MeMe Roth

Yep, MeMe Roth's Wedding Gown Still Fits..!

2011-08-08T17:54:00.003-04:00

I pulled it out and put it on, and yep, it fit..! Of course it fit. I was a healthy weight in 1997... Why wouldn't I still be..?? Two kids, slowing metabolism, "fat genes"..?

Oh hell no!! No excuses.

Should junk food companies get tax perks for targeting your kids? Widener Law's Shelby Grabowski Hostetter et al say "no."

2011-05-19T22:27:00.009-04:00

Smart read in FDLI from Widener Law's Shelby Grabowski Hostetter et al.

Stop corporate tax cuts tied to kiddie junk food marketing!!

Thanks for the great report, Roseann B. Termini, Thomas A. Roberto, Shelby Grabowski Hostetter.

My Poor Kid...

2011-05-12T02:34:00.000-04:00

Gymnastics class was halted last night so the girls could eat cookies.

Some child's birthday is coming up, but she won't be at the gym that night... What?? WHAT?? Nobody asked the parents. Nobody thought singing "Happy Birthday" was good enough. Nobody refunded me my blasted cash for the cookie party hiatus.

And unbeknownst to me, my little 10 yr old daughter said, "no thank you" to the chocolate chip cookies she loves more than anyone else in the gym. So she just watched the other girls eat cookies. Why? Why is a kid put in this position? Sure, I'm proud of her. And also I feel awful for my good little girl...

And yeah, I get it. The coaches are nice. The parent who brought in the cookies is nice. Everybody's nice. But pushing other people's kids to eat junk food during gym class on a Tuesday night isn't nice.

You said skinny, right? Whew! as long as you don't say FAT..! Candice Swanepoel of Victoria Secret

2011-04-28T02:53:00.011-04:00

Victoria Secret's Candice Swanepoel looks thin. But if she were "startling fat," would we be allowed to say it?

Expel Sugary Flavored Milks from School..! Los Angeles to be first? Thx Jimmy Kimmel, Jamie Oliver & John Deasy!

2011-04-27T09:22:00.012-04:00

Like Jamie Oliver, I've spoken out for years against flavored milks in school... That "Raise your hand for Chocolate Milk" campaign a couple years ago was just atrocious. I see the benefit to the Dairy Council of adding sugar to milk. But what's the benefit to children's health? The American Heart Association says kids shouldn't have more than 3 teaspoons of sugar a day. And yet the flavored milk at my children's school are equivalent to 7-8 teaspoons of sugar..! Plus, we all know milk already is a sweet drink, with its naturally occurring sugar (or lactose).

It's that lactose that gives tummy trouble to a majority of folks around the planet. Pushing milk onto children of color may well be a bit culturally insensitive...

Sugar is delicious but dangerous. It's a pro-inflammatory agent that does damage. Throwing sugar onto something otherwise healthy renders it un-. And sure we all could use Vitamin D. If we're not getting enough from the sun, then we can take supplements or spray it onto other foods/drinks just like it's sprayed into milk.

So let's hope L.A. rids itself of those extra-sugary flavored milks. (Thanks Superintendent John Deasy and Jamie Oliver and Jimmy Kimmel..!) And even better, let's hope healthy children over the age of 2 are mostly drinking water...

MeMe Roth is fat.

2011-04-25T17:19:00.004-04:00

I'm fat. Not medically fat. Fat for me. Dbl-bouncing, jiggling, pulling-on-me-with-every-step-during-my-daily-run fat.

I'm older, have major fat genes, have had two pregnancies, crave sweets, been a little blue, and most days have to talk myself into my workout. So what?? So what if all of the above is true. Desire doesn't cause pregnancy. Anger doesn't leave a bruise. And NONE of the above is why I'm fat.

I'm fat b/c of the way I've been eating lately. That's an action for which I'm solely responsible. Being a healthy weight--an optimal weight--is 100% up to me. The rest is nonsense victim-speak.

Have you seen the one lately? How obesity might be related to your inner-ear..? Riiiiight. It's an orifice alright, but not your ear..!

So yeah, I'm pushing maximum density right now and have no one and nothing to blame but myself.

I'm outta here. Gonna go catch a run...

"What's Eating You?" Is a Damning Indictment of Junk Food--and Hard to Watch

2010-11-17T16:30:00.013-05:00

Have you seen "What's Eating You?" on the E! network? Tonight's the season finale, with repeats into the weekend...

Incredibly tragic, alarming and in-your-face... E's "What's Eating You?" is hard to watch (I mean REALLY hard to watch. You've never been next to the toilet of a bulimic, and you wish you weren't.), but insightful.

You'll find 9 times outta 10, if there's an eating disorder--whether one resulting in obesity, purging or starved anorexia--the object of fixation, obsession, compulsion is almost always junk food, not real nourishment.

And see how the dangerously underfed Adrienne is handled by her concerned coworkers? If she were obese, there'd be cries of "discrimination..." in today's twisted pro-fat-acceptance world.

Watch "What's Eating You?", and more than any gross-out factor, your heart breaks for these people.

And again and again I say it, but we must define FOOD as that which nourishes. All these other substances are nothing more than "ingestible entertainment..." and frequently take people down a very dark path.

"Good Job! Here's your obesity prize," says George J. Mitchell Elementary School of Waterville, Maine

2010-11-03T03:08:00.029-04:00

Ever worry that all your efforts to keep your child safe and healthy are being undermined by your public school..? In 2010, with every child obesity and diabetes alarm being sounded from the Surgeon General to the First Lady, public schools are still basically obesogenic cultures--just like all of America. Why? Because that's the norm.

Take George J. Mitchell Elementary School of Waterville, ME. Recently during P.E. (which don't we all agree no schoolchild is getting enough P.E..?), third-graders were awarded seven M&M cookies each for "doing a good job..." according to one of the students. Again, during Physical Education class.

Everything is wrong with this scenario: First, Psychologists and Dietitians have said for decades that food should NEVER be used as prize or punishment. Second, the food was brought into the school outside any health and safety regulations or standards. Third, and most importantly, nobody bothered to ask the parents' permission.

WRITE THIS DOWN, George J. Mitchell Elementary School. It's never okay to feed someone else's children in the absence of their parents--or their parents' advance approval. It's one thing to send in a "serving for one," for your own child, but "servings for 25" involves everybody's kids. And seven, 7, cookies??

With the dual health crises of obesity and diabetes, does it make sense for kids to be confronted with junk food solicitations during the school day..? And what about during P.E. of all times..?

Maybe you're thinking Maine has no obesity or type 2 diabetes health crisis. You'd be wrong: Maine's obesity rate has doubled in the past ten years.

We don't want to leave George J. Mitchell Elementary School with only criticism for its junk food gaffe, but instead, here are some wonderful tools to help your school create a School Wellness Policy. (Full Disclosure: NAAO proudly serves on the CSPI NANA committee that created these Wellness Policy Tools.)

And here's an "Extra Credit" challenge for you, Principal Allan Martin, Assistant Principal Barbara Jordan, and Waterville Superintendent Eric Haley: Use these tools as just the foundation, while you actually raise the bar much higher at George J. Mitchell. Don't your students deserve an environment that's safe and healthy for ALL students..?

We sincerely look forward to hearing great things coming from George J. Mitchell Elementary School. And when you have a rocking-great Wellness Policy enacted and enforced, I'll be the first to brag about you..! I promise.

Anorexia Bad. Obesity Good?? Marie Claire's Maura Kelly is slammed by Sharon Osbourne

2010-10-28T02:04:00.017-04:00

Once again emotions and defensiveness are beating out rational thinking when it comes to obesity... And Sharon Osbourne's reaction via Twitter is just plain wrong...

Marie Claire's Maura Kelly posted a blog lamenting the on-screen love affair of morbidly obese Mike & Molly. If they were both anorexic, and Ms. Kelly posted she'd be "grossed out" by their sit-com romance, nobody would care. (Just like nobody seems to care the show is a non-stop barrage of cliched fat jokes.) But in an era when the largest American population is obese, followed by overweight, we're now not just normalizing obesity, but glamorizing it.

(And poor Richard Conniff over at Men's Health. His new article "I Hate Fat People" hasn't gotten any attention...)

Morbid obesity is not an innate state. It cannot be compared to race or sexual orientation, so forget that argument. Morbid obesity is the result of habitual improper eating, or in rare instances, a result of uncommon medical conditions such as Prader-Willi or Cushing's Syndrome. And while there's evidence that environmental factors can exacerbate the problem, in almost all cases, obesity is a result of eating habits. Period.

The results of self-injury, self-destruction, bodily harm always will repulse--it's our natural instinct. To find romance between two morbidly obese characters unsettling makes sense, especially once you understand that morbid obesity results in a higher incidence of fertility complications, pregnancy complications, delivery complications, and ultimately, a greater rate of birth defects. Our human instinct for survival always will find morbid obesity repulsive, like any damage to the body.

And before you overreact to this post, please keep in mind that obesity is a "thing" a condition--it is not the person. Coming from a family history of obesity, I've never confused the two.

Sure Maura Kelly made a big mistake--she hit a nerve.

Mike & Molly - CBS Sitcom Fat People Will Hate

2010-09-21T02:55:00.013-04:00

Wow, Did you catch CBS's new sitcom, "Mike & Molly"? If you're into non-stop fat jokes, you'll LOVE it... And if tired tubby cliches aren't a laughfest for ya, there's un-funny fart, balls, prostitute, bitches, stoner jokes, and a blow job reference no laugh track could save...

Police officers won't find it ironic that Mike, the male lead, is unfit to serve. Teachers won't find it endearing that Molly, the female lead, screams at her classroom of 4th-graders, "Shut Up..!" Think Roseanne Barr and John Goodman, without the humor.

And Mike & Molly (like Nikki Blonsky's fat camp dramedy "Huge") perpetuates the myth that all thin people eat with abandon (beef & cheese deluxe, fries and orange soda, along with devil's chocolate black-out cake) yet never seem to gain weight. And meanwhile, all non-weight-challenged Americans are inconsiderate, insensitive and mocking of their dangerously obese loved ones.

And there's the oft-quoted fat-lady's lament from Molly..."I'll never be a size 2..!" Uh, who expects the morbidly obese to become size 2s..? And, hey little boy, you're NOT wrong! "How could you be a cop and be so fat..??" All officers unable to meet their fitness requirements should be asked that reasonable question.

Executive Producer Chuck Lorre is a super-talent. Two & a Half Men, Dharma & Greg, Big Bang Theory, etc.--This guy knows how to make us laugh despite ourselves. Even his vanity cards have a cult following... (Hey Chuck! It's "Fat Bottom Girls" by Queen, not "Big".) But no such luck with the low brow and lame Mike & Molly.

There is a big winner though..! (Other than Melissa McCarthy's adorable dimples...) Overeaters Anonymous should expect a major surge in meeting-goers. Truly, OA may be a great resource if improper eating and excess weight are issues for you...

Ben & Jerry's "fake" All-Natural says CSPI...and I agree!

2010-08-16T13:02:00.016-04:00

Here I am on FOX Business today with Charles Payne talking about synthetics in food... And are they "natural?"

Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream--the Vermont, frozen treat, cowmobile, institution founded by Ben Cohen and Jerry Greenfield in 1977--has been a Unilever company for a decade now. And as part of the soap and food conglomerate, can Ben & Jerry's legitimately claim "all-natural" on their packaging when in fact, 90% of the ice cream flavors include fake food?

Chemically engineered synthetic ingredients including corn syrup, hydrogenated oils and alkalized cocoa appearing in 48 out of 53 Ben & Jerry's offerings are NOT natural says the Center for Science in the Public Interest, and CSPI is pushing for Ben & Jerry's to change their packaging, removing the misleading and arguably false "all-natural" claim...

If it's fake, it's not really food. Period. Obviously this is not just a problem with Ben & Jerry's... And all of the above calls into question the fact that the USDA/FDA has no legal definition for "all-natural." That has to change. One hint: How 'bout the definition of "natural" for starters..? "existing in or formed by nature..."

Want your food from the farmer or the chemical engineer?? Either way, industry must be 100% transparent about what's in our food and the associated risks.

Wedding Gown Challenge 2010- Does Your Gown Still Fit?? Of Course It Does!!

2010-08-06T18:49:00.015-04:00

Look, you go into adulthood at a healthy weight and then you maintain that healthy weight. Period.

This little Wedding Gown Challenge isn't about the gown or marriage even. Feel free to find your own symbol or item that fits throughout adulthood. For me, it's been my Wedding Gown year after year.

I'd never use my marriage or my children or this obesogenic American junk food culture as an excuse to forfeit my health. I eat within my means, exercise daily, and exercise enough that I even have room for plenty of tasty indulgences..! Each of us has to figure out our own rhythm, nourishment needs of our body and exact food choices, but we also must take responsibility for our weight and our health.

And please don't email me about exceptions. If you have Prader-Willi or Pica or are on Prednisone, I'm not talking about you... And certainly not if you're suffering from Cushing's Syndrome either. And for those struggling below the poverty line, there are special circumstances at play and special programs necessary.

I'm talking to the 85+% of us who have what it takes to eat right and exercise daily.

Happy Wedding Gown Challenge..! I took fun professional photos in my gown, but my favorite is this snapshot just afterward in the elevator with my precious daughter...

Notes:
Great article from Abby Ellin of the New York Times re: post-nuptial weight gain...
Great study reinforcing the fact that maintaining healthy weight (no more than 9lb weight gain for women after age 18) gives you much better odds of healthy aging...

Valerie Bertinelli Gaining Weight Back on "Hot in Cleveland"

2010-07-29T12:59:00.008-04:00

Have you seen "Hot in Cleveland"? Cute show. Great cast. Deserves a better script. Wendie Malick is "Just Shoot Me" era hi-larious. Jane Leeves has great legs. Betty White rocks those track suits. And Valerie Bertinelli reclaims her post as America's Sweetheart.

But the not so sweet elephant in the room is that Bertinelli's putting weight back on. Of course it could possibly be an optical illusion on-camera with such slim women as Malick and Leeves... And sure, who expected Bertinelli to stay bikini-slim as she was on countless magazine covers promoting her bestsellers and exercise DVDs, as well as Jenny Craig, of course.

But the inches are creeping back on while the wardrobe guru works double-time...layering here, masking there...

Everyone loves Valerie Bertinelli. (Just ask poor n'er do well Mackenzie Phillips.) Bertinelli's transgressions never seemed to tarnish her reputation, and perhaps were lesser than her headline-generating 80s, "One Day at a Time" co-star.

