March 25, 2021 — After a year of this pandemic, the mashup of news can be jarring. Many people are focused on the vaccine as more and more people say they’re ready to step up and get their jab. For those who are reluctant, there are incentives. Wives and daughters are reportedly offering bribes and threats for certain reluctant […]
January 21, 2021 — In Australia and around the world, research is showing changes in body weight, cooking, eating and drinking patterns associated with COVID pandemic lockdowns. Some changes have been positive, such as people cooking at home more, and eating more vegetables. But many people have also reported snacking more, and eating and drinking in response to stress. […]
January 11, 2021 — In the relationship between exercise and weight, one article of faith has held up for years. Exercise is a valuable tool for preventing weight gain. Though you can’t outrun a bad diet, experts are quite clear that exercise helps to maintain a lower weight. However, a new randomized study in Obesity asks a key question. […]
October 24, 2020 — A tidy narrative attracts the human mind. When they ring true, generalizations are seductive. They wipe away the complex mess of real life. For example, the untidy reality of living through the pandemic lockdown leaves us eager to make sense of it. So a new paper describing a global survey of health behaviors in the […]
August 22, 2020 — An interesting new study in the Journal of the American Heart Association isn’t really getting the attention it deserves. It asks simple questions. What’s the effect of cutting sugar-sweetened drinks? First, does it reduce risk factors for heart disease? Second, does it bring weight loss? Finally, does it lead people to prefer less sweetness? The […]
July 6, 2020 — For decades now, we’ve been debating the role of macronutrients in weight gain. But that fierce debate has yielded precious little consensus. Low-fat dietary guidance ruled the land for decades. Right now, low-carb diets seem to have the upper hand. However, in a new webinar, Kevin Hall suggests that neither calories, carbs, nor fat tell […]
April 30, 2020 — The final straw came from the New York Times. Yesterday, Gretchen Reynolds wrote that she had found the perfect study on fitness for our times. It’s all about sprinkling intense four-second workouts throughout your day – miraculous quarantine fitness. Put it together with articles warning us about the “Quarantine-15” and what do you have? Fuel […]
February 29, 2020 — What is the first thing people do when they resolve to shed some excess weight? Often they head to the gym. Self-help articles are full of suggestions for the best way to exercise for weight loss. Unfortunately, that stuff is mostly misleading. The relationship between exercise and weight is complicated. As we’ve written before, exercise […]
January 2, 2020 — The 9th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals has rendered a great truth this week. The word diet doesn’t mean much. That word is no guarantee that whatever it describes will make you lose weight. In fact, you might even gain weight. Said this San Francisco court in a unanimous ruling: The prevalent understanding of the […]
November 25, 2019 — The assumption is everywhere. Obesity is simply the result of “eating too much and moving too little…poor diet and lifestyle choices.” So says the UK’s National Health Service. But in fact, it’s not so simple. And it’s worth considering the impact of drugs and other chemicals that nudge us to a higher weight. These are […]
