Archive for March, 2021

“Let Them Choose Not to Eat Cake…”

March 12, 2021 — Let them choose is a seductive maxim for guiding health policy. In one sense, it seems perfectly reasonable. You get to choose. We respect personal agency.  But it can also be quite punitive. You made your choices, now you have a chronic disease. You’re on your own. Sorry. A new paper in the Future Healthcare […]

Normal Is Doomed and This Might Be Good

March 10, 2021 — Normal is not what it once was. Oxford defines normal as something conforming to a standard – usual, typical, or expected. But this year has upset our collective concept of normalcy. Could it be that normal is doomed? Could that be a good thing? Of course, the answers to these questions will depend upon context. […]

The Scramble for Vaccination Meets the O-Word

March 10, 2021 — The scramble for COVID-19 vaccination is clearly messy. For one thing, people who need it most have found it hard to get. And then we have others, with sharp elbows and privilege, who want to be at the front of the line. To claim priority that public health guidelines don’t grant them. So when you […]

Do Retractions Shake the Cult of Vitamin D?

March 9, 2021 — We are learning in so many ways that it’s hard to shake a cult. It might be a cult of personality or a cult around a theory. Right now, one that seems unshakable is the cult of vitamin D. With a frequency that seems daily, we see new studies proclaiming that vitamin D levels predict […]

Racism and Obesity: Where Does the Problem Lie?

March 8, 2021 — The overlap between systemic racism and obesity is unmistakable. Obesity is a condition that burdens the health of Black, Hispanic and Indigenous people more than others. It is a key factor that has made these communities more susceptible to severe symptoms and death from COVID-19. A new paper in the Journal of Internal Medicine offers […]

The Rise of Plant-Based Ultra-Processed Food

March 7, 2021 — The collision of dietary dogmas is fascinating to watch. Especially in the early days of it. Right now, plant-based diets and ultra-processed foods are getting a whole lot of press. Plant-based is good. Ultra-processed is bad. So naturally, we see the meteoric rise of plant-based, ultra-processed food. Writing in the New York Times, Frank Bruni […]

OCW2021: Why Do We Do This? Why Do We Care?

March 6, 2021 — Every morning, before the sun is up, here at ConscienHealth, we struggle to assemble about 500 words that people who care about obesity, nutrition, and health will want to read. Why do we care enough to do this? In short, we do this because we have found a community that matters greatly. These are people […]

OCW2021: Can We Be Helpful on Childhood Obesity?

March 5, 2021 — Focusing on childhood obesity for Obesity Care Week, we have a basic question are we ready to be helpful? Because truthfully, our record on this subject has been spotty. Way back in 1974, the Lancet told us “we need to be more vigilant in preventing obesity throughout childhood.” But since then, the prevalence of childhood […]

OCW2021: Turning Up the Volume on Solutions

March 4, 2021 — Today is World Obesity Day and this day of global attention presents a basic question. Are we all about the problem? Or in the spirit of OCW2021, can we turn up the volume on solutions? Preferably solutions that are actually helpful. Because frankly, the world’s attention span is short. For too long, the world has […]

OCW2021: How Bias Factors into Access to Care

March 3, 2021 — Today for Obesity Care Week (OCW2021), the focus is access to care. But access to care is not such a tidy, self-contained subject. That’s because the problems we have with access to obesity care often actually start with weigh bias – the OCW2021 theme for Monday. Let us explain with the experience of a good […]