But we've seen this Valerie Bertinelli weight-loss weight-gain yo-yo for decades. It's depressing. Anyone old enough to recall the flurry of interviews for one of her countless tv mini-series "I Was a Mail Order Bride"? Bertinelli recounted all her weight-loss tips and strategies to maintain a healthy weight. There she was in a revealing swimsuit and slimmer than ever. But those were the days well before her self-proclaimed obsession with jalepeno poppers.

And maybe that was too thin for her anyway. Just like maybe the latest bikini body was too hard to maintain. And that's really okay. Clearly, she's a healthy 50-yr-old. She just knocked out a marathon..! And we all would agree she looks "hot," and not just in Cleveland. But, Valerie, we're begging you to stop now. Plateau where you are, and you're good. We can't take another round of paparazzi body bashing photos of you on the beach, just to have you sell us more diet plans later a la Kirstie Alley.

And one thing that is unforgivable and no one dares mention: Bertinelli herself admits to using her son, Wolfgang, as an accessory to her junk food binges, particularly at the notorious In-N-Out Burger. Indoctrinating the teen bass guitarist of rock band Van Halen to America's junk food lifestyle, has done him no favors and likely has set him up for a lifetime of weight struggles, just like his famous mother.

SF Mayor Gavin Newsom Says "no" to Govt Supplying Soda

2010-07-12T15:09:00.008-04:00

SF Mayor Gavin Newsom doesn't want government buildings stocked with candy drinks. Great idea! And great idea to have a "Soda Free Summer." But Megyn Kelly on FOX News doesn't agree with me... Watch now...

"Huge" show about Anorexia airs tonight on ABCFamily

2010-06-28T17:20:00.007-04:00

Congratulations to ABCFamily for promoting positive body image. Tonight's world premiere, "Huge," stars dangerously gaunt Nikki Blonsky of "Hairspray" fame. The show takes place in a teen camp for habitual under-eaters and self-starvers, including a moderately underweight character played by David Hasselhoff's daugther, Hayley. But it's the 21 year-old Blonsky who plays our heroine and defies the camp's will for her to become a healthy weight. The alarmingly emaciated character says it best, "Why should I change..?"

Penn Jillette Would Rather Make-out w/ a Burger than Me... Shoot, I Kinda Like Him...

2010-06-17T22:58:00.009-04:00

Tune in to the latest episode of Penn & Teller's "Bullshit" Showtime series... Episode 2 is "Fast Food" and features "Mindless Eating" author and Cornell professor Brian Wansink, NYU Associate Professor of Public Policy Rogan Kersh, and me.

We had a total blast shooting this episode... but you won't see those parts. Oh well... their "Cheerleaders" episode last week was really good.

And apparently I'm not Penn Jillette's type. He'd prefer to make-out with a burger... My loss??

Happy "Eat Your Vegetables" Day- Hooters and Limp Men

2010-06-16T22:29:00.009-04:00

Yeah, it's Eat Your Vegetables Day... We get it, right? We're supposed to be eating a mostly-Vegetarian diet... So if you happen to eat meat (your best source of B12), think of it more as a garnish...

Stuart Varney & Co., let's talk about Hooters... Obesity discrimination in Michigan... and Hey Men! Happy Father's Day. Now check your "health dipstick" this weekend and make sure you're hitting that 135-degree angle. Good artery health means great bedroom performance..!

Felt this fatigue? I know I have. America's Obesogenic culture is counting on all of us to give in to it...

2010-06-11T02:12:00.016-04:00

I love Dan and Chip Heath's book "Switch: How to Change Things When Change is Hard..." Any book that uses Van Halen's notorious brown M&M clause as higher metaphor for better business strategy is alright with me... (David Lee Roth, I'll luv ya till the day I die...)

One of the many insights in Switch, and there are many gems, is the concept of willpower that fatigues. Ever committed to healthful eating then spent the day on the Jersey Shore with a boardwalk overflowing in Kohr Bros. frozen custard, funnel cakes, cotton candy, taffy, fried OREOS and gi-normous pizza slices..? Sure that stuff is crap, so you don't indulge. But for those of us raised in the Pop-Tart generation, that crap looks mighty tempting... And saying "no thanks" aloud or just in your mind over and over again all day long can get exhausting.

Smarter folks than I have studied this exhaustible self-control... Check it out from Dan Heath in June 2nd's Fast Company. And BTW, it's still no damn excuse... It's just motivation to plan our days more strategically.

Hollywood Keeps Me Fat..? Brooke Elliott aka Jane Bingham of Drop Dead Diva

2010-06-09T20:23:00.011-04:00

"Drop Dead Diva" Brooke Elliott under contract to stay fat..? Weird Hollywood twist... But dangerous waist circumference for Jane Bingham, er, Brooke Elliott...

Is this you? You want it so bad. And maybe it takes loads and loads to satisfy you?

2010-06-08T13:30:00.022-04:00

I find it hard to even look at this photo of the chocolate cake... I want to eat the whole damn thing, and I don't mean one slice. No, I want to grab the rest of the cake box and empty it out, and maybe hunt down the baker for another...

How 'bout you? No effect? One nibble will go a long way? Or maybe you wanna scarf it down?

Scientific American and Eric Stice at the Oregon Research Institute are calling it the "Goldilocks Principle of Obesity."

For me, eating sweets just triggers the urge to eat more sweets. Why is that true for most of us? There are 2 things going on: 1- a cascade of pleasure chemicals is released when I eat sweets, so now craving-inducing dopamine reminds me of that constantly. Eat it! Eat it! Eat it! It was sooo delicious last time..! And 2- a charge of sugar leads to a rush of insulin, then a plummet in sugar. So my now out-of-whack-blood-sugar-body tries to convince me I'm hungry even when I'm really not. Smarter, more disciplined people than I are giving up sugar altogether. (Way to go, Ellen DeGeneres..!) So far, I'm just trying not to go overboard. I make sure to eat right and exercise daily, and basically eat within my means. But if I had to be 100% honest, I'd be better off just ditching the treats.

Connie Bennett's SugarShock! book is a great resource for giving up sugar...

Food Makers know all about our behavioral and neuro-chemical dependencies upon junk food. They installed them after all... We're onto you about the "Bliss Point," Kellogg's, Coke and Kraft..! And who owned Kraft up to just a few years ago..?

Hooters Girls Are Too Fat? Obesity Discrimination? What Does Michigan's Special Protection for the Obese Mean for American Business?

2010-06-07T21:24:00.006-04:00

Bad news, America, the obese are starting to win special protections. Nevermind most obesity is the result of habitual improper eating...

Hooters girls say they were fired (in an at-will state) for being too fat! Michigan, with its special protections for the obese, says it's against the law, but will that actually hold up in court??

And what does this mean for American businesses? Do you have the right to market your business as you see fit, especially if your employees are your company's greatest marketing, eh hem, asset? Nobody's going to Hooters for the wings...

Pro-Fat Acceptance is Over. Healthy at Every Size (HAES) is Over.

2010-06-05T22:56:00.009-04:00

R.I.P. Obesity... You're torturing Americans, especially our most precious newborns. Pro-Fat Acceptance is Over. Healthy at Every Size (HAES) is Over. I say so. Darwin says so.

Obese Pregnancy = $200,000.00
Normal Pregnancy = $13,000.00

And how do you calculate the human suffering..?

Paul Campos and Linda Bacon, pay up..!

National Man Boob Day Pretends to be about Doughnuts

2010-06-05T15:43:00.005-04:00

Come on, every doughnut costs you 300 calories...or more! That's a 3-Mile Run for every glob of fried dough... We all know that it's not really National Doughnut Day--It's National Man Boob Day.

Double Down While Doubling the Size of Your Ass... Thanks KFC..!

2010-04-13T20:44:00.006-04:00

The names of those lined up yesterday for KFC's new "Double Down" fried chicken monstrosity were collected as to quickly expel them from America's new healthcare plan, or at least disqualify them from the "no pre-existing conditions" clause...

Lifestyle choice, anyone..??

More about KFC, food policy, salt reductions and good ol' accountability with GRITtv's Laura Flanders and Jennifer Iannolo...

Ronald McDonald and His Cohorts are Pervy Child Predators

2010-04-08T01:04:00.015-04:00

Clowns are creepy... Clowns that pressure kids to eat more junk food are downright pervy... Yes, we mean you, Ronald McDonald.

You've had your 50 year run and you've won..! When you, Ronald McDonald (Willard Scott), started your clown act, we had a child obesity rate of 4%. Now a third of America's children are overweight or obese. A third are expected to develop Type 2 Diabetes. Half of our children of color are expected to develop Type 2 Diabetes in their lifetimes. Half..! Congratulations, Ronald McDonald, Shrek, Sponge Bob Square Pants, Toucan Sam, Tony the Tiger, Trix, L.C. Leprechaun, Count Chocula, Dig'em, Cap'n Crunch, Snap Crackle Pop, Colonel, King and you too, Wendy.

If Sesame Street and Disney characters can distance themselves from junk food, YOU can too..!

Parents, don't let adult junk food marketers, masked as cutesy kiddie cartoons, attempt to isolate, communicate with, and establish a direct relationship with your child...

Dr. Phil, MeMe Roth and Ozzy Osbourne's Kid..? Get Ready for One Hot Mess...

2010-04-05T22:08:00.007-04:00

Dr. Phil, "The Ultimate Fat Debate" Tues April 6 and Wed April 7. Ready for a hot mess..? Sharon and Ozzy Osbourne's daughter Kelly joins all of us on the panel including Biggest Loser's Jillian Michaels and of course, those pro-fat bullies... Man they're mean... or just really angry... or both. 3pm Eastern TOMORROW and Part 2 on Wednesday...

I Saw You Tonight in the Hot Tub Time Machine!

2010-03-31T23:55:00.011-04:00

I saw you tonight..!

You were young and tight, had shiny hair, white teeth (naturally), and you were SO MUCH FUN..!

We were out way past curfew, and not once did anyone mention "snacking." Instead it was boys boys boys or girls girls girls or whatever. We were all more interested in hooking up rather than scoring a 4th Meal...

What a blast we had! You were full of energy, so light in your shoes, so agile...so sexy.

Listen to me right now. Jump into that damn Hot Tub Time Machine and get back to where you once belonged. Get back, Jojo! Whether the soundtrack of your fitter and more fun self is the Beatles, Jefferson Airplane, the Stones, James Taylor, the Eagles, Bad Company, AC/DC, Bob Seger, Journey, Duran Duran, Siouxie and the Banshees, Adam Ant, the Cure, Bon Jovi, Ratt, Poison, Madonna, the Black Crowes, Nirvana, REM, Lenny Kravitz, Hootie and the Blowfish...or whatever... Put it on and rock out..!

Get yourself back into the mindset of when you had everything in front of you and the weight of the world was a concept in your mind not a reality on your ass... Come on! Come on! You know you can do better... You know you are better... Be your better self! Maybe your sillier self... your slinkier self... And have a blast doing it...

I'm turnin' on Van Halen II right effing now... Have you seen her? So fine and pretty...

Tell Me Your Answers for Obesity...

2010-03-25T23:34:00.011-04:00

The New York Times asks how to solve the obesity crisis... Harriet Brown, Kelly D. Brownell, Dianne Neumark-Sztainer, Alwyn T. Cohall and Ellyn Satter answer...

And here's my answer...

We must accept that most of those already obese will remain so. Not that they can't lose the excess weight, but that they won't. It's hard enough in today's culture to prevent excess weight, and far harder to lose it once gained... (Although, for everyone of you trying, go go go!)

So what do we do? 2 Things:

1- We do all that we can to encourage daily exercise and wholesome food consumption for all people of all sizes. Why? To reduce the steep financial cost and human suffering cost of chronic illness.

2- We direct all our resources to the Pre-Pregnancy to Age 5 bracket--before their body compositions, eating habits and exercise patterns are set. Now is the time to foster Generation H for Healthy... We'll age ourselves out of this obesity crisis, beginning with Gen H.

The above will take immediate cultural changes and policy changes--and a deep questioning of the very memes that ushered in this era of obesity--to create an environment that promotes health rather than instant gratification, food solicitations directed at vulnerable children, and the only benchmark being 90-day updates to Wall Street of increased sales at reduced costs.

The challenge isn't just nutrition or exercise--it's behavioral psychology and neuroscience. And at that game, my friends, industry has us beat. They have every corner of our parietal lobes lit up, they know just how to trigger intense dopamine-driven cravings, and they know the exact "bliss point" to release the pleasure cascade of opioids should we give in to temptation. Industry's plan is to formulate, package and market "ingestible entertainment" that bypasses all reason... Don't believe me? Strip down and look in the mirror.

And yet, I do believe 100% in personal responsibility. Just as we're held accountable for our anger and sexual impulses, so too must we learn accountability for our eating impulses. Instead of indoctrinating our children into a mode of eating as entertainment (40% of "food" served to children is of low or no nutritional value according to a recent D of Ag study. We're not even trying, People...), we must emphasize the unadulterated pleasure of nourishment. And if children aren't deprived of their minimal hour of daily exercise, they can enjoy the occasional treat with little consequence to their weight or health...

For eons, humans had to survive scarcity. Now we'll find out just who can survive abundance. My bet is on the kids whose parents aren't hooking them on soft drinks...

(Now tell me your answers for reversing today's alarming obesity trends... Please add your comments.)

Fat Kids = Healthy Kids..??

2010-02-10T00:10:00.005-05:00

The Pro-Fat-Acceptance Movement goes too far... They say Fat Kids = Healthy Kids... Watch exactly what this Pro-Fat Leader says today on MSNBC...

Tune in to Fox Business Network and Stuart Varney's Show at 10:15ish A.M... Wednesday, February 10, 2010. I'll join the always-angry-at-me Stuart Varney to chat up Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" Child Obesity Campaign...

Will Governor Paterson Wuss Out? Soda Tax...Again

2010-01-19T21:18:00.017-05:00

In today's budget press conference, New York Governor David Paterson once again pushed for a "soda tax;" aka, Sugar Sweetened Beverage Tax. Instead of going for the 18% tax like his last failed effort, this time Paterson is following the lead of experts pushing at the national level for a soda tax including UNC's Barry Popkin, Yale's Kelly Brownell, Harvard's David Ludwig and the CSPI's Michael Jacobson. The model calls for a penny-per-ounce tax on the ubiquitous, non-essential liquid candy.

On a national level, $15 billion annually is expected to be raised by the penny-per-ounce tax. Here in New York, we anticipate about $1 Billion annually in extra funds raised from taxing sugary soft drinks, sports drinks, energy drinks, fruit-like drinks, etc.

