The extent to which stigmatization is responsible for smokers quitting is impossible to tell. For smokers who don’t quit, it’s not always a physical addiction.

Society now finds it easy to blame and hate smokers, even to the point of directly confronting and denouncing them, which is not the case with obesity, yet.

Smoking and obesity are alike enough so that anyone interested in controlling obesity will look to the anti-smoking movement for advice.

Why has counseling for smoking cessation historically been more successful than obesity counseling?

Smoking prevalence and eating disorders are intertwined in the human psyche, but research conclusions about the relationship are not solid.

One study indicated that among people in a quit-smoking program, binge eaters were less likely than normal eaters to abandon nicotine.

While smoking is socially discouraged, it is not easy to argue that obesity really impacts the non-obese.

Professionals who deal with obesity are interested in how people quit smoking as those therapeutic interventions might be transferrable.

We are looking at the similarities between two public health menaces, nicotine and the overconsumption of food, that threaten to bring on an obesity epidemic.

DSM-5 doesn’t accord food dependency the courtesy of calling it a substance abuse disorder; nor does the industry bible specify Tobacco Use Disorder treatments.

There are similarities between nicotine addiction and compulsive overeating, and cognitive behavioral therapy and pharmacological intervention might help both.

Practical tips and the emotional exploration of flying for both obese individuals and their neighbors on commercial airline flights.

Kids with addicted parents can react to gaslighting by “stuffing” their feelings or expressing their chronic anxiety through displacement behaviors.

Some of the suggested obesity causes stem from international trade policies that form the global food system, the market economy, and agricultural policies.

Research shows that the risk of adult obesity in females increases with a childhood ADHD diagnosis, and adversity trauma is linked to childhood obesity.

For people who can’t fit into commercial airline seats, the emotional effects of flying could be serious. But how do the people of conventional weight feel?

Research has shown that improving a city’s public transportation system or building more grocery stores don’t necessarily solve the food desert issue.

Even the most elegantly executed map doesn’t mean zip if, at ground level, it measures the wrong things or depends on skewed data to get answers.

When it comes to the food accessibility research, scientists should agree on measurement standards as their decisions might translate into public policy.

It doesn’t matter how much food might be available if people can’t afford to buy it or don’t have a way to bring the food from where it is to their homes.

How Portland, Oregon, addressed the issue of food deserts is a striking example of what a city can do when it puts its mind to a task.

The researchers concluded that keeping an eye on BMI increase, and especially on its rate of progress, even before age 5, is paramount.

When it comes to food deserts in major cities, there are problems that have solutions, and there are solutions that have problems.

If customers want fresh produce, why are the owners of groceries and convenience stores not stocking it already, out of sheer self-interest?

One of the problems of living in a food desert is traveling the distance to the nearby grocery stores, especially if you don’t have a car.

Many cities have made all-encompassing plans to address their food desert dilemmas. A massive one was conceived some years back by the Bureau of Planning and Sustainability (BPS) in Portland, Oregon. The document began by saying, “This project consider …

There is debate about whether living in a food desert is associated with unhealthy eating and food buying practices.

The theory of deprivation amplification deals with the features of the physical and social environment that either promote or damage health.

Individual deprivation (low income or education) is amplified by area-level deprivation (lack of jobs or good schools), increasing health inequalities.

Food is widely available even in the most depressed and oppressed neighborhoods, but it’s likely to be high-calorie, processed pseudo-food.