It has been many a pediatrician’s nightmare prediction: rising obesity rates are likely to cause an increase in type 2 diabetes in teens, in much the same way these two conditions are linked in adults.

And this fear has come to pass. Type 2 diabetes, unheard of in kids just… Read full post »

School meals are far from perfectly nutritious, even after the long awaited and very welcome changes put in place earlier this year.

The good news is that under the new guidelines kids will hopefully double their fruit and veggie intake, will be served more whole grains, all milk will… Read full post »

Much of our eating is mindless and automatic. That’s why environmental changes can lead us to overeat. Many argue that what’s at the root of the obesity epidemic is the transformation in our environment, which gradually changed into an obesity-promoting one.

Proximity and… Read full post »

A happy day, I think, is one in which some time is spent outdoors.

Dog owners take their dogs out daily, and pediatricians suggest we extend the same kindness to our kids.… Read full post »

We’d like to think we’re free to make choices about our everyday life.

But studies show that almost half of the actions people take each day aren’t actually a result of decisions – they’re driven by habit alone.

Habits are so strong and so ingrained that they… Read full post »

The mommysphere was abuzz over Dara-Lynn Weiss' Vogue article that detailed her effort to get her 7-year-old daughter to lose weight.

Criticism of Weiss spread like wildfire, especially after Katie J. M. Baker posted her scorn in Jezebel and described Weiss’ self-reported intense regimen… Read full post »

Nutritional labels have been around for well over a decade, and the familiar panel — which provides some key nutrition information, an ingredient list and nutrition declarations — enables more informed food decisions.

Do people make good use of the information? The first step is for peop… Read full post »

I used to chuckle when I heard moms urge their daughters to eat tomatoes for rosy cheeks. Old wives' tale, so, I thought, and by that logic would I turn greener with kale? I was a little less sure of my dismissiveness when my own palms turned an orangey tint… Read full post »

A new chili pepper was recently crowned the hottest of the hot. It’s called the Trinidad Moruga Scorpion and has a measured spiciness of 2,000,000 Scoville heat units, which brings it to the level of law enforcement grade pepper spray.  Care for a bite?

Hot peppers and weight loss… Read full post »

We’ve developed a national sweet tooth problem. Enjoying sweet foods is the most natural, inborn tendency – it used to get us excited about mother’s milk and ripe fruit -- but our level of added sugar consumption has reached such absurd heights that it’s clear that these mount… Read full post »

Sleep’s a mysterious thing. We’re not sure what sleep is and why we need it, but we do know sleep is critical to our health and wellbeing. Lack of sleep has been associated with pretty much all that ails humans, and recently it has been also blamed for rising obesity rates.… Read full post »

Last month Michelle Obama and Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack announced some very welcome and long awaited changes to the government subsidized school meals. These are the first changes made in the program -- which feeds 32 million kids each day – in 15 years. Under the new guidelines kids wi… Read full post »

If you’re looking for a homemade gift for Valentine’s Day (reminder: it’s this coming Tuesday) these cookies are perfect – textbook for the serious chocolate lover and great for cookie fans too. I’ve received a recipe request from every recipient of this cookie g… Read full post »

Overweight people are the majority in the US; a third of Americans are obese, so obese people can hardly be viewed as a small minority.

Nevertheless, overweight people face bias and discrimination every day.

Does the portrayal of obese people in the media reinforce weight bias?  Is the swellin… Read full post »

A calorie’s a calorie, isn't it?  

Well, accumulating evidence shows that our body has a hard time registering calories from beverages in the tally towards satiety; unfortunately, beverage’s calories are still counted in our energy balance. That’s why the extra calories in bev… Read full post »

Brian Wansink is famous for his work on the psychology of eating and for popularizing terms such as "mindless eating" and "health halos." His research has unveiled some of the many occasions in which environmental cues such as packaging, label claims and plate size influence our eating.

There&r… Read full post »

Do sweet drinks cause belly fat? Fat around abdominal organs is much more active metabolically than the fat under our skin, and poses additional risk for diabetes, heart disease and stroke above and beyond the risk seen with being overweight.

And while fat distribution is influenced by age and… Read full post »

Many parents struggle with getting their kids to eat veggies.  A new study in the American Journal of Clinical Nutrition tests a new tactic to getting those veggies in and shows that rewarding kids for tasting a disliked veggie increased both intake and liking.

I was surprised when I read… Read full post »

This is the season to grab every bit of happiness and living in the moment is one suggested way to increase bliss.

A brief article in Science provides evidence: The authors, Matthew Killingsworth and Daniel Gilbert of Harvard University, developed an iPhone app to sample people's ongoing thoughts, f… Read full post »

It’s that time of year again.  Time to put aside the pursuit of better health through science and look at exceptionally ridiculous science and innovation achievements in food and nutrition — proven to improve health through the remedy of good cheer.

A better way to get drunk

Is your… Read full post »

Made of simple, inexpensive ingredients, and requiring very little chopping (thanks to my loyal helper, the food processor) this vegetable soup is one of the best ways to ge… Read full post »

How much we eat matters a whole lot, and the bottom line is that too many calories, no matter what their source, will lead to weight gain and the myriad of health consequences related to overweight, including increased risk of heart disease, diabetes, stroke and some cancers. 

But what… Read full post »

I have much to be thankful for this Thanksgiving and I want to take this opportunity to thank you for your kind readership. 

In case you're still looking to add… Read full post »

It took the whole village a few decades to create the obesity epidemic.  We slowly allowed the development of a food environment in which junk, fast and highly processed foods became available everywhere and anytime. Marketing and advertising of these food products permeated every real a… Read full post »

When a home cook wants to cut fat and sugar from a meal he’ll bake the potatoes rather than deep fry them, choose tomato sauce over a creamy one and serve fresh fruit in place of Crème Brulee for dessert.

But when a food producer is designing a product that he… Read full post »