Beverage lobbyists are crying foul that the tax is regressive and disproportionately targets poorer, lesser educated communities of color. News Flash: Obesity/diabetes/soda marketers disproportionately target poorer, lesser educated communities of color. This soda tax will help those communities by curbing soda consumption, reducing obesity-related illnesses and setting aside funds to cover some publicly funded healthcare expenses associated with obesity/diabetes/soda consumption. Of the $7.6 billion (more than almost any other state) spent annually on adult obesity-related health issues in New York, an astounding 80% is covered by Medicaid and Medicare. Quick Translation: That's me and my fellow New Yorkers footing the bill..! And that's ALL OF US at the national level... Hello, Obesity Bailout.

But Paterson backed down before. Why? Pepsi threatened to pull its headquarters out of New York and head West to New Jersey or East to Connecticut. Will Pepsi bully Paterson into submission again?

Or will the desperate dollar needs of New York state prevail?

I much prefer a Soda Tax over paying more into this massive Obesity Bailout.

Burger King and Reebok Meaning of Christmas

2009-12-21T01:28:00.011-05:00

Fantastic News! Burger King's offering Funnel Cake Sticks "served all day long" says the TV spot. That ubiquitous and creepy King suggests you might enjoy a "taste of the circus" anytime.

And no worries about those 300 calories, 11 grams of fat, and 7 and a half teaspoons of sugar. Just get yourself a pair of those Reebok EasyTone shoes... Wear 'em to bed like in their cheeky commercial, and Voila!

You still get to have a nice ass.

Hallelujah! Burger King and Reebok together deliver a real Christmas Miracle...

It's Friday Night. Do You Know Where Your Penis Is?

2009-12-18T21:48:00.016-05:00

It's Friday night--Do you know where your penis is?

Obesity is robbing our nation of its manhood--literally.

Adipose tissue in those giant bellies is converting testosterone into estrogen. Yes, THAT estrogen. Obesity is emasculating our men. Man boobs, man-o-pause, manly night sweats?? Are we gonna let this happen?

It doesn't stop there. Our overweight boys on the cusp of puberty are awash in estrogen too instead of testosterone. Our obese little girls are getting breasts and their periods in 1st grade instead of 8th. We're a nation of women--but not in a good way. This isn't a feminist movement, but rather a feminizing movement. And that aint good.

Ah Men--their square jaws, broad shoulders, taut chests--they're my favorite. And I'd like to keep the world ratio about 50/50 men to women.

And yet our men are overly in touch with their feminine side, having eaten themselves limp. That's right. This excess estrogen lessens libido and bedroom performance. Forget that rock-hard, 130 degree angle of magnificence--this is castration by obesity. All-Eunuch-Can-Eat-Buffet Style...

Do this. Tonight in the shower, look down... Glorious sight or nothing but belly? No man should stand for an obscured view of his manhood. If I had what you have, I'd really like to be able to see it in person, not just in the mirror.

And Warning Ladies: A good man is hard to find... but a hard man is becoming nearly impossible...

Save the Manhood..!

Zero Weight-Gain Pregnancy- Blame the Baby?

2009-12-16T21:41:00.011-05:00

I'm a straight-shooter, so I have zero tolerance for passive aggressive types. My least favorite are those who blame their children for making them fat.

How many times have you heard women talking about "pregnancy weight" they're carrying around years after their babies are no longer babies. I grew up with that silly rhetoric. Every woman in my family regularly claimed "baby weight." Luckily, I also had a look at what they ate and what exercise they didn't do...

What kind of message is it to blame our children for what we ate while pregnant..? Pregnancy doesn't make you fat. What you eat while pregnant does.

Thankfully and tragically, with the majority of U.S. women of child-bearing age already overweight or obese before conceiving, experts have adjusted pregnancy weight-gain guidelines. There's also a new "Healthy Moms" study suggesting the obese mother-to-be keep her weight in check by gaining no more than 3% of her starting body weight during gestation.

We know obesity increases the risk for pregnancy and delivery complications. We also know obesity is associated with a higher incidence of birth defects. Birth Defects. It simply has to be said more than once that we're eating ourselves not just into cancer, diabetes stroke, organ failure and incontinence, but also birth defects for our children.

If you're unwilling or unable to eat properly before, during and after pregnancy, then the socially unacceptable truth is you're unprepared to be a parent.

This isn't about "dieting" or "restricting calories" as the pro-fat bullies roar--this is about a fundamental obligation to an unborn child.

More info on this in New York Times, Tara Parker Pope's "Well" Blog...

Obesity Stuff You Want to Know...

2009-12-14T23:15:00.013-05:00

Children Now and the FTC and other bigwigs are discussing "Marketing to Kids" this week in Washington, DC. Are we really still discussing this same topic since the Carter administration? It's wrong to bypass parents and market junk food directly to kids...wrong and also pretty skeevy.

If you can't be in DC Tuesday morning, December 15th, watch the FTC's "Sizing Up Food Marketing & Childhood Obesity" event live via webcast here. The super-fabulous Margo Wootan of the CSPI will be on the afternoon panel.

So General Mills is reducing the sugar content of the cereal it markets to kids. It'll go down to 9 grams of sugar per serving. That's more than 2 teaspoons for every 3/4 cup. Just buy high-protein, high-fiber, high-quality cereal that has ZERO sugar. Then let your little one add 1 single teaspoon of sugar. That'll be 4 grams. I don't like the idea of habituating kids to tossing sugar onto cereal, but I think it's better than the best of big brand's "candy for breakfast" offerings... Going with berries is a better option than sugar of course...

I loved Thomas Frieden when he headed up NYC's Department of Health, (now head of the CDC). And I love our new guy, Thomas Farley too. And I've always loved Cathy Nonas... She's busy rockin' out her campaign "Don't Drink Yourself Fat." The newest installment comes today as a gross-out tv spot.

Are we really serving this shit to our kids..?

Your Family Doctor...on Coke

2009-12-11T03:19:00.014-05:00

Yep, it's true... The American Academy of Family Physicians is on Coke--Coca-Cola.

They decided to sell-out in a major conflict-of-interest and take cash from Coke. This kind of corruption is rampant in medicine, but it's true also of the American Dietetic Association (ya know, nutritionists / registered dietitians), who takes cash from Coke AND Pepsi, as well as the YMCA who takes cash from Pepsi, (to fund their Healthy Kids Day programs. Irony Alert..?)

Plus, schools across the country regularly sell-out children's health in "pouring contracts" for quick cash from the soft drink, sports drinks, energy-drinks and junk-food makers...

Enough already.

Ya got nothing if you don't have your health. But trading our children's health away to Coke and Pepsi..? Criminal.

UNC's Dr. Barry Popkin, my professional hero crush, can't fight these ethics battles alone. Get involved now by at least signing on in protest:

http://www.commercialexploitation.org/actions/aafpcokepartnership.html

http://www.petitiononline.com/YMCAFood/petition.html

Hating Obesity is the Start...

2009-12-09T00:52:00.005-05:00

I hate Obesity.

Obesity is not the Person--it's the cancer, diabetes, chronic disease eating away at the person you love the most--maybe even yourself.

Obesity robs people of all that they are and can be. It steals their dreams, their bodies, their manhood, their womanhood and their will to achieve their full potential. Obesity simply makes all aspects of life harder--so much harder.

Eventually, Obesity makes even getting out of bed too demanding. Staring out a single window year-after-year at the same hummingbird feeder--That is the view from Obesity.

Imagine shitting yourself in bed rather than making the full effort to get 5 feet to the bathroom.

That's Obesity.

I've seen it up close for decades.

Yes, I hate Obesity. Hating Obesity gives me some of the strength to maintain my own health and weight, and that of my children.

If we're to do anything about reversing America's Obesity Crisis, it has to start with hating the heinous monster Obesity really is.

See the New Food Label from CSPI..?

2009-12-07T23:57:00.014-05:00

What do you think of the new suggested Nutrition Label from the Center for Science in the Public Interest..?

I Love it..!

(Full Disclosure: As president of National Action Against Obesity, I volunteer on several CSPI sub-committees, especially in the areas of school food and marketing food to children...)

CSPI can't be lauded enough for their tireless efforts over the past several decades...Michael Jacobson and Margo Wootan are heroes...

How about 1 more tiny change to the Food Label..?

2000 Calories as the suggested daily intake is hundreds more calories per day than most of us require... The average American adult is 5'7"...and, unfortunately, sedentary.

So the daily suggested calories should be something more like 1500 Calories...

Want to eat more? Great! Earn those extra calories with exercise... Every mile run will buy ya 100 more calories.

Either way, with all the wonderful improvements suggested by the CSPI, the Nutrition Label also should reflect a more realistic, healthy, daily calorie intake.

2000 calories works fine if 200 pounds would be an ideal healthy weight for ya--like if you're 6 foot 4.

Read more about the new Food Label in Tara Parker Pope's New York Times article...

The World Suckles Coca-Cola...

2009-12-04T03:51:00.007-05:00

Does this image disturb you as much as it disturbs me..?

"Hello, we're Coca-Cola. Here's our business plan for the world."

Keep in mind, this is a TIME Magazine cover from 1950...

What Do You Call Food..?

2009-12-03T02:17:00.012-05:00

Let's loosely define "food" as substances ingested for the purpose of nourishment.

Close enough?

Now ask yourself:

What Percentage of What I Eat is Food?

And What Percentage of What I Serve My Children is Food?

Startling isn't it? I'm not saying we can never eat an indulgent treat. That's never been my point. My entire purpose is that we all be more mindful of just what we're putting into our bodies and those of our children.

Why? So we can compensate and remain healthy. We must meet the daily nourishment needs of our bodies so we may grow, heal and function properly. We also must exercise everyday to keep these magnificent machines working.

And should we enjoy a little "junk food" now and then... let's just be mindful that we need to offset those empty calories with extra exercise.

Also, make sure to go for the good stuff--you know, the treats made from wholesome ingredients. Exercise won't compensate for the deluge of toxins found in most "Frankenfoods."

And please be a hypocrite. Many of us are from the Pop-Tart Generation and we have a whole host of bad habits to set down. Even so, that's no reason to get our kids hooked. They deserve a fighting chance to grow up healthier than we did. (Full disclosure: I grew up in Atlanta and LOVE the taste of Classic Coke. It's true. Although it pains me to admit it. But no matter how much I enjoyed as a kid getting hooked on that fizzy food coloring and high-fructose corn syrup concoction, there's no way in hell I would serve soft drinks to my own children--no way. I realize when they become adults, they may well decide to drink soda. But by then they'll be able to fully comprehend the potential risks of obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis, dental decay, short-term ADHD-type reactions, etc.)

You know there are things that "grown ups" do that our kids know nothing about. If you can't say "no" to a naughty nosh, just do your best to be a stealth hypocrite. You don't want to bring it into the house and make a big deal about how "these treats are only for Mommy and Daddy..."

Buckle Up to Slim Down...

2009-12-01T23:59:00.002-05:00

Happy Birthday, Seatbelts..! Well, not your real birthday, but the 25th Anniversary of when it became LAW to wear seatbelts--you know--when people actually started to use you so as not to be thrown missile-like through the windshield.

Knowing the threat didn't seem to work. Americans needed the whole "Buckle Up for Safety" campaign to convince us... And New York was the first state to make it law. Today, only New Hampshire finds the policy offensive to its "Live Free or Die" motto. No matter buckling up has averted incalculable human suffering and saves $3 Billion annually in costs associated with auto-related injuries and deaths that never have to be paid.

I have to confess I wasn't big on wearing seatbelts. My parents never buckled up my brothers and me--all the better for us to freely knock each other senseless on every roadtrip. And once I could drive that red hot Dodge 400 Convertible on my own, well, seatbelts would be waaaay too uncool. That is until not wearing a seatbelt crushed 14 bones in my little brother's gorgeous face, destroyed his lip, and stole many of his pearly whites--I mean perfectly straight teeth without the aid of braces--and not a filling among them. His wreck was 20 years ago, and I've buckled up ever since.

Funny how well seatbelts work when you use them. It's kinda like eating right and exercising daily. How many times do I have to hear intelligent people with PhDs lecture or write about the poor obese souls who, try as they might, "eating right and exercising daily just doesn't work for them..."

What??

Oooooh, what you really mean is that doing those things didn't work because people didn't do them. Ya know, the data on unbuckled seatbelts isn't all that stellar either.

Yeah, I get it, it's easier to fasten a seatbelt than to eat properly and exercise everyday...

But come on people, buckle up and buckle down. It's your life and your kids in the backseat.

As for my brother, he's still super-gorgeous--and single. And he better be wearing his seatbelt.

Thanksgiving with President Obama, NFL's Play 60, and Peyton Manning's OREOs

2009-11-25T02:44:00.014-05:00

You maintain a healthy body weight by eating right and exercising daily...

So you wanna indulge a little on Turkey Day..? Go for it..!

Enjoy your Thanksgiving..!

And when President Obama shows up during the game with his "United We Serve" Child Obesity PSA with the NFL's "Play 60" Campaign, the good news will be that the issue of child obesity is getting the attention it deserves. The bad news is that the Prez is apparently going along with Big Food and Big Beverage's talking points about "exercise."

The half-trillion-dollar food industry will say anything to get the attention off of improper eating as the primary cause of America's obesity crisis. (No matter studies show exercise hasn't changed dramatically in recent decades, yet compared to the 70s, the average American today consumes 150-350 more calories per day.)

Don't get me wrong. Exercise is vital. I knock out a 4-mile run everyday, whether I feel like it or not. Fat or fit, you can't be healthy without daily exercise. America's kids need an hour a day--and those are the kids who eat properly. Add in just 2 of NFL heros Peyton and Eli Manning's Double-Stuff OREOs, and that same child now needs to run an extra mile and a half to burn-off the empty 140 calories...

Think Obama will mention that..?

Lost Your Place in Line for Swine Flu Vaccine..?

2009-11-23T00:02:00.000-05:00

Ho Ho Ho..! Santas want to be first in line for H1N1 shots. Should you get a lump of coal if Santa wants to cut in front of you in the vaccine line...and you say "no, no no?"

The W.H.O. says those with underlying health risks should go to the front of the swine flu shot line. That includes the obese and those with type 2 diabetes.

9 times out of 10, those who are obese or develop type 2 diabetes are suffering the consequences of habitual, improper eating. Typically we're talking too much of the right food, too much of the wrong food, or a combo of both. Does that mean they deserve to cut..?

In Santa's defense, he comes in contact with gobs of kiddie germs all holiday season long. Plus, he's a prime candidate for spreading swine flu...

A couple years ago I did several news appearances when the governing body for all mall Santa Clauses (yep, there really is such an organization.), having realized the majority of Santas weren't just obese, but dangerously, morbidly obese, asked their membership to lose weight. I mentioned that America's current depiction of Santa Claus is an incredibly successful marketing device of the Coca-Cola Company. They may not have invented Santa, but Coke spent millions embedding his larger-than-life image into our minds. Kris Kringle, Father Christmas, and St. Nick historically hadn't been portrayed so pervasively portly.

