Disclaimer: Yesterday’s weird ideas sometimes turn out to be today’s brilliant breakthroughs. Today’s unlikely conjectures may be tomorrow’s world-saving innovations. Or not. Sometimes it is hard to tell. But in such a desperate situation as a worldwid …

Currently, according to federal law as embodied in the Social Security Act (which covers Medicare), various kinds of professionals can provide Medical Nutrition Therapy (dietary counseling) for patients with diabetes and obesity. Though they must meet …

Talk about your problems with your parents, friends, doctor, minister, or a counselor. While excessive weight gain can occur at any age, many parents don’t address the issue until the child is older and it has become a much bigger problem. When you wai …

Childhood Obesity News has been looking at some of the mistakes doctors make, but what could they be doing differently, and correctly? Dr. Pretlow believes in the usefulness of asking obese kids about their lives and feelings, especially the feelings t …

Childhood Obesity News has been looking at some of the possible interactions between doctors, patients, and the attitudes they both bring to their meetings, especially when the common ground is obesity. For The Wall Street Journal, Melinda Beck made a …

Obesity-hating may be the last socially acceptable form of bigotry, under which people seem to think it’s okay to champion inequality and practice discrimination. When control is in the hands of an airline, or a retail clothing store that refuses to ca …

Childhood Obesity News has been looking at various aspects of the relationship between doctors and obesity. Sadly, a lot of physicians are themselves obese, and others are intolerant of obesity in their patients. For National Public Radio, Joe Palca re …

Guess which health care professionals are most qualified to educate patients about obesity? The answer: Nutritionists and dieticians. Who says so? If you guessed “Doctors,” you are correct, according to this study conducted under the auspices of the Bl …

Lately, Childhood Obesity News has had doctors on its mind. Many medical professionals seem to feel stuck between a rock and a hard place. To prevent or recover from obesity, patients need more help, and doctors know this. Yet they feel inadequately pr …

Last time, Childhood Obesity News touched upon how the doctors in this country sometimes feel underqualified or reluctant to treat overweight patients. Now that the AMA has voted to recognize obesity as a disease, it seems like there’s a long road ahea …

Last month, the American Medical Association (AMA) declared obesity a disease. According to Melissa Healy and Anna Gorman, LA Times, this is “a move that effectively defines 78 million American adults and 12 million children as having a medical conditi …

Even the most conscientious and well-meaning parent can feel like the fictional Alice going down the rabbit hole, when confronted with the plethora of advice intended to help kids avoid obesity. For instance, we all know that vegetables are good, but w …

Remember Haley Morris-Cafiero, whose ongoing art project involves capturing images of strangers who look disapprovingly at her overweight body? Her article, “How I Got Back at the Strangers Who Mock Me for Being Fat,” appeared on the AlterNet.org websi …

Last time Childhood Obesity News looked at some criticisms of the teen version of “The Biggest Loser.” As it turns out, medical professionals paid attention to the show also. In fact, doctors from various parts of the world got together on Monday eveni …

Last December, television found yet another way to hit a new low, at least in the opinion of critics of the teen version of “The Biggest Loser.” Not only that, but different people complained for different reasons. The contestants were a 16-year-old gi …

Last time, Childhood Obesity News discussed how Laura Beck of Jezebel took a raging dislike to the California anti-obesity ad that turned a regular little girl into a puffy-cheeked caricature. Among other angry things, she wrote: I’ll tell you what it’ …

Last week the American Medical Association (AMA) voted to call obesity a disease, which is basically a medical condition requiring treatment. In the most simple terms, they’re saying that 12 million American kids need to go to the doctor. According to …

What a lot of excitement! Everyone has something to say about the digital manipulation of a little girl’s picture. Last time, Childhood Obesity News talked about celebrity fat-shaming. This time, it’s more of the same old everyday fat-shaming of  child …

As Childhood Obesity News recently noted, endocrinologist Robert Lustig doubts the efficacy of willpower in helping people to maintain a healthy weight, because our biological chemistry is against us. And once obesity has taken hold, the overweight con …

Gail Gauthier is an author who writes about the works of other authors. Her website discusses the book The Willpower Instinct: How Self-Control Works, Why It Matters, and What You Can Do to Get More of It. Specifically, Gauthier considers the thoughts …

Willpower is one of the most widely touted obesity cures. What is being said about it? The Miriam Hospital in Providence, Rhode Island, features the Weight Control and Diabetes Research Center, where a study was conducted on the impact of self-control …

Childhood Obesity News has been reviewing the recent history of the substance formerly known as High Fructose Corn Syrup (fondly abbreviated to HFCS) and now going under a variety of different names. Several years ago, the Corn Refiners Association (CR …

So, we’ve been following the life story of high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) over the last couple of years. In the fall of 2011, the activist group PennPIRG revealed that each American was being taxed $7.36 per year to subsidize corn farmers, which is no …

Yesterday, Childhood Obesity News quoted a woman who accused the Corn Refiners Association of misquoting doctors who are against high fructose corn syrup (HFCS), and making it sound as if they are actually in favor. Dr. Mark Hyman devoted a long column …

Last time, Childhood Obesity News recalled an article from a few years back, full of warnings about high fructose corn syrup (HFCS). It wasn’t the only such piece to be found, not by a long shot. But it made the interesting suggestion that HFCS is the …

Is high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) the devil’s candy? Many people believe the answer is yes, and the main reasons are mentioned in the unsigned article where Childhood Obesity News first encountered that ominous nickname. First of all, HFCS is found in …

What is this thing called displacement behavior, anyway? University of Colorado professor Michael D. Breed says: Research on animal welfare has used displacement behavior as a measure of anxiety induced by captivity or other manipulations… Displaceme …

Last August, Traci Carneal reported of the Association for Convenience & Fuel Retailing on the popularity of salty snacks. The numbers were from the previous year, 2011, during which $4.4 billion worth of salty snacks were sold. We’re talking about …

In the late 1980s, the great American crack epidemic was gathering momentum. Reports that fetuses were inevitably damaged by the maternal cocaine use were taken seriously. Years went by and sober research was done, and the whole crack baby threat later …

A lot of dirty words have only four letters, but this one has nine, and Childhood Obesity News has been looking at why so many medical professionals think “sedentary” is a dangerous word that signifies frightening futures. For instance, Gretchen Reynol …