns out that the upper levels of all the professions have certa …

Ever since Freud, parents just can’t seem to catch a break. Every time we turn around, somebody finds another reason to blame us for yet another deficiency in our children. Like in the picture here, why is this rather chunky boy wearing a necklace of d …