I wondered if maybe it was time for a more Jack LaLanne-like Santa, what with Santa having all those heavy gifts to deliver and circumnavigating the globe in one night... Since then, I've had to read all over the place that I called Santa "fat." No kidding. Even The New York Times reported that silliness... I got dumped from a speaking gig because of it. Talk about wrongfully being put on the "naughty" list..!

So Santa's obesity and non-stop cootie contamination put him in line for the H1N1 vaccine in front of whom? You? Your Kids..? Pregnant Women..?

And what about type 2 diabetics... Do they get their swine flu shots before you too..?

$344 Billion by 2018. Stop the Pussyfooting...

2009-11-18T10:58:00.012-05:00

If obesity really will cost us $344 Billion by 2018, as yesterday's stunning report says, where's our state of emergency?

Are we refusing to address obesity due to implications on the Economy? Food/Bev/Pharma would all suffer if Americans ate right. But the economics have shifted grossly when the rest of us have to pay a $344 Billion Obesity Bailout.

We're at the point where 75% of our youth are unfit for military service. It's time to stop debating a baked chip vs. fried. It's time to really do what it takes to reverse obesity...and nobody's gonna like it. But can we afford to continue letting industry decide? Big Tobacco isn't at the table determining how to curb smoking. Why are Pepsi, Coke and Kellogg's at the table when it comes to obesity policy?

We need the soda tax, we need calories on menu boards, we need School Wellness Policies enforced around the country, we need formula pushers out of the ob/gyn offices and breast-feeding perks in, we need junk food out of daycare centers, we need more obesity-related diseases classified as "elective," we need to finally stop advertising junk food to kids (debated since the Carter administration!), we need affordable and easily accessible produce, we need clean, safe and abundant public recreational facilities, we need to stop freshly minting new fat kids everyday...

And we DON'T need to give special legal protection to the obese, as they have in Michigan...and are demanding in Massachusetts. Why should employers be forced to hire expensive employees who are so predominantly by lifestyle choice? Harassment and Disability laws are already on the books. Obese is the dominant population in the U.S., followed by Overweight. So the overwhelming majority--a majority of habitual improper eaters--are now demanding special treatment from the measly minority of us who exercise daily and eat right..?

This is a crisis. Sorry the name isn't as scary as "Swine Flu," but yes, President Obama, this is a crisis we can't afford now, and certainly can't afford the price tag coming our way as the majority of us succumb to decades of obesity-induced chronic disease.

Stop pussyfooting around. We need an Obesity Czar, (I'm available). We need a member from every cabinet office with a plan on how to reverse this crisis right now. Not one single more child should become fat on your watch, Sir--OUR watch.

Candy for Lunch- mmmmm

2009-11-16T22:48:00.020-05:00

What if I said I was gonna serve your kid 5 to 7 teaspoons of sugar for lunch..? at school?

And that's just the drink--not the sugary ketchup, sweetened applesauce, floating fruit, sticky teriyaki sauce or high-fructose-corn-syrup-laden bread...

In a tiny half-pint carton of school chocolate milk, that's exactly what kids are getting--22 to 28 grams of sugar, 130 to 170 calories. Your child will need to run an extra mile and a half during P.E. to burn-off that extra sugar. (What P.E.??)

Chocolate Milk is really candy. We all know that. And it's totally delicious. I loooove a tall, cold glass of fat-free chocolate milk. But I also know that it's an indulgence, and I'm going to have to figure out how to compensate for the empty extra calories and that diabetes-inducing sugar spike... It's certainty not something I'd want to serve my kids for lunch during the school day. (Now the OTHER kids maybe, especially bratty-mcbrat-alots, the bullies or the ones competing against my kids for coveted scholarships... THOSE kids should lap up all the sugary-sweet, artificially-flavored milk they can...)

So once again, industry thinks parents are dumber than dirt. This time it's Big Dairy-the brains behind the super-successful "Got Milk." Check out milk's food pyramid dominance if you're curious just how powerful the Dairy Industry is. No matter most people on the planet get gassy, bloated or suffer bouts of diarrhea from drinking cow's milk, Big Dairy has us convinced we'll spontaneously combust if we don't drink the stuff. Hey, it's a fat, sugar and protein--it's the perfect food! (for baby cows.) If the lactose doesn't trip us up as we age, then the casein might...

So MilkPep, the "Got Milk" folks, have enlisted the help of some B-list celebs and one-time-good-guy-R.D. Felicia Stoler of "Honey We're Killing the Kids" fame to launch a new campaign trying to convince us chocolate milk is a healthy choice for kids at school: "Raise Your Hand for Chocolate Milk." They have a little website full of slanted messages they're attempting to spread through "Mommy Bloggers" and a petition to sign.

In MilkPep's defense, milk has some protein. But it's also loaded with saturated animal fat. Not so good. (The Institute of Medicine (IOM) is pushing for fat-free or 1% milk at school.) And the gobs of high fructose corn syrup is just too much.

We're supposed to believe that the calcium and trace amounts of Vitamin D are supposed to be a fair trade-off for all the garbage in chocolate milk. Not so fast. First off, if you want calcium and strong bones, eat loads of leafy green veggies and do weight-bearing exercise like running and jumping--the stuff kids love to do during Recess and P.E.! As for the Vitamin D... Yeah, most of us are dangerously low in this vital bone-building, immunity-building, mood-stabilizing vitamin. Those of us living above the latitude running from Atlanta to Los Angeles can't possibly get enough UVB sun rays during the Fall through Winter for us to produce Vitamin D. But don't be fooled. The scant amount sprayed into milk is about 1/10th of what a child needs on any given day based on the most current recommendations. Check with your physician and see how much daily Vitamin D-3 supplement makes sense for you and your children.

So forget chocolate milk at school. Save the delicious concoction for special treats on the weekends or at a party. When at school? Water is your child's best choice. If you want to go with milk, make sure it's fat-free white. Would it surprise you to know that even a school-sized, half-pint carton of fat-free white milk has the equivalent of 3 teaspoons of sugar in it?? Somehow that message just doesn't come across on the food pyramid...

Dodge the War--Get Fat

2009-11-12T22:52:00.013-05:00

Visited the awe-inspiring, billion dollar, U.S.S. New York yesterday. Some 7.5 tons of Twin Towers steel was used in its making...

There were Amphibious Assault Vehicles, tanks, JEEPs, shoulder-rocket-launchers, all kinds of big guns...

The military personnel had such pride as they demonstrated the munitions and toured thousands of guests around their ship--our ship. We were ever mindful of how young these kids in uniform are and the peril each serviceman and woman might face. We wished them all a safe return...

Yesterday was Veteran's Day, and I'm proud to say my brother served in Desert Storm, my father served in Vietnam and my Grandfather, Major Robert L. Clements, 101st Airborne, 502nd Division, G Company, served during WWII, including parachuting into Normandy on D-Day. He survived many battle wounds and was awarded 3 Purple Hearts, and most honorably, the Silver Star.

He never spoke of The War until his final years. I think it was all too much. If you've ever viewed the excellent "Band of Brothers" miniseries, you'll know where my grandfather was and what he and his fellow brethren did. While greatly-decorated, war also left him conflicted and well, mean.

My grandfather served his country with honor and courage. I feel proud to write that. I also feel compelled to write that I'm not much for war as a means to solve anything. And if the draft came about, I'd likely show little courage compared to my grandfather, father or brother. If it came to my son, would I consider Canada? Or maybe fatten him up like so many of today's youth who've eaten themselves unfit to serve...

75% of today's youth are unfit for military recruitment. The biggest factor? Overweight and obesity.

I keep thinking that the power and deep pockets of the Pentagon will step-in and do something material about reversing child obesity. While I see the pointed irony, I also see the history. When our youths were unfit to serve several decades ago due to undernourishment, Harry S. Truman enacted America's National School Lunch Act and said, "In the long view, no nation is any healthier than its children..."

So true. So true.

Happy Veterans Day. And our deepest gratitude for your service to our country.

Pls Help. Do You Have Advice for Me..?

2009-11-09T03:14:00.011-05:00

I received an alarming email from family this weekend...

It was one of those shared photo album links... And as I clicked through the pictures, I became both mortified and sad...

My cousin, who'd always been **skinny as a kid, was now beyond emaciated--skin and bones. So too was her husband, who when they first married was a little underweight, but nothing like now. He was a whisper of his former self. And they're really still so young. Maybe early- or mid-thirties..?

And my other cousin was even skinnier than before, but thankfully not quite as bad off as his sister. Unfortunately his wife seemed to be in a steady decent into becoming stick-thin. And yet I know her to be conscientious about healthy food choices and a promoter of organic and natural ingredients...

I worried for the kids in the pictures. Children always pick up so much from their parents' modeling, especially when it comes to eating and exercise habits. There were little clues in the snapshots that hinted at a grim future.

All-in-all, my far-away but beloved family is becoming unrecognizable to me--stolen away by a dangerous eating disorder. And what's more disconcerting is that the evidence of their self-destruction is in plain sight. There they are all in a smiling group--Is it a family-wide state of denial..? That photo album email went out to everyone on all sides of the family. I have a distinct feeling that if I utter one word about it, I'll be permanently uninvited to every family gathering forevermore...

If the pictures showed other forms of bodily abuse, I might be able to intervene... And it's quite possible they're seeking professional counseling about which I'm unaware... Can I ask?

I don't know what to do. What can I do..? What should I do? What have you done when this has happened in your extended families..?

**(Does it make a difference that my family I describe is suffering not from an extreme withholding of food, but in actuality, an extreme excess of improper eating? Due to today's pro-fat-acceptance political correctness, I'm not allowed to express any of the worries above if the subject is overweight instead of underweight. But the feeling of alarm, fear and sadness is the same, as is the complete loss for what to do...)

Snap, Crackle, Pop Immunity..?

2009-11-05T12:37:00.017-05:00

Immunity in a box of breakfast candy..? You weren't fooled by this.

I appeared on FOX Business Network with Stuart Varney Wednesday to chat up the latest cereal box outrage...

Obviously Kellogg's figured American parents are dumber than dumb when they tried to claim Cocoa Krispies and Rice Krispies promoted immunity.

Spray on a few synthetic vitamins and that's immunity?

San Francisco city attorney, Dennis Herrera, said not so fast... Of course these claims should never have made it to the shelves in the first place. (hell-o, FDA? FCC? BBB?) How cavalier these junk food makers and marketers are...

So we-the-people said "no," and now the Snap, Crackle and Pop immunity nonsense is going bye-bye--just like the dumb "Smart Choice" program...

Want immunity for your kids..?

Mothers, breast-feed your babies. 6 months, a year...
Load your kids up on rich green produce and berries...
Make sure your child gets 10-12 hours of sleep every night.

And how about flu-, infection- and inflammation-fighting Vitamin D? If you live above the latitude running from Atlanta to L.A...you're too far north in the Fall and Winter for the UVB rays of the sun to work their magic converting cholesterol to Vitamin D. You need a supplement, and today's recommended doses are being upped upped upped. Check with your pediatrician first... I give my children 1000 IUs of D-3 every day... And the more I read, the better I feel about that decision.

You Have Diabetes

2009-11-02T22:38:00.025-05:00

Happy American Diabetes Month..!

The price tag for this party? $217 Billion Annually...

Let's see, 24 million have it. 57 million pretty much have it. And the rest of us are well on our way...

1/3 of today's kids are projected to develop type 2 diabetes in their lifetimes. And 1/2, HALF, of our children of color are expected to...

How about this. Since most of us are at risk to develop diabetes, let's just pretend we already have it.

You have diabetes, I have diabetes, we all have diabetes...

Okay, so now what are we gonna do about it..?

Daily exercise is a MUST. I'd go for an hour. But come on, you pansy, your big toe, bedroom performance and clear eyesight are worth knocking out at least a half hour a day, right?

Next up, diet. What should we eat? Well we need to get cozy with the concept of Glycemic Load--not just Glycemic Index. Glycemic Index doesn't tell the whole story. Glycemic Load is a better indicator of how fast and furiously sugar will flood your arteries with the expectation insulin will rush in and save the day...

So you want to eat foods that are low on Glycemic Load.

This means you'll be enjoying loads of veggies, beans, lean proteins, water, berries, etc. You know, the good stuff. This also means you'll be avoiding the "ingestible entertainment" that activates dopamine dependency, releasees a cascade of opioids and also spikes your blood sugar--the stuff that sets you up for type 2 diabetes in the first place. You know... french fries, the bread basket, bagels, doughnuts, cupcakes, cookies, crackers, soft drinks... We're talking sugars and refined carbohydrates...

I've been thinking about Tracy Morgan of 30 Rock and Saturday Night Live fame. He's only 40 and yet nearly lost his foot by neglecting his type 2 diabetes. 30 Rock did a hi-larious send-up to the real-life tragedy/comedy of it all... Then there's funny-woman and The View cohost, Sherri Shepherd, who recently dropped 40 pounds and donned a bathing suit on-the-air, who was asked if she was doin' Weight Watchers, and she replied, "Nah, I'm doin' diabetes..."

When I hear that, first I feel sad. Then I think. What was it? When was it? When was the exact moment when the body said "no more," when it reached the blood-sugar and insulin-resistance point of no return? Was it a Valu Meal? An adorable little cupcake? Just one bite of dessert off someone else's plate? Or was it simply a day like we've all had when Tracy or Sherri said, "nah, I'm not up for a half hour walk..."

Imagine what Tracy Morgan and Sherri Shepherd and just about every type 2 diabetic in America would trade today to have that moment back...

That's it. If we start eating and exercising RIGHT HERE RIGHT NOW like we already have type 2 diabetes...

Guess what..?

Marathoners, You're Here..! I'm So Glad to See You..!

2009-10-30T18:59:00.011-04:00

It's Fall in New York City and Central Park is magical... the trees are brilliant yellow, there's a touch of romance you can just feel, and the breeze has an edge of chill to let you know winter will be coming soon...

And guess what?? A week ago the bleachers were going up. And this week?? Rows of bright orange flags and the finish line..!

Yes yes yes..! The marathoners are here--from all around the world. You can see them with their upright posture, striking features, and that look in their eyes that all runners share.

It's time for the ING New York City Marathon... and the energy is buzzing...

Running the marathon was a one-time thing for me. I knew it was something I had to knock-out in life, and I couldn't have been more elated when I crossed the finish line. (This is where most people boast about their times.) It's a long story and I sure could've used these tips, but suffice it to say that I finished well behind a guy dressed up as a giant pair of testicles...

Truly, people wear all sorts of costumes in the race. They're running and raising money and awareness for special causes... Since my own marathon, I can't help but go back year-after-year to cheer. It's amazingly uplifting... I dare you to spend five minutes on the sidelines without getting choked up. What about the running guides for the blind..? Heroes.

