Category: Food Addiction

“War on childhood obesity” is a phrase that has been bandied about in the media for some time now. One example is a short interview that Fox Business recorded with Jake Steinfeld, chairman of the National Foundation for Governors’ Fitness Councils. Wha …

The British Broadcasting Company made a three-part series titled The Men Who Made Us Fat, featuring Jacques Peretti, and this is about Part 1. Peretti talks about how there was a revolution in eating habits, but not the good kind of revolution. He talk …

The descriptive phrase “morbid obesity” seems to have been replaced by “severe obesity,” which doesn’t sound quite as deadly. The association is useful, because when a person embarks on the journey into “morbidly obese” territory, she or he will probab …

Culturally sensitive disclaimer: Whenever the word “Christmas” occurs here, please feel free to mentally substitute any holiday of your choice — because this is exactly the point. Cultures and religions have their festive holidays, the times for gathe …

In November, Dr. Tom O’Bryan of theDr.com gathered 29 researchers, clinicians and nutritionists to pool their intellectual and experiential resources for a Gluten Summit. Rye and barley also contain the protein they deem toxic, but wheat is by far the …

Hi Childhood Obesity News Readers, I need to jump in on the gluten posts series. [Editor’s Note: “Dr. Mark Hyman Indicts Gluten,” “Dr. Daniel Amen Identifies 5 Brain Patterns of Overeaters,” “9 Ways Gluten Goes Undercover” and “Dr. William Davis Warns …

In the science of forensics, transfer theory holds that a criminal will always leave trace evidence at the crime scene. A person with celiac disease has to be as suspicious and hyper-vigilant as a detective dusting for fingerprints. If the grocery stor …

In 2011, William Davis, M.D., published the book Wheat Belly, whose message is that “over-consumption of wheat is the main cause of the obesity and diabetes crisis in the United States.” Some of his medical peers are uncomfortable with assigning so muc …

As we have seen, one school of thought holds that gluten is addictive. A lot of foodstuffs (as well as myriad other products) contain gluten, and gluten critics say the substance is what causes so many people to be addicted to certain foods. Any doubt …

The best way to avoid foods that are bad for you is to stay away from foods with health claims on the label. They are usually hiding something bad. What a powerful quotation! These are the words of Dr. Mark Hyman, who, like Dr. Pretlow, has written and …

As a childhood obesity villain, gluten is one of the “usual suspects” and Childhood Obesity News has looked at the case against it before. InsuliteLabs.com takes an especially dim view of gluten: As many as 75% of overweight and obese people in the U.S …

Yesterday, Childhood Obesity News discussed the Trim and Fit program that had been in place in Singapore schools since 1992, in which overweight children were required to do extra physical education activities and have their caloric intake monitored wh …

Carnie Wilson is worth thinking about because she is iconic. She’s talented, upfront and a real trooper who may be one of the hardest-working women in show business. “Relatability” is a very important quality in the entertainment world, and plus-size w …

In the photo above, the Wilson Phillips trio are onstage with audience members during a May 2013 concert. Carnie Wilson, subject of yesterday’s post, is the barefoot woman on the far right. Ms. Wilson is well-known not only because of her singing abili …

The BMO Financial Group maintains a huge presence in both Canada and the United States, and includes three operating groups — one for banking, one for financial management, and one for investing. With financial assets in the neighborhood of $550 billi …

What happens when The Huffington Post gets together with Harvard to examine the toxic food environment? To see the video discussion, this page is the place. The basic rationale for the conversation goes like this: Historically, conventional wisdom has …

Childhood Obesity News mentioned a Wall Street Journal article in which the president of a “food flavor and texture company” explained the psychological appeal of chewable snacks: Crunchy foods may provide stress-relief, like hitting a racquetball afte …

To recapitulate: American historical figure Horace Fletcher preached the chewing of food into a state of liquefaction, as an aid to digestion and general well-being. Though he was for a time discredited, recent science has shown that there are indeed n …

By now it is almost universally acknowledged that there is such a thing as “eating your stress,” and that a lot of people do it. They tend to choose foods that maximize the amount of work their jaws need to do. Popcorn, potato chips, toffee, breakfast …

From time to time, Childhood Obesity News explores such concepts as process addiction, displacement activity, and body-focused repetitive behaviors. Discussing the evidence for the reality of food addiction, Dr. Pretlow has said, about one of its aspec …

Previously, Childhood Obesity News talked about what Dr. Pretlow terms the childhood obesity perfect storm, the collection of factors present in our society that combine in endlessly fascinating ways to keep the obesity epidemic going. Like a mythologi …

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 …

As Childhood Obesity News noted last time, film critic Rex Reed wrote extremely rude things about obese actor Melissa McCarthy and sparked a heated exchange of comments, some even more insulting toward McCarthy than the article which inspired them. But …

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 …

Childhood Obesity News has been looking at what various authorities say about willpower. Way back in 1988, in his book, No More Cravings, Dr. Douglas Hunt took on the challenge of explaining how it works: Willpower is easily defined in two simple words …

Yikes! The Devil’s Candy, again! Really, the subject is worthy of attention. Dr. Pretlow once mused: Could this one substance be bringing down our whole society? Why not? There is a school of thought saying lead poisoning from the water pipes brought d …

Childhood Obesity News has been looking at the parallels between humans and animals in an area called displacement behavior, which in humans can also be called adjunctive behavior or body-focused repetitive behavior. When feeling boxed in, conflicted, …

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 …

This year has already produced some interesting news relating to childhood obesity, with a lot of help from little rodents. Deep Brain Stimulation, or DBS, for instance, involves inserting a devices into the brains of a mouse. Its home is stocked with …