In helping overweight and obese men and women achieve weight loss, can low-cost peer mentoring work as well as or better than more expensive treatment delivered by health professionals?



Yes, according to the results of a clinical trial led by Dr. Angela Marinilli Pinto, assistant professor at Baruch College, and funded by the National Institutes of Health.…

Image by Ngaio New Zealand 2010 

UNFOLDING 

Sometimes we look at a life

We see it, engage it, thrive

We hardly recognize it is

Unfolding.

It cannot be complete

Still being shaped

Bending out from within

Unfolding.

While others may think they see

Some realize they do not

Things which were once…

Elizabeth Barrett Browning, a nineteenth-century poet, was not thinking about food when she began her sonnet “How do I love thee? Let me count the ways.” Yet her sonnet always comes to mind when I count the ways I love to eat.



Eating in response to hunger is, of course, an obvious way I enjoy food. Celebratory eating associated with special occasions, such as eating a piece of birthday cake, is another. Closely related to celebratory eating is ritual eating, for example, the…

I first met my brother-in-law Rick not long after he and my sister married.

Rick died August 31,2012. I will miss…

Losing weight and keeping it off require effective management of food cravings that can easily undermine plans to eat healthfully. Use these 10 tips to manage yourself through the crazy maze of cravings:

1. Eat at regular intervals. To avoid becoming overly hungry, don’t go more than five hours without eating.
2. Include protein in each meal to control appetite. Skinless poultry, fish, eggs and low-calorie dairy products are good sources.
3. Stay hydrated with…

You may have noticed that for the most part, my articles focus on the positive aspects of getting fit. (I have found the upside so incredible that I wonder why it took me so long to make positive changes.) At the same time, I recognize the downside: when we decide to make changes and get fit, some of us will find ourselves dealing with individuals who seek to undermine our efforts.



Undermining can take many forms. Someone may tell you that your efforts are hopeless or that you are…

If you try to stay current on the latest insights on weight loss, you quickly realize how multifaceted the issue is. Like a three-dimensional kaleidoscope, the picture is constantly changing.



The following items provide insight into obesity as the new social norm, the impact of yo-yo dieting, one person’s 300-pound weight loss and the surprising success of virtual weight-loss programs:



Is Obesity the New Norm? Surplus weight and …

     Princess Leia has lost the force so she says and joined Jenny Craig last year to become its newest celebrity spokesperson.  I was kind of shocked as Leia aka Carrie Fisher at one time said,

 

"I'm sorry I didn't eat just lettuce and sunflower seeds!” Here’s what I'll do: I'll stop eating, stop the meds and you can come visit me in a mental hospital, where I'll be really super thin and probably wearing the metal…

If you think I am talking about tidiness, you’re wrong. NEAT refers to Non-exercise Activity Thermogenesis.



That’s a mouthful. To understand the concept, think about it this way. You’re sitting in a chair, watching television—a sedentary state. The effort of sitting upright burns about five extra calories an hour compared to the calories you would burn if you were…

Given the research of hundreds of scientists around the world, we should have seen the breakthrough development coming. In 2021, scientists found a fat gene that could be switched off with a safe, inexpensive medical procedure. Millions rushed to solve their lifelong battle with surplus pounds, thereby adding years to their lives and reducing their risks for chronic or even fatal medical problems. Health insurance premiums plummeted as demand for medical care declined.



Sound…

About a third of the young men and women recruited by the army are "too fat to fight." That alarming statistic, along with health concerns, has prompted the introduction of innovative programs to promote fitness among young adults. Five promising programs are detailed below:



Online Health Community for Teens: Teens seeking to lose or gain weight, stop a…

Excuses for not exercising each day abound. Maybe the excuse involves an injury, or a medical condition, or a dislike of gym, or the absence of a spouse to walk with, or a job that involves travel.



One excuse, though, crops up more than any other: there just isn’t enough time! As a chronic user of this excuse, I can write about it as an expert. For most of my adult life, I could never find the time to exercise.



Perhaps the problem begins with the verb “find.” It must be…

As part of our ongoing battle to keep ourselves healthy, we learn about the latest nutritional information and hope to glean insight so we can make appropriate adjustments to our diet. However, the rate at which conflicting advice triggered by research floods the Internet, magazines, television, radio and newspapers creates as much confusion as clarity. Today’s food fact is tomorrow’s food fiction.



Here are 18 popular food Myths that have been debunked. Use the list to update your…

Tuesday night, the Scottsdale International Film Festival capped off its annual event with the film, The Way.  Directed by Emilio Estevez, and written by him for his father Martin Sheen in the starring role, The Way depicts his journey along the Camino de Santiago in France and Spain.  I went to see it because I had been a student in Spain in 1992, and studied art and history along the Camino de Santiago.  I wanted to see the road, the mountains, the mist, the trees of northern Spain.  The…

Even if we don't look at the calendar, aisles of candy in the grocery stores and drugstores remind us that Halloween is around the corner. On the heels of Halloween is Thanksgiving, followed by Christmas and Hanukkah, which are followed by celebrations for the New Year. And don't forget the eating ritual associated with Super Bowl Sunday in early February!

For the next few months, the spotlight on food—especially treats and special indulgences—will be relentless. Social…

After an afternoon swim at the local postage-stamp sized pool in Earlville, Iowa, my younger sister (age 7) and I (age 9) would return to our grandmother’s house ravenously hungry. Most of the time, Grandma served us a steaming bowl of cabbage, carrot and potato soup, made with three vegetables abundant in her garden. We devoured the soup, along with warm bread slathered in butter and glasses of cold milk. To this day, I credit my grandmother with teaching me to enjoy cabbage. (I even like…

To eliminate the evil of sugar, hundreds of sugar-free products were introduced to American diets over the past several decades. Nonetheless, Americans continued to gain weight.



Fats were the next nutrient to be demonized; consequently, a ubiquitous spate of low or nonfat products appeared on grocery shelves. Once again, Americans continued to gain weight.



Carbohydrates, especially pasta, rice and bread, became the next sinful indulgence, especially as the Atkins’ diet…