Hooray for all of your stories, your special motivation, your true grit..! I'll be just inside Central Park cheering, cheering, cheering for you this Sunday.

And congratulations in advance: 26.2 miles: You've gone the distance.

Hating on Halloween..?

2009-10-29T11:05:00.013-04:00

I've been asked if I'm protesting Halloween...

Naah.

I don't really have a problem, per se, with Halloween, Thanksgiving, Memorial Day Weekend or the special occasions during the year when food becomes a big focus. If Americans generally ate right and exercised daily, those days of indulgence wouldn't pose much of problem. But in 2009 with obesity and overweight as the American norm, it becomes a question of "more." How much more do we need of what's already making us sick..?

For instance, it can be fun to go out drinking with your buddies, but it takes on a dark hue when a friend has a drinking problem. Likewise, most of us have friends, family, loved ones suffering from the health effects of eating-related obesity, diabetes and heart disease, maybe even cancer--it colors the entire event. How can we enjoy overeating among friends and family on Halloween, Thanksgiving or Memorial Day when we look around and see that it's killing the people we love the most?

Even so, Halloween trick-or-treating and dressing up can be a blast for kids. If they're eating right and getting their hour of exercise everyday, the extra candy kick once a year is no big deal. We trick-or-treat, let the kids eat a couple pieces of candy a day for 2 or 3 days, and then toss out the bag of candy. The kids never even notice.

But after-school or weekend Halloween festivities are far different from the school day. Candy really has no place in school, especially treats with ADHD-inducing artificial food coloring. (The entire EU now has warning labels for artificial food coloring. MD tried and failed to make moves against artificial food coloring here in the US.)

Only the most outdated, uninformed principals still allow candy into their school buildings these days...

Every year, our family requests that our children's school ask parents and teachers to keep the candy at home, and every year our requests are ignored. It's one thing if you choose to send in a piece of candy for your own child. It's entirely different to send in 25 pieces--no matter how well-intended the gesture is--it's really outdated in this era of obesity and diabetes. No child should face junk food solicitations during the school day. Not to mention E. coli-contaminated cookie dough and the occasional defective or tampered with treats such as those Pokemon lollipops a couple years ago that had metal shards. Why would a school want to take-on that kind of liability? Best advice for principals: Keep the candy at home.

And if your trick-or-treater happens by our house this Halloween, expect glow-in-the-dark vampire fangs...

We All Knew "Smart Choice" Was Dumb...

2009-10-28T02:23:00.019-04:00

"Smart Choice"... and all those silly industry-sponsored food-labeling systems telling us what is "better for you..." Pepsi, Kellogg's, Kraft... Up till two years ago Kraft was part of Philip Morris, aka, Altria...

Fruit Loops, with its first ingredient being sugar, is a "Smart Choice." Thank goodness Smart Choice has been suspended due to pressure from the Yale Rudd Center, CSPI, Connecticut's Attorney General Richard Blumenthal, NAAO, and a whole host of nutrition, health and obesity experts.

It was big news this week in DC at the annual meeting of the Pharma-backed Obesity Society. Other big news was that most of the marketing money spent to promote cereal to kids is spent on the least healthy "boxed breakfast candy." No surprise, right?

I spoke about this today on the Fox Business Network with Stuart Varney. (Stuart always gives me hell on screen and off...maybe a hater crush??...) Check it out...

CSPI likes the idea of having the IOM suggest uniform labeling guidelines to the FDA... I also like what Yale's Dr. David Katz is doing with his NuVal system of grading food products on a scale of 1-100 based on nutrition value.

Whatever system is decided upon, we know we need a clear, concise, universally adopted food labeling system we all can trust. If we're gonna eat it, we should know what "it" is...

Gaby Wood Libels, Defames MeMe Roth

2009-10-26T16:43:00.047-04:00

Gaby Wood wrote a smear piece. She got all sorts of attention for it, and plenty of bloggers and lesser publications cite the article daily. It served her needs. But did it serve the reader?

I made my career in public relations, I earned a degree in journalism, and I'm nothing if not a news junkie. I get it. Doing P.R. is a bit of a Faustian Bargain--I'm not naive. And with National Action Against Obesity being a non-partisan, all-volunteer organization, i.e., no money, P.R. is an efficient means for moving the agenda forward--but a means that comes with a degree of risk.

So working with the press over the years, I've taken my lumps...comes with the territory. False introductions on live tv, lazy reporters who just cut-n-paste from rumor blogs, aggressive license-taking with the truth...

But also I've had the pleasure working with real pros committed to getting it right, getting the facts, and substantiating those facts. In most cases, legitimate journalists stake their reputations on sound journalistic methods and ethics--the Journalistic Code.

(From Wikipedia)
While various existing codes have some differences, most share common elements including the principles of — truthfulness, accuracy, objectivity, impartiality, fairness and public accountability — as these apply to the acquisition of newsworthy information and its subsequent dissemination to the public.

Gaby Wood of the Guardian/Observer conducted an interview with me early this year. As does any writer, she made choices. But in Gaby Wood's case, she chose to ignore much of the truth, was blase about accuracy, lacked objectivity and impartiality, and delivered a piece to the public that was not a fair and accountable example of journalism.

Gaby Wood decided I should look bad, and took every opportunity to deliver on her personal agenda, whether getting her jabs in about my maiden name, glasses and hair or reworking my answers into half-truths.

The truth is that I'm a national news pundit and nutrition counselor who regularly sees the damage of improper eating. That doesn't make me someone who hates food--far from it.

I grew up surrounded by the devastating effects of obesity's toll on those I love and respect the most. That is not an attack on my mother.

I believe the power of pop culture can be harnessed to influence positive change in nutrition. No, I didn't criticize Jennifer Love Hewitt--I defended her. Yes, I criticized Angelina Jolie for stuffing Cheetos down the throats of her beautiful children. Do her and Brad Pitt's kids not deserve better than transfat, artificial food coloring and MSG? If not, what's all that money and hired help for..?

I believe, just as we've done with littering, plastic bags and smoking, that we must stigmatize the products and practices associated with obesity-not the people.

I believe once we hold the individual responsible for his/her choices, we individuals will band together and force industry to make change. We've shown we can be swift and forceful. Look to the examples of transfat, bovine growth hormones and BPA.

I believe food makers and marketers knowingly harm their customers, and yet, justify their despicable methods by claiming customers "enjoy it."

I believe there's no need to fetishize food or unyieldingly pressure people to eat when nourishing one's body already delivers a cascade of pleasure chemicals.

I believe food should never be used as prize or punishment.

I damn sure don't believe harmful, food-like substances should be in daycare centers and schools.

And yeah, I'm a big proponent for the soda tax, testified for calories on menu boards, and volunteer on several sub-committees of the non-partisan Center for Science in the Public Interest. This makes me a frequent target of the food/beverage lobbyists.

I do not see obesity as a health and beauty ideal. For that, the pro-fat-acceptance movement wants to bully me into submission.

I seek to challenge cultural memes that have ushered in this era of obesity. That includes every business meeting having to involve eating, (I love eating and love meeting, but the combo diminishes the pleasure of both.), eating by the clock rather than the demands of one's day or needs of one's body, and falling into our culture of mindless, improper eating. My approach is mindful eating. And my results?

Gaby Wood wants you to believe the worst about me, when here I am fighting to stay healthy, defying a family history of obesity, and breaking the obesity cycle before it ensnares my own children.

She refused to report that I'm at a healthy weight for my height. Every item on my recent physical is healthy--from the mammogram and thyroid check to every single line item on the blood panel including triglycerides, cholesterol, glucose, etc. I've conceived, carried and nursed two healthy children. I'm on zero prescriptions. And quite frankly, I really dig my body.

It's true I've never been wild about breakfast. (Now, 3am at Waffle House is a COMPLETELY different story.) If I'm traveling or have back-to-back meetings, I do enjoy oatmeal with sliced almonds, raisins, a little skim milk and a pinch of brown sugar. As many of you know, I'm a "mostly-Vegetarian." And while I don't exactly count calories, based on my weight and exercise habits, I average about 1600-1800 calories per day. (Burrito Bowls from Chipotle are the best..! More on that in another post.)

And yeah, I do exercise about an hour everyday. And no, I don't like to run with food on my stomach. I found out a long time ago, like many runners, that's a total no-go. Two pregnancies only made it more true.

Gaby Wood made a point in our meeting that she has blood sugar problems in her family and they must eat more frequently than most. I don't have any blood sugar issues. More importantly though, I thought I was meeting her for a half hour, not 2 and a half hours. I had worked late into the night, slept in, rushed to meet her, and then had to rearrange my day on the spot as the meeting dragged on, including making alternate arrangements for my children to be picked up from school. Gaby didn't disclose any of the above in her article--it didn't help tell the story she was determined to tell.

Gaby Wood ignored my vast knowledge about obesity and the food industry. She simply didn't do her homework reviewing the many available resources to her, interviewing clients and colleagues I've worked with over the years, or contacting the world-renowned physicians who support my efforts. There are more than 1000 members of the NAAO community in the U.S., as well as a few members in the U.K., Australia, Canada and India. There's even a high school NAAO club in Florida. How many of you heard from Gaby Wood? Gaby Wood didn't even bother with basic journalist practices of follow-up questions or fact-checking. Creative writing doesn't require one to follow journalistic code.

That's exactly what Gaby Wood delivered in her smear piece. She took threads of truth to weave together a fanciful yarn of pure fiction. Her piece has done incalculable damage to my personal and professional reputation. Yes her work was libelous. Yes her work was defamation. Sadly, repeated requests for retraction and formal apology will be answered only with the aid of lawyers.

Don't You Dare Call Chris Christie the "O" Word

2009-10-23T02:04:00.001-04:00

Politics have become so politically correct.

In New Jersey's heavy and heated 2009 governor's race, the mudslinging is dirty. And expensive. Democratic incumbent and former Wall Street tycoon, Jon Corzine, faces Republican U.S. Attorney for New Jersey, Chris Christie. There's an Independent in the race too, Chris Daggett. And who knows, voters might get fed up and go with him...

(For the record, I live in NY, so I don't get a vote and have no aim to endorse any candidate.)

So with all the hateful and ugly accusations--and they do get as nasty as deep-pocketed campaigns can get--the one thing nobody is allowed to say is the obvious.

Look at the photo and see if you can guess...

Chris Christie, 47, husband and father of four, successful prosecuter and candidate for New Jersey's highest office is morbidly obese.

Even though when polled, respondents' number one top-of-mind description of Christie is "fat," Jon Corzine is not allowed to say it. Political experts suggest that if he did, it might cost him his campaign.

We're a nation of predominantly obese people--34%. Second to that is our category of overweight citizens--33%. Then there's the rest of us falling into healthy weight and underweight... Those numbers are pretty outdated. There's probably fewer than 30% now who aren't overweight or obese.

Regardless, social taboos and America's limitless capacity for self-deception dictate that no one speak the "O" word. Remember when there was the "C" word so unspeakable that it could never be mentioned above a hushed whisper..? (What was that hi-larious movie scene at the dinner table??) Of course I'm referring to cancer.

Dr. Oz has said it numerous times. Someone who is morbidly obese has health compromised on par with someone who has been diagnosed with cancer--seems the word "morbidly" isn't just thrown in there for color. That extra 100 pounds puts a high risk and heavy burden on the body.

So imagine if Chris Christie had cancer. (Sorry Mr. Christie. Please know nobody in any way, shape or form wishes cancer or any ill health upon you... I do shudder to even write those words. I'm not particularly superstitious, but I NEVER take good health for granted...)

So let's say it was cancer instead of morbid obesity. Think the press or Jon Corzine would be allowed to suggest that health issue could play a part in performing the duties necessary as New Jersey's governor?

We found out without question something as basic as wearing a seatbelt was crucial to the task. So clearly morbid obesity is a reasonable issue to discuss? Social mores say no.

How are we possibly going to address our nation's biggest health crisis if we're not allowed to say it out loud??

And as a certified counselor for integrative nutrition, I can't help myself...

Here's a quick plan for Chris Christie:

At 6 foot something, you're going to want to keep your weight no higher than 200 pounds. That means your daily caloric intake should not exceed 2000 calories. (This would be a great time for New Jersey to mandate calories be posted on menu boards like we have here in NYC. It makes the whole thing so much easier...)

You'll want to keep to non-fried, non-starchy, mostly-Vegetarian fare. And whenever possible, stick with water. After infancy, our bodies aren't programmed for drinking our calories, especially the empty-calorie sweetened stuff. (Insert plug for soda tax here.)

That's it. If you want to eat more than 2000 calories a day, then earn 'em with exercise. (Every mile jogged rewards you with about 100 calories.) Just to be healthy, you'll want to exercise about an hour everyday anyway. And your kids need an hour of daily exercise too, so maybe that'll be a great opportunity to squeeze in a little family time while on the ever-demanding campaign trail.

But We Can't Survive without Food..!

2009-10-22T08:48:00.012-04:00

Have you heard that argument for obesity?

People say obesity is not like other substance abuse because you can survive just fine without cigarettes and alcohol, but you can't live without food.

That's true.

But here's how I see it:

You can't survive without inhaling air, but you can live just fine without inhaling tobacco.

You can't survive without drinking water, but you can live just fine without drinking alcohol.

You can't survive without eating food, but you can live just fine without eating junk food.

Look, I'm not saying we can't indulge sometimes. This is where the next argument comes in about "all things in moderation" or "it's all about keeping a balance."

Those truisms are great, but if you're already overweight due to eating habits, your body is telling you in every way possible that you're neither keeping it in moderation or balance. "Hell-o, Self?? This is your body talkin' to ya..!"

And there may be the point made that alcohol and tobacco are physiologically addicting. I don't think any of us would argue with that..! Let's all keep an eye on the expanding research on neuro-chemical dependency upon food. I'm starting to think tobacco, alcohol and junk food have more in common than we ever believed before.

Warning: Models are Better Looking Than You

2009-10-21T08:00:00.000-04:00

Good grief. Do we really need warning labels on magazines telling us images have been photoshopped?

If so, please add all the fuss with makeup, lighting, hair weaves, and of course we'll need full disclosure on nose jobs, boob jobs and any tummy tucks.

Sheesh, How many of us would pose for a cover (not that anyone's asking) without the promise of photoshop? Those among you without stretch marks throw the first stone...

Here's what I had to say about it over at the New York Times...

I think we should stop being exposed to unrealistically smart people, absurdly talented people, child prodigies, and absolutely all professional athletes.

They just kinda make me feel bad...

Come on. What percentage of world leaders, captains of industry or Nobel laureates are sickly skinny or preternaturally beautiful? They too grace the covers at every newsstand, but we don't blame them for our bad self image.

