September 24, 2020 — Fall has arrived and that means we have a new State of Obesity Report from the Trust for America’s Health. The report offers a good inventory of the available data to describe the extent of the challenge we face from obesity. And perhaps more than anything, we agree with this assessment up front in the […]
September 8, 2020 — When you read news feeds about obesity day after day, one thread is unmistakable. It’s a problem. A huge problem. The cost runs into trillions of dollars in the U.S. It’s making whole countries more vulnerable to COVID-19. Stories about this big, bad, terrible problem never end. But solutions are not getting so much play. […]
September 7, 2020 — A new review in JAMA is unequivocal. The choice to have bariatric surgery is something that every patient with severe obesity should be considering: All patients with severe obesity – and especially those with type 2 diabetes – should be engaged in a shared decision-making conversation about the risks and benefits of surgery compared with […]
September 4, 2020 — A powerful new study in the New England Journal of Medicine tell us it’s possible. Health coaches can deliver effective obesity care in mostly Black and underserved populations. In this randomized study, patients achieved and maintained a healthier weight status after two years. But without the intervention of health coaches, the control group did not. […]
August 10, 2020 — “I know about people like you.” Twenty-five years after visiting a church in a new community that would would soon be our new home, we still remember those words. Those words come to mind as we read the words of Larry Elliott in the Guardian. Larry Elliott is the economics editor for the Guardian. So […]
August 5, 2020 — New Canadian guidelines for obesity care are out and they set a new standard. The new standard is to set aside weight and focus on health. But, this is harder than you might think. Weight is the metric that everyone understands. Many more consumers seek ways to lose weight. But obesity care is more tedious. […]
July 30, 2020 — Obesity? No problem! Obesity? OMG, you better lose weight or COVID will get you! Remember the information age? It’s been canceled. We are living in the misinformation age. And there’s nothing like a pandemic to fuel the market for misinformation. The intersection of obesity risks and COVID-19 risks is adding to it. Two opposite but […]
July 27, 2020 — That long-awaited day has arrived and the UK now has a brand new, shiny obesity deal. This “world-leading plan” aims to help people lose weight, beat the coronavirus, and protect the NHS. It bans buy one, get one free deals on food. But apparently, bait and switch is A-OK, if it’s a public policy deal. […]
July 24, 2020 — Any day now, we will see a new obesity plan for the UK. Some of the loudest voices in the process leading up to this great unveiling have been focused on prevention. But this is a problem that already affects 64 percent of the population in England. In my opinion, this focus reflects simplistic weight […]
July 21, 2020 — A healthy conversation is shaping up because of COVID-19. It’s all about the gap between talk and action on obesity. In the UK, it has a hashtag: #ActOnObsityNow. Though it’s happening more quietly in the U.S., the same conversation is in play. Will actions match our words about the urgency of obesity? The question of […]
