Archive for April, 2015

Bad Habits Die Hard

April 30, 2015 — Some bad habits are really hard to shake. All the subtle and overt forms of weight bias and shaming provide good examples. They are particularly persistent because they are so deeply embedded in our culture. And yet, if you look, there are plenty of encouraging signs. Just yesterday, an obnoxious weight loss ad became a […]

Public Health without Private Harm

April 29, 2015 — Does the zealous pursuit of public health with respect to obesity cause private harm? The Nutrition Resource Center of the Ontario Public Health Association asked some hard questions in a day-long symposium leading up to the opening of the Fourth Canadian Obesity Summit. Messages from the media, industry, and even some health professionals and public […]

Who Are These Creatures with Obesity?

April 28, 2015 — “Obesity is a disease that hides in plain sight,” says Harvard’s Lee Kaplan. So perhaps we should not be surprised when the Journal of Public Health publishes a study that asks, “Who are the obese?” The authors propose that there are six types (stereotypes?) of these creatures with obesity. If we can set aside the dehumanizing […]

Let’s Fidget!

April 27, 2015 — Would Let’s Fidget! have been a better idea than Let’s Move! for First Lady Michelle Obama’s signature obesity initiative? Maybe so, if you read between the lines of a rather thorough review of the evidence base for non-exercise activity thermogenesis (NEAT) in obesity. NEAT consists of fidgeting, walking, standing, and many other routine movements that don’t qualify […]

Spoiling the Meal

April 26, 2015 — Americans put a lot of energy into thinking about dietary requirements for healthy eating. An invitation to share a meal often comes with a query about dietary requirements. Restaurants are unfazed by requests for paleo vegan gluten-free meals. Are we spoiling the meal? Are we making ourselves healthier? The French honor a very different approach. […]

Dieting to Be President

April 25, 2015 — Weight bias dies hard. One step forward and you can be sure a step or two back will follow. Such is the case as the media obsesses about the weight of candidates for president. Jeb Bush in particular was singled out this week for dieting to be president. He’s lost an estimated 30 pounds on the Paleo diet […]

Who’s Conspiring to Make Us All Fat?

April 24, 2015 — A new editorial in the British Journal of Sports Medicine starts with an interesting discussion of misperceptions about what exercise can and can’t do for obesity. Then it takes a hard turn toward questions about who’s conspiring to make us all fat. These are two very different questions that should be kept separate, but Aseem […]

Second-hand Eating

April 23, 2015 — Everybody knows that food cues all around us can affect how much we eat. Big servings, hovering relatives, food at hand, and food marketing all can have the effect of prompting us to eat a little more or something else that we don’t really want. Second-hand eating has even earned a place in the Urban Dictionary […]

Twisting the Obvious

April 22, 2015 — By twisting the obvious, reporters for MedPage Today and the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel  have published remarkably biased reports this week on new treatments for obesity. In fact, they barely even mention obesity, instead choosing to trivialize serious medicines for obesity as “diet pills.” The obvious facts that these reporters have chosen to twist are straightforward and […]

Make It So: Obesity Guidelines

April 21, 2015 — At the 2015 Weight Management DPG Symposium, more than 200 RDN obesity experts were treated to an exceptional tour through a range of new obesity guidelines that have emerged in just the last two years. And the tour guide was Donna Ryan, of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center, who played a leading role in their creation. […]