Beauty is certainly a boost when it comes to natural selection. But healthy heterosexual humans find symmetry, good color, muscle tone, a man w/ broad shoulders, a woman whose waist is about 70-80% the size of her hips as indicators of positive reproductive opportunity--and therefore "attractive." Nowhere in nature is emaciated perceived as beautiful. Obesity doesn't typically fare too well either unless you're talking remote Mauritania where they're trading cows for teen brides to fatten up.

So accentuate the positive and stop fixating on physical beauty. (That means you too, Unilever/Dove/Axe and your bogus "campaign for real beauty" as you sell cellulite cream, guys solely in pursuit of sexual conquest, and a hyper-fixation on appearance.)

Yes, photos are photoshopped. But the real question is, "Why does that hurt your feelings so much..??"

And btw, it is perfectly "realistic" to have a healthy body within a healthy weight range for just about all of us if we eat right and exercise daily. That doesn't guarantee a Jessica Alba figure (natural or altered). But healthy looks good on all of us and delivers a great body image..!

No New Fat Kids..! It's All About Zero to 5 Year Olds

2009-10-19T22:29:00.039-04:00

Let's look at the stats. And please don't email me about exceptions. Yep, there's always gonna be an exception to the rule. But when it comes to obesity, we're concentrating on the overwhelming majority, not the small percentage suffering rare medical conditions like Prader-Willi, Cushings Syndrome or Rx reactions.

Back to the stats:

Everyone who's fat now is going to stay fat.

I hate that stat. But it's true 95% of the time. It doesn't have to be. People are capable of making permanent changes to their lifestyle choices. But the numbers don't lie--they're not gonna do it. And we certainly aren't cocooning anybody in a health-affirming food culture to make it any easier.

It's also true that eating one's way up to obesity or starving oneself down to scrawny can have a lasting if not permanent physiological impact. The net effect is a metabolism less cooperative than before. Still doesn't mean anybody HAS to stay obese, I'm just sayin'...

So if we have limited resources, and this obesity crisis is genuinely a public health emergency, what do we do??

We refuse to allow even one more child to become overweight.

To reverse obesity in America, we're gonna have to concentrate on the pre-pregnancy to 5 year-old set--before their eating habits, exercise patterns and body compositions have been set. This has been my mantra for 5 years... Zero-to-5-yr-olds-Zero-to-5-yr-olds-Zero-to-5-yr-olds...

Try convincing one of our Rice Krispie-lovin' preschoolers that she's having an apple for dessert. Btw, 20% of America's preschoolers are already overweight or obese.

So what we need is an all-out marketing campaign and incentive program to convince parents-to-be to be healthy BEFORE EVER conceiving. (Fat dads are 6x more likely to have fat sons. Fat moms are 10x more likely to have fat daughters.) And of course we know that obesity results in a higher incidence of all sorts of health problems for the next generation--including birth defects. (Darwin, is that you calling??)

What in the world is junk food doing in our daycare centers and YMCAs? Again, if there's no crisis, please ignore me. But if child obesity is the health crisis of our lifetime, then maybe we don't need juice, Capri Suns, crackers, candy, cupcakes, cookies, and an entire array of high-sugar, refined carb, transfatty empty calories imbedded among our most vulnerable population.

Now, if we're conducting an experiment to see how quickly we can foster a generation of insulin-dependent, type 2 diabetic tykes, then we're lookin' good. Big Pharma smiles upon us...

But the objective is to give each kid a chance to grow up healthy--all part of the "pursuit of happiness" ideology outlined in our Declaration of Independence. Without health, there is no pursuit of happiness.

Let's start with the YMCA. It's the nation's largest provider of daycare with 500,000 children in their daycare centers and nearly 10 million kids in their recreational programs. I've begged and pleaded with the YMCA for 3 years now to establish a nationwide nutrition standard and to dump Pepsi as a partner. (Sign this petition along with America's most-respected physicians who echo my pleas to the Y.) But this plea for a safe and healthy environment goes out to all childcare centers: KinderCare (I keep calling. When will we meet??), you too Creme de la Creme, Bright Horizons, Goddard School, Primrose...All of you can make this change to safeguard children's health. Are you willing? Are people finally listening to me??

Obesity Prevention Checklist:

All ob/gyn offices must offer educational series on healthful eating.

Formula pushers must be pushed off the premises and quickly replaced by breast-pump perks.

New weight-gain guidelines for pregnant mothers must be finalized. (Hooray for the advancements so far!)

Daycare centers must submit to the highest nutritional standards as part of their licensing process. (Thank you, Dr. Lynn Silver of the NYC Dept of Health for all you've done so far..!)

Pediatrician offices must feel obliged to talk nutrition with their patients and their patients's parents. (Think about the Obamas. Michelle says it was their family doctor who tipped them off they had a child weight issue and needed to change the way the family was eating.)

Junk food has to be removed from all schools. Period. Pls don't talk to me about diet sodas, organic juice and baked chips.

Marketing junk food to children has to end--tv, magazines, food promos in school, Happy Meal tie-ins--all of it. We've debated the harmful effects of marketing junk food to kids since the Carter administration. Time to call the question?

Kids must have easy access to safe indoor/outdoor, year-round recreational facilities. All kids.

Produce must be accessible and affordable to all Americans. Gonna subsidize? Forget corn and go w/ broccoli and avocados.

Schools and Daycare centers must be graded on their compliance to "Wellness Policies" and administrators assessed and paid accordingly.

We gotta get kids hooked on water, not sweetened drinks. Pass that blasted Soda Tax too...so we can raise some cash while curbing consumption.

There's more to do, but this post is too long already. You get it. No NEW fat kids. Nada. We'll graduate ourselves out of this crisis within the next 10 years.

Imagine all the misery that never has to happen if we do this...

MeMe Roth- Without the Makeup- Without the Gay Magic

2009-10-19T16:00:00.016-04:00

Tina Fey calls it "gay magic..." Ya know, the makeup, the lighting, the hair extensions... Of course the 30 Rock funny-woman was referring to all the behind-the-scene beautifying for her current cover photo on Harper's Bazaar Magazine.

When I show up at the news studios, it's amazing how much warp-speed, hyper-primping goes on. I usually arrive lookin' pretty plain, then the hair and makeup experts work their magic...

But sometimes ya gotta go right onto the air...

Here's me from Friday's CNN appearance sans any gay magic... No make-up, no powder, no lip gloss--not even a fluff of the hair...

Thank goodness it was online rather than HD..!

And isn't that Katherine Hobson from U.S. News & World Report really great?

The Jordin Sparks Lie...

2009-10-16T01:40:00.020-04:00

Have you read what I've read? For about 2 and a half years I've read over and over--even been announced this way on live tv--that I called American Idol winner Jordin Sparks "fat" or "obese..."

Because of these rampant reports on blogs and in the press, I've had death threats and all sorts of horrible disease and misery wished upon my children. It's been pretty ugly.

Does it matter that I've never called Jordin Sparks those things? I challenge anyone to find any record where I've actually said it. Look high and low, but you won't.

The closest I ever came was agreeing that she had "extra weight on her..." which I stand by. Mostly I talked about cholesterol, diabetes and heart disease. Which is what we all should be thinking long-term when we see our youth already struggling with their weight. Visions of "un-health..."

So what was my beef with Jordin Sparks? She was being held up as a role model for tweens, especially when it came to body image. The problem was, when Jordin Sparks gave interviews, she boasted of over-eating, gorging on pizza, fries and burgers, and eating "two creme brulees instead of one." She said this was normal teen behavior...

I said, this is the wrong message at the wrong time. Not only wrong, but dangerous. Especially with a third of today's children projected to develop Type 2 Diabetes, (half of our children of color). This wasn't the message for an American Idol. This wasn't the message for any tween idol.

At first, I never thought anyone would believe the over-the-top sensationalism. But I couldn't have been more wrong. I still get hate mail everyday about it. While the pro-fat-acceptance bloggers never let up about it, and the food and beverage lobbyists play it up for all it's worth, the most disappointing is that reputable journalists cut-n-paste the nonsense right off the web and onto their "all that's fit to print" publications.

So right here right now...

Notice to All Bloggers and Journalists: If you report harmful, unsubstantiated rumors, you're committing libelous defamation.

I stand up against obesity heralded as a health and beauty ideal. I stand up against hazardous calories parading as food. I stand up against this garbage being shoved down the throats of America's children during the school day and while they're in childcare centers.

For this, I'm called all sorts of nasty names. I don't mind, as long as you criticize the truth. Making up lies about me scores you extra hits on your website, but it serves no one but yourself.

By the way, look at the latest talking points from today's Jordin Sparks. She's 100% about healthy eating, healthy body, healthy lifestyle. So hooray for Jordin Sparks..! She's talking like a real American Idol.

(Look for regular posts re: MeMe Roth: Fact or Fiction? There's just too much b.s. to ignore...)

Is the Boss Responsible for Your Fat..?

2009-10-15T09:36:00.017-04:00

Employee Obesity is costing Employers $45 Billion annually...

Employers are in a bind, with costs of employee healthcare packages seeing 7, 8, 9% year-over-year price increases. Ouch! What's an employer to do?

Scotts/Miracle Gro doesn't want to employ smokers or improper eaters. Neither does the renowned Cleveland Clinic (Dr. Cosgrove, Do NOT back down. You're the voice of reason on this topic. Do not be bullied into submission).

Yet, in Michigan, the obese have become a protected class. Is that fair? Should employers be forced to hire a high risk high cost employee population? Remember, 9 times out of 10, obesity is due to lifestyle choices. Clearly, we already have laws for disability and harassment/bullying. Do the obese deserve special treatment?

And if employees refuse to make minimal efforts to stay out of hospital beds, should coworkers pick up the tab? Will lack of health compliance cause the elimination of employer-based healthcare benefits for us all..??

Talked this up with Brian Sullivan on FOX Business Network Wednesday... Check it out.

Happy Pet Obesity Day..!

2009-10-14T12:20:00.007-04:00

It's not enough that we're killing ourselves and our kids w/ food...

Half our dogs and cats are suffering the consequences of obesity too.

Columbus Discovers Fat Americans...

2009-10-12T21:18:00.016-04:00

Native Americans today are one of our most obese populations, suffering from rampant type 2 diabetes and heart disease.

Obesity is GENETIC, right?

Remember when Christopher Columbus, on an errand for Queen Isabella, stumbled upon the Americas..? Look back over all those dispatches and drawings--you know--all the detailed descriptions of how FAT the indigenous people were...

Happy Columbus Day...

Good Samaritans in the Junk Food Aisle..?

2009-10-07T23:53:00.014-04:00

40 Retailers are Joining Forces to Fight Child Obesity..!

They're gonna help kids "balance their energy..."

You know, run 4 miles if the kid eats a packet of Pop-Tarts... Run a mile and a half to cover the calories of 2 Girl Scout Cookies... Run 2 and a half miles for that 20 ouncer of Coke or Pepsi or whatever...

You guys, the Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation, are just so great, real Samaritans...

Looking over this illustrious list of retail do-gooders, something comes to mind. I don't want to be the master of the obvious, but uh, what if kids just didn't eat the shit you sell..?

Just for kicks, read over the list and add each company name to the template press release headline. And see if you can do it with a straight face. (Somehow Indra Nooyi can.) I couldn't.

"Company X" Joins Healthy Weight Commitment Foundation to Reduce Child Obesity...

Kraft? Kellogg? ConAgra? Coke? Pepsi? Nestle? Hershey? the Girl Scouts?

How Much Weight Do I Gain to Become REAL..?

2009-10-07T00:40:00.001-04:00

Memo to Models: You are not real women.

We had a meeting and determined your lack of realness makes the rest of us feel bad.

Some of you puked or starved your way into making the whole lot look lousy. But the primary offenders are those of you born to be really really tall, with willowy legs and narrow hips. You piss us off the most.

So in a celebration of overwhelming mediocrity over rarefied beauty, we want you out of our magazines. And step away from the catwalk. We want to look at women who look like us--REAL WOMEN.

Don't give us your pity-party tales of being poked fun at growing up. "Bird Legs!" "Skyscraper!" "Skeletor..." So what if you were taller than every boy you ever had a crush on...

We're not impressed. We've been called FAT, ya know.

So here's to more "Dove Real Beauty" moments. Here! Here! (Pay no attention to Dove's sister brand: Axe. Hey Unilever, Axe guys aren't into real beauty??...)

Beauty is out. Obesity is in.

Next Week's Agenda: What to do with following troublemakers:

People with perfect teeth, perfect symmetry, pretty feet, nice hair, good posture, smooth skin, and all professional athletes.

French Women DO Get Fat in McFrance...

2009-10-06T20:53:00.014-04:00

As a follow-up to the diet best-seller, French Women Don't Get Fat comes the au-contraire hit "McFrench Women DO Get Fat".

Look for the title tucked in with the latest Happy Meals, now being served about a hundred yards from the Mona Lisa...

Mais Non..!

Bake Sales Be Gone..! NYC Bans School Bake Sales... Sort of.

2009-10-05T13:31:00.025-04:00

Hooray for Eric Goldstein, Chef Jorge, Katherine Grimm, Chancellor Joel Klein, and the entire New York City Department of Education..! They want to make schools safe and healthy for all students... (I chatted this up on a couple MSNBC shows today...Here's the "Way Too Early" show with Willie Geist and here's "Dr. Nancy" with Dr. Nancy Snyderman and Greg Lukianoff.)

The School Food program already offers lunches with whole grain breads and without transfats and ADHD-inducing artificial food coloring. Now, as part of the NYC School Wellness Policy, they're saying "Bye Bye Bake Sales..." (Okay, schools can still have them once a month. why why why??)

40% of NYC's students are overweight or obese... 40%..!

These kids can expect worsening obesity, type 2 diabetes, heart disease, orthopedic issues and fertility complications...

Think we should take this seriously? Thank goodness Mayor Bloomberg, the Dept. of Health, and the Dept. of Ed do.

Bake sales are an easy way to make money. True. (Actually, I can think of a lot of bad ways to make easy money...I bet you can too. Does that make it okay for the PTA..? Click Here for Dr. Joanna Dolgoff's list of non-face-stuffing moneymakers.) It's also true that the bake sale products compromise the health and well-being of kids, they contribute to obesity and diabetes, they create cravings and induce a false sense of hunger, and they habituate children to over-eating and consumption of non-nourishing, ingestible entertainment during the school day.

Hey, I'm all for enjoying a sweet treat now and then. And keeping those indulgences out of school allows them to be preserved for the weekends and special occasions. It should be a-okay for a kid to enjoy cake and ice cream at a Chuck-E-Cheese birthday party without worries of weight gain... But who keeps inviting Chuck-E-Cheese to school..?

