Comfort Eating and Regular People
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, what really needs to be addressed is the tendency of people to become addicted, at […]
“Jelly and the Donuts” Vs. Childhood Obesity
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 to be treated like any other addiction. Many young people […]
A Psychological Problem, Not a Nutritional Problem
“Will Marriage Make You Fat?” is the question asked by Cynthia Ramnarace in an article that follows the histories of three different couples. She got interested in the emotional basis of obesity because of something she read: A 2008 study in the journal Obesity showed that couples that lived together more than two years — […]
The Medical Science and Food Addiction Barrier
Today, the focus is on a piece written by forensic psychologist Karen Franklin, Ph.D. What, you may ask, does forensic psychology have to do with the childhood obesity epidemic? Well, it turns out that the upper levels of all the professions have certain characteristics in common, and this applies to the medical establishment and everybody […]
Peer Groups Work for Many Addicts
So many different fields have something to contribute to solving the childhood obesity problem, and there are a lot of things that can be done, both large and small. We’ve talked about change that can be undertaken right at home, like chewing more thoroughly and drinking lots of water, or even amateur aversion therapy. We’ve […]
Obesity, Binge Eating, and Fooling Ourselves
Camille Noe Pagan specializes in writing about health and nutrition, and also likes to bake, so it’s no surprise that she took an interest in a study conducted by McLean Hospital and Harvard Medical School on the topic of eating disorders. Pagan talked with the study’s lead author, Dr. James I. Hudson, who is associated […]
The Health Profession and Food Addiction
Here’s an interesting and disturbing fact. When The Obesity Society sent out word to its members to line up speakers for its annual scientific meeting in October, abstracts were requested in four tracks or categories: Molecular Mechanisms of Obesity, Neuroscience and Integrative Biology of Obesity, Clinical Studies, and Population Studies. We notice two peculiar omissions: […]
Sell It to the Kids
In “Behind the Shady World of Marketing Junk Food to Children,” Jill Richardson reveals that one out of every three visits to fast food eateries is the direct result of parents being nagged beyond endurance. Apparently, that’s all part of the master plan: Marketers use sophisticated child psychology to help children leverage ‘pester power,’ effectively […]