Did some little thing ever catch your eye and entice you into a more thorough investigation of a subject? It was just a tiny paragraph in Entertainment Weekly, written by Keith Staskiewicz, about the second volume of memoirs published by actress Valeri …

The Psychological Food Dependence-Addiction Paradigm is a very simple concept. People, yes, even kids, can become addicted to high-calorie, low-nutrient, hedonically engineered substances that masquerade as food. Food can be a drug of abuse, and it’s a …

We looked yesterday at the difficulties faced by the editors of the forthcoming Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, DSM-5, as explained by Gary Greenberg, who also talks about the currently favored method of considering an array of symptoms. Until a mor …

We’ll get to the obesity relevance in a minute, but meanwhile, here is an interesting detail about the upcoming revised edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental Disorders. The Roman numerals are being dropped in favor of Arabic number …

The psychological food dependence-addiction lens is a new and still somewhat unpopular paradigm, because it has to do with addiction to food as the cause of much obesity. Looking through that lens, we see that while legislative measures are useful, wha …

Here is Kelly Osbourne, looking much different than she used to, on the cover of the February issue of British edition of Cosmopolitan, with an article inside, titled “I was an emotional eater.” Reporter Kara Gause says, [… S]he’s at once Madonna circa …

It’s always a pleasure to discover another person who endorses the view that there is such a thing as food addiction; who, in other words, looks at the childhood obesity epidemic through the psychological food dependence-addiction lens. The medical pro …

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 matte …

Many people realize that childhood obesity is a serious and growing problem, and many even ask, “But what can we do about it?” For parents, a great, big, wonderful answer is: Grow veggies! We’re looking today at a recent opinion piece in the The Wall S …

It’s great to be an employed professional, out in the world of work, and it’s even greater to have a life to go home to. But in between all that, how do you keep up with developments in your field? If you’re busy looking after the needs of a school ful …

It’s a trick title, of course, made from the two of 2010’s enormous-selling nonfiction books, as announced by Nielsen BookScan just the other day. Elizabeth Gilbert’s Eat, Pray, Love was #2 (and also #4 in a different version, the “movie tie-in trade p …

We have talked about the Childhood Obesity Perfect Storm before, and its various components such as the existence of cleverly engineered highly pleasurable foods, the ubiquitous availability of those foods to kids, and the way the products are marketed …

Full disclosure: John Foreyt, Ph.D., wrote the Foreword to Overweight: What Kids Say, and he’s a friend. In fact, so good a friend that in the Acknowledgements section of the book, Dr. Pretlow says, This book wouldn’t have happened were it not for the …

Childhood obesity is such a complicated problem that we need to come at it from every possible direction, and chip away at it from any angle that looks promising. Dr. Pretlow has been calling attention to the fact that food addiction is real, and needs …

The more you follow the news about childhood obesity, the more unusual facts you learn. For instance, think of all the fruit and vegetables eaten by the Americans. An awful lot of that farm produce is grown in the “nation’s salad bowl.” Yet the San Joa …

Childhood Obesity Science Conflicts of Interest If a tobacco company were to fund an anti-smoking scientific journal, most people would point out the glaring conflict of interest. Yet, a new peer-reviewed, scientific journal, Childhood Obesity (Mary An …

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 …

Would you be surprised to learn that we have talked about TV before? Not with a title like this one! And you probably wonder what there could possibly be more to say about the immense amount of money spent by food corporations that relentlessly fill ou …

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 …

In America, we are so immersed in food, it’s ridiculous. Sure, not everybody can afford it, but it’s out there. Everywhere we turn — in the house, in the school, in the church, in the movie theater — food is staring us in the face. What Dr. Pretlow w …

Every social problem sooner or later manifests a person who embodies it, what the media calls “giving it a human face.” Among the confessions and pleas for help that have been posted in the Comfort Eating discussion at Weigh2Rock, the communications fr …

Sarah Palin has been accused of being an addictive substance, in such headlines as (the following links in headlines are ours): “Why is Sarah Palin the crack cocaine addiction of the liberal party?” and “America’s addiction: Sarah Palin,” in which writ …

One of the obvious drawbacks of childhood obesity is that it hangs around and becomes adolescent obesity and, eventually, adult obesity. Sure, many people have overcome their propensity to be overweight, and they are heroes. Ruby Gettinger and others h …

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 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 …

Sarah Palin just can’t seem to stay out of the news. Now she has everybody riled up over cookies. But what’s a tea party without cookies? The state of Pennsylvania has some new guidelines in the pipeline aimed at reducing the childhood obesity rate. 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 …