During the school day, no kid should be confronted with constant junk food solicitations. Period.

And yeah, let's look to the intellect and ingenuity of today's students to conceive fundraising ideas that raise cash while causing no harm. In the era of the Internet, Walk-a-thons and Farmers Markets, I'm pretty confident today's kids will have loads of moneymaking ideas that don't involve stuffing their faces. We're only as limited as our imaginations...

And somehow because transfat, sugar, and enriched flour are agents of obesity and diabetes, which are conditions of habituation and progression, we ignore their seriousness at the peril of our own children's health.

If only baked goods caused lice...

**Big thank you to MSNBC's Willie Geist and Dr. Nancy Snyderman for having me appear today to chat up NYC's Bake Sale Ban on "Way Too Early" and "Dr. Nancy."**

Gotta Love the Gays...

2009-09-30T19:52:00.013-04:00

Gays, Heteros and Lesbians... Guess who's the fittest of them all..?

Homosexual Men are the leanest among us. Next comes our Straight friends. And the heftiest are the Lesbians...

Now, guess who has the most sex..? Who's scratching the intolerable neural itch? soothing the infinite ache? quenching the eternal thirst..?

You got it. Seems like those staying in the best shape enjoy the most sex... (Makes perfect sense, right??)

Gay Men are getting it on the most. Then comes the Heteros. And lastly are our buddies suffering the infamous Lesbian Bed Death...

And for the homophobes out there... No, staying in great shape will NOT turn you gay... Although, you never know who might get turned on by your ripped bod, steely guns and six pack.

Hate Food Porn--Not Food (Liars: You're on Notice..!)

2009-09-28T13:58:00.015-04:00

On a day when a lot of people aren't eating for religious reasons, it got me thinking about some of the most gawdawful accusations made about me lately. (btw, I don't happen to be religious. I'm a big fan of Sam Harris and the Reason Project.)

For years, I figured people would never believe the hater posts about me, knowing they were the work of the food and beverage lobbyists, Center for Consumer Freedom, or their many offshoots. And of course the bullying, prolific, vicious pro-fat-acceptance bloggers (who now write for Jezebel, Salon and the New York Times, among myriad websites), never seem to tire of inventing false quotations, cartoons or twisted inferences about me. And of course--going against their self-proclaimed tenets of body acceptance--they sure get their jollies making fun of mine..!

Anyway, I've been accused of hating food. Besides being a stupid thing to say, it couldn't be further from the truth. I try not to add to the 24/7, non-stop fetishizing of food--it doesn't do any of us any good. But saying I don't like food because I herald the benefits of natural food over Franken-food is like saying I don't like sex because I'm not into porn. (my super-hot hubby can chime in on this one..!)

Look, I like food, really really like food. But I have to come up with tons of other life-affirming distractions, as not to overindulge and become unhealthy.

Working with many of my nutrition counseling clients, I ask that they come up with 2 lists to help them not hyper-focus on food: 1- Distractions and 2- Disgusts.

Distractions are all the wonderful things that make you high without hurting you in any way... Think regular exercise, sex, your favorite hobbies, kick-ass songs, time with your children, etc. (Pls don't email that you can injure yourself w/ exercise or have negative results from sex... You guys get the point.) The idea is to have a ready list to remind you of all the ways you can get a quick dopamine fix other than from food.

Disgusts. Obviously, I'm going for the easy-to-remember alliteration of Dis and Dis... Disgusts are all the results you might get from turning to excessive food or the wrong food to get you high. Think sluggishness, guilt, health complications, bloating, loss of libido, etc.

This Distractions and Disgusts device helps me, and maybe it'll help you.

As for all the crazy accusations made about me... I was wrong. I thought people wouldn't believe the b.s., but I've come to find that the b.s. is ALL people believe--Even to the point where otherwise reputable publications have started just picking up this blogger nonsense and using it in their articles too.

Well I've taken all I'm going to take. The First Amendment is a beautiful thing, but it gives no one the right to spread defaming and damaging lies. Period.

Look for later posts regarding MeMe Roth: Fact or Fiction.

You may be disappointed to find I'm far more boring than bloggers and rogue journalists would have you believe... But I think I'm plenty controversial without the help of lazy writers and liars...

Ready to go Twisted Sister..?

2009-09-25T01:35:00.010-04:00

Tonight I participated in a Fox Business Network debate about healthcare... Is it or is it not a right..?

Live tv never really affords genuine debate. At least not in the world of news punditry... And try as I might, each appearance results in a failure to complete my thought, correct a false accusation, or make the point I intended to make. That's why it's so addicting..! I'm always certain I'll do better next time... Just gimme another chance...

So no, Healthcare is not a Constitutional right. However, the pursuit of happiness is a fundamental American ideal. It says so right there in the Declaration of Independence. And without health, there is no pursuit of happiness.

Yet we live in a culture that promotes obesity, chronic illness, and skyrocketing healthcare costs... and that's exactly the results we've got. Half of us chronically ill, 80% of our friends taking a prescription med last week, and most of us on our way to overweight or obesity (if we're not there already). Did I forget type 2 diabetes in that list?

Every American deserves easy access to affordable nourishing foods and safe recreational facilities. These are the attributes of a healthy culture and healthy people. Special considerations should be given to at-risk communities. And of course, every child in this country should receive top-notch medical care.

When it comes to us adults, we need to man up/woman up. If we take ultimate accountability for our health, that's the very moment we go Twisted Sister. We're not gonna take it..! If medical costs associated with our lifestyle choices start coming out of our own pockets, we'll be passive no more. We'll demand, DEMAND, that hidden sugars come out of our food, that sodium counts be cut in half, that crazy portion sizes be reduced to Mad Men-era restraint...and all the other hyper-dopamine-inducing formulations, packaging and marketing become above-board and honest. If we're held accountable, we're damn sure gonna hold Big Food and Big Beverage accountable too. It doesn't end there, but that's a start.

When you go back to the basics of health insurance, you land on risk assessment. The statistical risks of the Healthy are meant to offset the risks of the Unhealthy. Obviously risk ultimately equals costs... How is it possible to offset the costs when most Americans are sick? If 8% of us are eating right, exercising daily, not smoking and drinking moderately if at all, then how can we 8% possibly offset the lifestyles of the other 92%? Keep in mind, some in the 8%, even though we're doing just about everything right, will be met with congenital issues, accidents or other circumstances requiring medical attention.

We've all grown weary over the ongoing debate about healthcare. Obama, the House, the Senate...I don't know who will ultimately deliver the go-with plan. At its core is the need to ensure people have health, not necessarily a particular health care plan. It's about keeping each one of us out of the hospital bed.

Poster Boy for Coke and Pepsi- Sean Algaier of Biggest Loser Season 8

2009-09-24T00:09:00.003-04:00

Tulsa, OK husband, father, youth pastor, musician and funny-man, Sean Algaier says he's the world's greatest spokesperson for soft drinks...

He's 29, 6' 2" and started Season 8 of Biggest Loser at 444 pounds... (about 260 lbs above a healthy weight... Alone, he's the size of healthy father, mother and their teenage child.)

I have to confess my own weakness for the nasty elixir of death--casualty of growing up in Coca-Cola HQ Atlanta where the concern was drinking from the red can instead of blue, lest you put someone's dad out of a job...

Sean though, says he downs a full 2 liters of cola a day. That's 800 calories, 216 grams of sugar, or 54 teaspoons of sugar. Dr. Oz describes excess sugar in the blood as "broken glass tearing at the sides of the artery walls..."

Sean Algaier is taking in 292,000 empty and damaging calories a year. If he changed nothing else about his life other than swapping the soda for water, he'd lose 83 pounds a year. Sean would be at a healthy weight by Thanksgiving 2012. Go Go Go, Sean..!

Think there's a direct connection between obesity and soft drinks? Think a soda tax might be a decent way to raise a little cash while curbing consumption? I do. And so do most obesity experts.

Good luck, Sean, becoming the poster boy for America's obesity turnaround. Change your approach to eating for the rest of your life, and you'll be a role model for the entire country.

"It's So Easy for Healthy-Weight People..." Says Drop Dead Diva Article

2009-09-23T00:54:00.013-04:00

I really like Tara Parker-Pope and her "Well" blog at the New York Times... But lately, the entire paper is leaning pro-fat, and that's not a good thing. One recent headline exclaimed we should all just throw out our scales... (Pls note that the scale is a great tool for keeping yourself on track, and well, honest. Delusion is rampant among the obese. More than 2/3 of Americans are overweight or obese, while 2/3 of Americans report to eat a healthful diet... Studies report that the majority of overweight fail to acknowledge the degree of their obesity or that of their children. hmmm. The answer may be found in the 6,000+ Dunkin' Donuts America "runs on...")

Today's article, based on the "Drop Dead Diva" tv show, really infuriated me. Its premise is that the show is realistic in its portrayal of the overweight because they have cravings for doughnuts and cheezwhiz while thin people do not. You know the mythology: If you're thin it's because it's EASY for you..!

Also, the big take-away is that maintaining a healthy weight has nothing to do with willpower.

I'm gonna tell you here and now that I personally call upon every atom of willpower I have keep myself healthy in this insane culture that does nothing but work against our health...

Here's what I had to say about the article...

Stop by and share your thoughts too.

McDonald's Mac Snack Wrap Conjured in Obesity Hell...

2009-09-22T00:47:00.012-04:00

Hell yeah they did..!

Why let the pizza makers have all the glory of OREO dessert pies, Cinnamon and icing drizzled Cinnapies and arks of pizza dough overflowing with pasta...

Noooo, McDonald's needed to get into the "4th Meal" action and knockoff that we-serve-salads-too halo.

I bring you the Mac Snack Wrap--as in Big Mac.

I always joked that Americans will eat anything repentance-free if you add the word "snack" to it--what with it written right there in junk food marketers' good book: "let there be snacking...!"

On your knees, America. Anything with 380 calories, (a day's worth of fat and a teaspoon of sugar), is a MEAL--quite possibly your last.

Meet me in hell, you red-haired, big-shoed, yellow-suited demon.

Let Me Spend that Money, Secretary Sebelius, Thomas Frieden, Commissioner Farley, Kelly Brownell, and Dr.s Ludwig, Popkin and Willett

2009-09-18T00:49:00.028-04:00

We should be doing this--spending money on prevention.

I know the Congressional Budget Office isn't convinced, but my gut tells me that a predominantly unhealthy nation is less secure than a healthy one. Whether or not the CBO numbers add up on the side of prevention, it'll cost us dearly to continue condemning Americans to a purgatory of chronic disease--preventible--debilitating, disfiguring, demoralizing chronic disease.

You've heard me say that many of today's illnesses should be reclassified as "elective," meaning that they're a result of our lifestyle choices and unwillingness to be compliant to health, and therefore, we should be paying out of pocket for the costs associated. 100% or a partial contribution? I dunno. But if you willingly eat yourself into type 2 diabetes, cancer or heart disease, it's your right but not your employer's, neighbor's or fellow policy-holder's responsibility to cover those costs--or to subsidize by having their costs skyrocket.

At the same time, we need to offer folks assistance in making better lifestyle choices. Most importantly, a shot at being healthy should be available to all Americans, and that includes easy and affordable access to real food--whole fruits, fresh vegetables, lean proteins and reliably safe water.

But eating issues aren't just about access, they're largely a result of warped conditioning to food-like substances--I call "ingestible entertainment"--which overrides an instinctive appreciation for natural foods.

Our gawdawful eating habits are a result of affluence, abundance and corporate greed mixed with nonstop neuro-chemical euphoria. If we're gonna help people get healthy, it'll take more than just having them pay out of pocket for poor choices; it'll take free and easy nutritional counseling, exercise instruction, and maybe most importantly, behavioral psychology strategies. Be honest, you're not eating to excess because you don't know better, you're eating to excess because it feels good, really really good. Sex-like good.

Hitting the bliss-point with food indulgences reads on an fMRI a lot like reaching sexual bliss. Our pleasure-reward system lights right up. When something so wrong feels so right, it takes a little help from our friends to make a rational decision. Our friends possibly being strangers on the other end of a self-help line, webinar or community support group. Friends who are experts in offering counsel and friends overcoming the same challenge. (Look to models like the 12-Steps-inspired Overeaters Anonymous.)

This investment in education, outreach and counseling will be money well-spent by the Obama administration and local governments to offset the financial cost and human cost of so many of us being so sick.

Whether it's today's big announcement from the HHS and CDC committing $650 Million to the "American Recovery and Reinvestment Act" and the "Communities Putting Prevention to Work," or it's the potential $150 Billion to be raised over the next decade in soda taxes, the cash needs to go to keeping people well. Without our health, we have nothing. No matter how the CBO adds it up, America needs to avoid zero.

And Prevention adds up to everything.

The Perfect Diet..?

2009-09-17T00:15:00.019-04:00

"Diets don't work!"

I hear that all the time... I've even said it. But the truth is, diets do work--generally speaking. Most diets, if you follow them, will result in weight loss. (Will they make you healthy is another story...)

Diets work. People don't.

The problem isn't "diet." Diet just means the way you eat. We all have a diet. The real pitfall is "going on" a diet. The implication is that at some point, you get off. And for many of these newfangled concoctions of lemonade, pepper and pixie dust--the sooner you get off, the better..!

The key is to find a diet, i.e., a way of eating, that you can live with forever. You may have to do some experimenting to figure out what works best for you. That's the idea behind bioindividuality. For example, for some people dairy is a godsend; for others, a complete no-go.

Generally, go for mostly-Vegetarian, non-starchy, non-fried fare with lean proteins like beans, fish and skinless chicken, and of course, plenty of water. Make sure your grains are 100% WHOLE. And look for heart- and brain-healthy fats you find in tree nuts, avocados and olive oil. Avoid sugar and refined carbs as best you can; they spike your blood sugar, induce urgent cravings and trick you into thinking you're hungry when you're not. (Read this awesome Sugar Shock! book if you need help kicking a sugar habit.) Same goes for diet sodas. Experts are making connections between artificial sweeteners and carb cravings...

It doesn't matter what time you eat. It matters how much and what. If you are still growing, or if you have a demanding schedule or a physical profession, that influences the way you eat. Most people benefit from a protein-heavy breakfast. A nice trick is to add straight egg whites to your breakfast to get that extra heft of protein.

If you have a blood-sugar issue, you may be someone who needs many modest meals throughout the day. Or you may be like me--I ignore the clock and social pressure altogether and try not to eat unless I'm genuinely hungry. (It's so hard to tell--what with the constant cues to eat eat eat!) My eating habits are driven by the demands of my day and the needs of my body. Period.

I also like to enjoy plenty of indulgences, (yeah, I have my vices.), so I have to kick-in some extra exercise to maintain my health.

