Many of you know that dieting is a fool’s errand for many of us. We can go for a period of time, usually short enough that it can fit between major holidays or events, and monitor and regulate our diets and even our activities if the goal is deemed worthy….despite the healthiness of that goalRead More
weight loss
Eating Disorders May Arise from Parental Comments about Weight
A NYT article came out recently summarizing a study of 500 women and their experiences as young girls when it came to weight and parental comments about it (the link to the article is embedded): Parents Should Avoid Comments on a Child’s Weight Then, in a running and fitness newsletter, one of theRead More
Tufts Re-Evaluates a Study of Biggest Losers
Tufts University’s Health&Nutrition Letter did a front page review of a NYT article based on a study of some contestants in “The Biggest Loser” TV-reality show from a few years back. The gist of the study was that rapid, extreme weight loss slowed the basal metabolic rates (BMR) of those who initially lost a lotRead More
Confusing Food Messages, Confusing Food Eaters
What is a ‘diet’? For the most part, a diet is what and how you eat, where the ‘how’ is as critical as the ‘what’. It is not, technically, a pre-packaged plan laid out by either yourself, a dietitian, a trainer, a book author or a TV personality. A diet is more holistic and doesRead More
Why are Women Getting Fatter Faster than Men?
A scary title about women getting fatter faster than men in the WaPo raises a question that the article itself does not venture to answer: WHY? The article throws around a bunch of statistics and it’s well worth it for the wellness communities to study. Troubling shift in American obesity: Women surge ahead of men,Read More
Low Carb Will Take You Only So Far
Since the Paleo diet became such a fad, courtesy of CrossFit and other high-protein promoters, science has struggled to address the ratio issue in our diets: that is, whereas once high carbs were promoted for athletes, now suddenly high protein and high fat diets which limit carbs were showing success not just in athletic performanceRead More
Sleeplessness Causes Munchies
Anyone who’s ever pulled an all-nighter knows you tend not to eat, or drink, healthy stuff as the night wears on. But even if you don’t intend to stay up all night, if you have insomnia at times or the baby cries out frequently, it’s worth noting that some of the same metabolic events occurRead More
Help the Kids Cut the Sugar Habit
This is a great article with sound advice on how to help your kids – and maybe you – cut the sugar habit. Some good facts, good pointers but one really solid, absolutely essential bit of advice at the end which stings: change YOUR own behaviors. Let’s face it- kids do learn from us soRead More
On Thinness, Weight Management, and Stupid Subtitles
A recent study, linked below, addresses the different attitudes and lifestyle choices of those who are thin vs those who are dieting to be thinner, we presume. The study’s press release has a few unaddressed issues I want to address. For example, what are the BMIs of each group? Also, since the subjects all volunteeredRead More
Alcohol and Body Weight Don’t Mix Well
Years ago, I read an article in a lay journal about alcohol’s effect on body weight. It mentioned three ways by which drinking alcohol affects weight gain. First, it is a load of empty calories, which means a small amount has a lot of calories that our bodies prefer not to use in a healthfulRead More