Stress, Boredom, Activity, and Childhood Obesity
Researchers at Iowa State University, after studying the lives and health of over 1,000 teenagers, have concluded that adolescent obesity is very much connected to the increasing levels of stress. For starters, 47% of the adolescents they studied were overweight or obese. But after six years of collecting data and interviewing the children and their […]
Childhood Obesity and Activity
You’re not gonna believe this, but we are still marveling over the vast number of intelligent, coherent, and useful responses that came in regarding last Friday’s post, “When There Is Nothing to Do but Eat.” For instance, somebody known as JumpGym Vancouver suggested a series of articles from a program called “Canadian Sports for Life” […]
When There Is Nothing to Do but Eat
Glenn Cook is an editorial writer for the Las Vegas Review-Journal, and when he gets interested in a subject, that subject goes under the microscope for thorough examination. Recently, Cook got to thinking about the reasons for the childhood obesity epidemic. One of them is the parenting culture we seem to have adopted, which in […]
The Early Bird Study, Exercise, and Waistlines
A sage once said, “There is always enough evidence in the universe to prove anything.” This is certainly true of obesity research, which is rife with controversy. Take, for instance, the Early Bird Study, which started out with the intention of establishing the relationship between childhood obesity and non-insulin-dependent diabetes mellitus, or NIDDM, or Type […]
Unintended Consequences of the Food Revolution
Usually we have no sympathy to spare for the fast food industry, but it seems like even when it tries to do better, things don’t work out somehow. Thanks, Yunji de Nies and Claudia Acosta of ABC News, for reporting on this. When Yum Brands introduced grilled chicken in 2009, the corporation certainly didn’t foresee […]
Solutions: Families and Communities
Health writer Amanda Gardner recently wrote about a report completed by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation and the Trust for America’s Health. As Gardner reminds us in Business Week, Obesity is one of the biggest public health crises in the country. Rising rates of obesity over past decades is one of the major factors behind […]
Food Addiction Takes Center Stage
Everything you know is wrong, including the fact that everything you know is wrong. It used to be said that advertisers should be able to get by, spending only half as much, because 50 percent of all advertising is wasted. Only problem — nobody knew which was the wasted half. (This was before the exquisite […]
Medical Science and Food Addiction – Part 2
(Part Two of a Two-Part Post)(View Part One) by Robert A. Pretlow, M.D. My last post had to do with the difficulty of medical science in accepting food addiction as a cause of the obesity epidemic. This post presents how the evidence for food addiction is being downplayed. Anecdotal Data I recently talked with Robert […]
Anti-Obesity Measures Can Lead to Surprises
Michelle Obama has adopted the overcoming of childhood obesity as her special project, which may turn out to be helpful, or not. We will see why in a minute. In any case, there is no doubt of the First Lady’s good intentions, nor does anyone question the good intentions of millions of adults who have […]
Teens Get Their Own Diet Guide
Ever since Barbara Schroeder and Carrie Wiatt first introduced The Diet for Teenagers Only, the book has gained quite a following among the young people it addresses. It has earned the reputation of being a safe and inspirational authority that supplies good information, and it does it in a fun way. The authors stress the […]