News Archive for August, 2015

Today we’ve passed a big milestone with more than a thousand of you who care about obesity. You have pushed us past the mark of 1,000 subscribers inviting ConscienHealth into your inbox every morning. We regularly reach about 15,000 readers with news and observations about obesity, health, and related policy concerns. More than 16,000 people like us […]

In case you haven’t noticed, most people who try to lose significant amounts of weight through sheer force of will inevitably gain it back. Weight loss fails not because of a failure of willpower. It fails because your brain works so well to regulate your weight and protect you from the existential threat of weight […]

How much is a serving of ice cream: a half cup or a full cup? Right now, Nutrition Facts labels assume it’s a half cup, but new labels will set it at a full cup. The intent is to have labels reflect the amount in a serving that people normally eat. Proposed revisions to Nutrition […]

Where do otherwise thoughtful people get the idea that an essential hurdle for treating obesity is proving that a patient deserves it? In the midst of a generally intelligent review by U.S. News & World Report of recent advances in options for obesity care are these nuggets of nonsense: The drugs can’t melt away the fat while […]

Ask anybody who’s been around the block in marketing or politics. Managing expectations is the key to success. And so we come to the case of policymakers in Texas who promised that investing in phys ed would cut obesity rates, raise test scores, and improve fitness. By itself in just four years, PE was never going […]

What do you see when you look hard at all those “healthy” salads we’re eating? In the Washington Post this week, Tamar Haspel proposed thinking of salad as junk food that’s neither good for you nor the planet. Never afraid of sparking debate, Haspel lays out her concerns along three dimensions Nutrtional Value. Calling salad […]

Most people who are living with obesity or a history of obesity can tell some pretty appalling stories about doctors who have shamed and humiliated them. We know the studies and it’s all too common. But what about the growing numbers of doctors who help in obesity? A new study from Johns Hopkins suggests that helpful […]

How many steps to be president? Scott Walker is hoping that his Fitbit will tell him. Now that he’s running for president, you won’t find him without it on his wrist. According to the Washington Post, he talks about it on the campaign trail more than gay marriage or — until recently — immigration. Asked […]

Mindfulness is one of those subjects in obesity and weight management that resonates deeply but presents challenges for collecting objective evidence. Two new studies add to the evidence that distracted eating contributes to over-consumption of food and possibly weight gain. However, good evidence for the effectiveness of mindful eating in weight management — despite its wide […]

After more than two decades of rising obesity rates, signs of a bunker mentality among people dealing with the problem should not be surprising. And indeed, they’re not hard to find. On one hand, you have dedicated, but frustrated, public health professionals feeling threatened by their foes in big food and big soda. They are […]