Archive for November, 2019

A Confusing Snapshot of Obesity Self Care

November 20, 2019 — Sad but true, most obesity care is self care. For the most part, that means personal efforts to lose and maintain a lower weight. Recently, a study in JAMA Open Networks, by Liyuan Han et al, generated a flood of headlines on this subject. Bottom line, the story was that “more people are trying and […]

Conscientious Objectors in Healthcare

November 19, 2019 — Bias, beliefs, and moral convictions live alongside the human capacity to rationalize just about anything. Some people see obesity as a moral failure. They see obesity treatment as a moral hazard. Others regard it as a non-issue. Merely a symptom of moral panic. But despite – or perhaps because of – all these conflicting views, […]

A Sad Tale of Two Bypass Surgeries

November 18, 2019 — Let’s talk about two different kinds of bypass surgeries. Both of them are the subject of studies presented at the American Heart Association’s scientific meeting this past weekend. But that’s where the similarities end. Operation C We’ll call the first of these procedures Operation C. More than 200,000 people have these surgeries done every year. […]

Why Calling People Out Feels So Good

November 17, 2019 — Outrage is consuming more of our minds and more of our culture. In part, we can blame the issues we face. Immigration, racism, disparities, fractious politics – the list is long. Plus, we are wired so that calling people out feels good. Social media taps into this primitive impulse and hands us a tool for […]

Is Weight Management Obsolete? Should It Be?

November 16, 2019 — The trend among some dietitians is unmistakable. A number of dietitians today are very vocal in their doubts about the value of weight management. They certainly don’t believe in pursuing a goal of weight loss. They may or may not align themselves 100 percent with a social movement trademarked as Health At Every Size. But […]

Toddler Diets: Sugar Down, Obesity Up, Now What?

November 15, 2019 — Toddler diets can’t seem to fall in line with dietary guidelines. About 98 percent of toddlers are eating added sugar! That’s the headline in the New York Times today on a study in the Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. In that same article, the Times buried the fact that added sugar consumption […]

Diet Studies: Another Round on Carbs, Fat, and Protein

November 14, 2019 — Are we ready for another round on carbs, fat, and protein? It sure seems like it. Popular interest in low-carb diets keeps growing steadily. A more extreme version – keto – generates a lot of buzz right now. And yet, research keeps telling us that playing around with these macronutrients doesn’t make a huge difference. […]

The Rising Need for Youth Advocates in Obesity

November 13, 2019 — “We can’t treat our way out of this.” That simple declaration about the rising prevalence of obesity among children and youth has profound consequences. One of those consequences is children, youth, and families left without options for dealing with a serious health problem. For one thing, good obesity care is hard to find and hard […]

Healthcare Purchasers and the Standard of Obesity Care

November 12, 2019 — It came at the end of a discussion about obesity care that opened the Annual Forum of the National Alliance of Healthcare Purchasers Coalitions. With sharp questions, Neil Goldfarb captured a core frustration about obesity care.  “Why are we even having this conversation? Think about any other disease. Do we even hesitate to cover needed […]

What Exactly Are Hyper-Palatable Foods?

November 11, 2019 — Once you pop, you can’t stop! This tagline for the launch of Pringles chips captures the essence of dietary fears about hyper-palatable foods. Does hyper-palatability drive the risk of obesity linked to ultra-processed foods? Sometimes policy makers give this supposition, though unproven, the status of a fact. But it needs more study. And if we’re […]