Television Advertising and Childhood Obesity, Part 1
Some people in Scotland think that junk food advertising now needs to be completely eliminated from television. Since 2007, such ads have been banned from appearing during children’s programs, but now, […] health campaigners say kids are still susceptible to seeing adverts during adult shows before the 9pm watershed and have called for a total […]
Opium and Junk Food: Sisters Under the Skin?
In the 19th century, Britain fought a war to force China to allow the sale of opium, which has lead to an epidemic of addiction in that country. At its worst, the addict population was said to have been 70 million, although such things are notoriously difficult to count. The Maoist revolutionaries claimed to have […]
Paula Goodyer and the Taste of Addiction
Paula Goodyer writes about health for The Sydney Morning Herald and Cleo Magazine, among others, and has published three books. She is a recipient of the Walkley award, the Australian journalistic-excellence equivalent of the Pulitzer. In her “The Taste of Addiction” article, Goodyer considers the ideas of Dr. David Kessler, who is highly suspicious of […]
Boredom and Eatertainment
Did you know there’s an official category called EDNOS? That means “eating disorder not otherwise specified.” It’s a catchall term for any kind of pathological relationship with food that is neither anorexia nor bulimia. This is currently a hot topic among the psychiatrists and physicians who are revising the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of Mental […]
Child Obesity, Junk Food Tie Worldwide
The bad news: childhood obesity is on the rise in many places around the globe. The good news: it’s not exclusively an American problem. And if that is what we’re willing to settle for in the good-news department these days, we’re in deep chocolate pudding. Geoff Cumming tells us that New Zealand, one of the […]
Eat for Success: Part Two
Maybe you thought that yesterday’s post, on tools for dealing with childhood obesity, was the end of covering this subject, but, no — let’s look at a few more ideas. First, a general observation. It’s useful to bear in mind that practically everyone has unconscious, emotional, and irrational biases on the subject of obesity, in […]
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 […]
High-Fructose Corn Syrup = Bad News
Mark Morford’s column in the San Francisco Chronicle takes on several weight- and food-related topics, such as the effect of obesity on the U.S. military, freshness expiration dates, and the unholy alliance between a certain well-known anti-cancer fundraising organization and a certain prominent fast-food chain. (This same chain, incidentally, gives you something to put on […]
Reflections on Food Addiction
Huffington Post blogger Jan Shepherd, who had lost 200 pounds and kept it off for nearly 10 years, talks about handling addictive behaviors: As addictive behaviors go, ones dealing with food and eating are among the most complicated and complex. I’m not suggesting that alcoholism is by any means easy, but it is possible to stop […]
You and Umami: What the Heck Are We Eating?
We recently commented here on an article titled “Bacon as a Weapon of Mass Destruction,” by Arun Gupta, one of The Indypendent’s founding editors. Democracy Now host Amy Goodman was impressed by that essay too, and consequently invited Gupta to be on her show, along with Dr. David Kessler. Arun Gupta talks about the highly […]