Artificially-sweetened beverages are just as awful as sugar-sweetened beverages in their own way.

Can we just stipulate that are sweeteners (and especially the artificial ones) all harmful, and move on to actually making some kind of difference?

Here at Childhood Obesity News, it is Santa’s waist circumference that grabs our attention. When did he last have a checkup?

The consumption of sugar-sweetened beverages is a modifiable risk factor, otherwise known as “a thing we can do something about.”

The Coca-Cola Company has a history of quite pushy behavior in regard to the federal government, resulting in what critics describe as a very cozy relationship.

There’s pushback against Coke and its arrogant corporate ways, including the “Holidays Are Coming” truck that the company wishes to make a cherished tradition.

The late Dr. Billi Gordon saw the importance of admitting painful truths about the double-edged sword of food abundance during the holiday.

By the time adolescence rolls around obesity is established. So, when it comes to sustaining weight loss over the long term, who is able to succeed?

A body-focused repetitive behavior, stress-induced eating may become compulsive overeating and lead to obesity.

Another installment in the series about stratagems to avoid body-focused repetitive behaviors by substituting with less harmful displacement activities.

If displacement activity is the basis of addictions, including eating addiction, how might we treat this?

Are displacement activities similar to, or even the same as, addictions? And can they be treated with anti-addiction methods?

The body-focused repetitive behavior, or BFRB, is a displacement activity that carries a heavy penalty, namely, obesity.

Displacement behavior in animals may become compulsive and destructive, like the excessive grooming of the fur in response to stress or social isolation.

Displacement activity, universal in the animal kingdom, stems from situations of major opposing or thwarted behavioral drives, e.g. fight or flight.

This series of posts looks back over the development of thought about weight-loss surgery for children and adolescents.

In the United States, children as young as seven experience weight-loss surgery, with the average age determined as a little over 18.

We’re not here to parent-blame, but if things got out of control the first time, how different can the circumstances be after the second bariatric surgery?

Compared to adults, adolescents suffer roughly twice as many complications, an umbrella term that extends far enough to cover additional surgeries.

We would like to see mental health professionals more involved in every aspect of the struggle against obesity, and here is why.

More mental health professions should be taking ownership of the obvious connection between problems that originate in the brain and the obesity epidemic.

Childhood Obesity News looks back at the last few years of progress in the area of weight loss surgery for children.

The underlying reasons for child obesity are not understood, and bariatric surgery is a very poor substitute for comprehension and prevention.

Things have been happening in the world of bariatric surgery. Let’s take a peek at some of the highlights from past Childhood Obesity News discussions first.

Laughter could serve as a displacement activity, with the same function as the several other behavioral alternatives, including fight, flee, freeze, and feed.

In his essay Basil Hugh Hall proposes that laughter is a displacement response, and an effective alleviator of stress.

If eating makes us feel safe, then in an effort to erase our bad feelings, we can eat until it turns into something that looks very much like an addiction.

All addictions have one purpose, to avoid pain. All displacement behaviors have one purpose, to avoid pain.

There are behaviors that animals and people might engage in to relieve the discomfort of a threat, whether physical or intangible. This includes comfort eating.

The habits of non-human creatures may seem off-topic, but looking into animal behavior could reveal important secrets about how to prevent childhood obesity.