How do I know if my diet is healthy? How does anyone know?

It doesn't much matter what people say about how they're eating; their bodies are nonstop confessors. Your body is constantly telling you how it's reacting to the food you're feeding it. Feeling and looking great? That's a pretty big hint you're on to something good. Maintaining a healthy weight and waistline? Your recent lab results from your blood panel are perfection? BP in the neighborhood of 115/76? More evidence you're eating right. How about mood, energy, concentration, libido, and no need for prescriptions..? Again, looks like you've found a "perfect" diet--for you.

Look for the foods you love that pack in loads of nourishment per calorie: Think Volumetrics. No matter who you are, you can't be healthy without daily exercise. So go for it..! And if you're looking to enjoy a little treat, just factor that into your workout.

Sugar is the New Transfat

2009-09-15T20:54:00.013-04:00

Last month, the American Heart Association sounded the alarm that sugar is seriously bad news... (ha!, Corn Refiners and your nefarious campaign to make us feel silly for worrying about HFCS. "Aw, it's not any worse than sugar..." Exactly..!)

Just a few hundred years ago, a sugar indulgence would've cost ya 3 days' pay... Now we eat our weight in it every year... And to thank us, it's rotting our teeth, jacking up our LDL cholesterol, filling our arteries with triglycerides, wrinkling up our pretty faces, and keeping us chronically inflamed--not to mention the sugar-ignited, meteoric rise in type 2 diabetes.

Sugar is the New Transfat.

Dr. Oz Saves Obama's Health-Care Debate

2009-09-14T22:57:00.013-04:00

If we all did what Dr. Oz told us to do, we'd be in much better shape.

When it comes to the health-care debate, sure, tort reform is needed, defensive medicine has to stop, unnecessary medical procedures have to stop, corruption and capitalism-without-compassion among insurers have to stop... And what about Big Pharma? Only we and New Zealanders allow pharmaceuticals to be marketed directly to patients. Anything potentially resulting in a 4-hr hard-on is best suggested in a doctor's office, not peddled along with Cheetos and Chips Ahoy (although if you'd put down the junk food, you may well achieve rock-hard status w/out the aid of magic meds. Seriously, once a man goes soft in the middle, he quickly goes, well, soft down below...)

Back to Dr. Oz and healthcare...

With or without a public option, and all the other hotly contested components of health-care reform, our best bet in avoiding hospital-bill-induced bankruptcy is avoiding the hospital bed in the first place. I don't know about you, but my plan is to look great and feel great right up to the moment I drop dead. (Later is better than sooner.) I'm not the least bit interested in entering a purgatory of chronic illness--no thanks. Did you know half of us already suffer chronic illness..? HALF.

And the best way to avoid chronic illness is to follow the Doctor's orders--Dr. Oz's specifically. He and Dr. Michael Roizen of the Cleveland Clinic have authored a must-read series of "You" books that'll keep you as young and healthy as possible. And just today, Dr. Oz premiered his new Oprah / Harpo-produced daily tv show--"The Dr. Oz Show." Check it out.

And do yourself a big favor and follow his directions. Your body will thank you. Your insurance premiums will thank you. Your family and the rest of society (whom you won't be burdening), will thank you..! President Obama and the Congress have a lot to sort out when it comes to health care. But the biggest reform needs to happen with each an every one of us.

Also, go donate over at Dr. Oz's HealthCorps nonprofit. He has young adults talking up healthy living and eating in high schools across the country. Great idea to catch kids before sickness catches them...

Reporting from Fatopolis...

2009-09-10T21:48:00.010-04:00

The Scene:

Somewhere in NYC...

Mother to small child says...

"You behave...

...and Mama will give you a chocolate chip cookie when we get home."

Obama Likes Soft Drink Tax--Men's Health

2009-09-09T11:46:00.016-04:00

It's gonna happen. Not much of a bold prediction since 40 states already tax candy, soft drinks, etc. But this newer, bigger tax on sweetened soft drinks is coming, and coming fast. Even the Congressional Budget Office is playing with the numbers and estimates a modest 3 cent tax per every 12 oz will yield $50 Billion over a decade...

We need help paying for this $147 Billion obesity bailout. Soft drinks are ubiquitous and nonessential--they're just ingestible entertainment. They also are linked to a whole host of health problems and they're the number one, single source of calories in the American diet. Gross.

The average man in the U.S. drinks 341 calories in sweetened drinks per day. If he'd dump the soft drinks and opt for water, he'd drop 30 lbs by this time next year.

As for kids. If you love them don't serve them soda. Period. Once they're adults, they can decide whether or not the consequences are worth it.

Just did an appearance on FOX Business Network with Brian Sullivan and Dagan McDowell an hour ago on this topic. (Check it out.) Seems the Libertarians are tired of picking up the paycheck for elective illness, and that's what many of today's leading illnesses have become. If you eat yourself into cancer, type 2 diabetes and heart disease, it's your right. It's also your bill.

As for me, I represent the 8% of us who eat right, exercise daily, don't smoke, and drink only moderately if at all. Our future health outcomes are unknown just like anyone. But our effort to live a life "compliant to health" increases our odds of enjoying just that--health. If not, we've done what we can and deserve top notch care and reasonable costs associated with that care.

But our piddly 8% can't offset the 92% not even trying. No health-care plan can.

Michelle and Barack Obama tell the October 2009 Men's Health, Women's Health and Children's Health magazines they exercise regularly, eat right and don't serve their children sugary soft drinks. How 'bout we start keepin' up with the Obamas..? (not that smoking part of course...)

Oh Yeah, I Wanted Those S'mores..!

2009-09-08T00:05:00.011-04:00

Seems like saying "no" to ooey-gooey, warm, crisp, chocolate-y S'mores should yield an immediate 5lb submission of the scale. Especially when everyone else around the campfire is delighting in the indulgence, and I dig to the depths of my self-restraint and manage a "no thanks."

Lemme confess, I've enjoyed plenty of delectable indulgences myself this Summer. Too many. And there's one thing I've learned in my personal battle of the bulge--after a string of "yes please!" always comes a much longer string of "no thanks."

Please don't utter "deprivation." I hear that term constantly mentioned by overweight and obese proponents of the fat acceptance movement who favor a particular sweet. Only in America could someone put the words "deprivation" and "Snickers" in the same sentence. Talk to me when water, shelter and education are uncertainties, not a candy bar.

Nope. Simple self-restraint is all it was around the flickering fire on Labor Day. And no, the scale won't be posting any change tomorrow as a badge of my rational thinking. But my clothes won't be pinching at the waist either.

Don't think I don't know how delicious those damn S'mores woulda been though.

Fat Hatred in America on FOX's Alan Colmes Radio Show Tonight

2009-09-04T15:48:00.008-04:00

Tonight on Alan Colmes' Radio Show we'll be talking about "Fat Hatred in America."

People don't hate fat people. They hate fat--and what it's doing to the people they love. Just like watching a smoker smoke himself into emphysema and lung disease and the terrible agony that comes with that, so too is it for those of us struggling to keep our own weight and health in check while loved ones are ensnared by obesity and all the horrors that come with it.

Watching my parents, grandparents, aunts, uncles and other family members eat themselves into type 2 diabetes, cancer, knee problems, hip problems, immobility, dementia, high blood pressure and other disabling conditions is heart-breaking.

Even with that front row seat to obesity-induced despair, I find it incredibly difficult to maintain a healthy weight myself. The non-stop food temptations affect us all. Whether we realize it or not, the sight, smell, even mention of food sets off an involuntary neuro-chemical response telling us to EAT EAT EAT..! We can thank evolutionary survival instincts for that. Our DNA never realized food would become so overly abundant. Our DNA never knew we'd be ingesting non-nourishing (possibly damaging), "edible entertainment" either.

We all need a break from America's culture of constant pressure to consume. Fat Hatred? I don't think so. Hate the Fat Culture? Yep.

Got Organs..? Anderson Cooper Shows Only Tip of Iceberg

2009-09-03T12:32:00.023-04:00

You see the news headlines: Cheating wife tricks hubby into kidney donation. Brooklyn businessman traffics impoverished Eastern Jews for their organs. Mount Sinai duped in not-really-cousins kidney swap. China's black market for organs. The organ mafia. And there's Apple CEO Steve Jobs' speedy liver transplant done in Tennessee rather than his home-state of California.

Anderson Cooper is doing a special CNN 360 segment on this growing medical crisis--"Secret Harvest."

An estimated 10% of the 16,000 annual U.S. kidney transplants are illegal--meaning the donor is being paid up to $20K for his precious "gift." What two consensual adults decide to do with their bodies, or body parts, is up for ethical debate. But what's clear is that the need for organs will be skyrocketing.

The worldwide escalation of obesity and type 2 diabetes will increase the demand dramatically as hearts and kidneys fail from improper eating. And who will supply healthy replacements? Remember, only 8% of Americans eat right, exercise daily, don't smoke, and drink moderately if at all.

The excellent reality program "Hopkins," based on Johns Hopkins hospital in Baltimore had a wrenching moment when a heart specialist flew to make a life-saving transplant pickup only to discover the heart was unusable--the donor was obese and his heart encased in fat. Heartbreak for the eagerly awaiting patient and family back in Baltimore.

Even on the popular TV show "House," Dr. House quipped that 80% of the time, organs from the obese are unusable...

I'm sure the new CBS drama about a transplant hospital, "Three Rivers," will be all over this

IOM's 58 Local Recommendations to Fight Child Obesity

2009-09-01T14:41:00.015-04:00

The Institute of Medicine wants more local action when it comes to fighting child obesity... I was talkin' this up on CNN today:
Check it out...

"Open Happiness" says Coke. "Pour on the Pounds" says Cathy Nonas and NYC's Dept of Health

2009-09-01T02:10:00.006-04:00

I'm on Delta heading from Atlanta back to NYC... The Coca-Cola-emblazoned screen on the seat in front of me reads: "Open Happiness."

Coke makes the further promise of "Deliciously Uplifting."

There's no mention that colas are linked to obesity, diabetes, osteoporosis, ADHD-type reactions to the food coloring, tooth decay or any other health horror. Not so "happy" I guess.

Meanwhile, Cathy Nonas and the NYC Department of Health and Human Hygiene are rockin' a new campaign to curb cola consumption (along with all those other fat-inducing sweetened beverages). Their sign reads: "Are You Pouring on the Pounds?" And follows up with "Don't Drink Yourself Fat."

Remember, dump 1 soda a day and opt for water instead, and you'll drop 14 pounds of fat by this time next year. Drinking 2 or 3 soft drinks, sports drinks, energy drinks, syrupy coffees or sugar-filled smoothies a day today..? Imagine your shrinking waistline if you go with water instead...

Now if we can just convince parents to hook their kids on water instead of this liquid candy...

Corn Refiners Association Thinks We're Stupid

2009-08-21T15:28:00.012-04:00

You've seen the new ads, right? That high fructose corn syrup isn't any worse for you than sugar...

Exactly, HFCS is similar to sugar health-wise: bad for you.

Before you righteously go purchase the "better stuff" Snapple, Mexican-made Coca-Cola, "throwback Pepsi," or any of the other HFCS-free concoctions, remember to check the label for grams of sugar.

(Divide the number of grams of sugar by 4 to get your teaspoon count. 12 grams = 3 teaspoons of sugar. And don't be tricked by serving size verses the entire bottle.)

Sugar, like HFCS, is a pro-inflammatory substance that damages your arteries and raises your "bad" cholesterol, not to mention the risk of type 2 diabetes, excess calories and the added sugars hidden in every product to prompt cravings and over-eating.

Preying on social insecurity, the Corn Refiners' new ads want you to be embarrassed for even questioning HFCS. It's genius on the side of the food/beverage/corn refiners industries...

So yeah, maybe HFCS isn't much worse than table sugar, brown sugar, raw sugar, honey, maple syrup, agave nectar, etc. (Although some studies are surfacing that the heart, among other things, might be negatively affected by HFCS. So keep posted.)

The Corn Refiners Association thinks by saying HFCS = Sugar, you'll say. "Hooray, load me up..!" They think you're stupid.

Ending Weight Stigma Begins with Fat America

2009-08-20T12:20:00.017-04:00

Would there be weight stigma if the majority of those overweight and obese became so as a result of rare medical conditions?

My answer: NO

If I were one of the rare few Americans who is overweight or obese due to Prader-Willi, Pica, Cushing's Syndrome or a reaction to certain medications, I would be furious--furious with fat people.

Tell me. How many people do you know with Prader-Willi, Pica or Cushing's? Me neither. How about friends having a serious reaction to medication resulting in excessive weight gain? Again, no one I know. (I'm guessing a few of you might know people in this category.)

So for every 100 overweight or obese Americans you see, if you assume their weight is due to improper eating, you'll be wrong fewer than 5 times (probably fewer than that).

An accuracy rate higher than 90% is still an A, right? You're not biased, you're statistically sound.

And why the stigma? Because self-destructive behavior goes against human nature and the will to survive. It's hard to convince the rest of us that self-induced disfigurement, disease and disability is a good thing. It's even harder to convince us when you ask us to pick up the $147 Billion tab..!

But if obesity were the anomaly it would be if it occurred mainly as a result of rare medical conditions, there would be no weight stigma. Groups fighting for fat acceptance, claiming "weight discrimination," are off-base. Instead they should be promoting genuinely healthful eating, holding people accountable for their lifestyle choices, and championing awareness campaigns for those truly suffering, by no fault of their own, from Prader-Willi, Pica, Cushing's Syndrome and pharmaceutical reactions.

PETA to Fat America: Save the Whales..!

2009-08-18T13:45:00.011-04:00

Think PETA's mean..? Maybe.

But you know what's really mean? Doing nothing while people eat themselves into obesity, diabetes and cancer. The results of obesity are far crueler than any billboard. Think birth defects due to obesity. Now that's cruel.

Sure this PETA billboard will shock, offend, hurt a few feelings. But most importantly, it'll save lives.

People can't help but talk about it, and word will continue to spread that a plant-based diet is far healthier than meat-based. Be a "mostly vegetarian," vegetarian or vegan who avoids fried or starchy veggies and your body will thank you, planet earth will thank you and whatever health-care program the U.S. ends up with will thank you.

Please make sure you're taking a B-12 supplement! And remember, it's "vegetarian" not bag-of-chips-and-a-diet-coke-atarian.

Ms. Fatty is Funny on MeMe Roth

2009-08-17T23:42:00.007-04:00

The mysterious Ms. Fatty is funny and straightforward when it comes to fat... Check her out...

Angry Town Hall Meetings- Health-Care Reform- Obesity Bailout

2009-08-14T14:50:00.023-04:00

"But I'm a Vegetarian..!"

I hear loads of overweight and obese people say they eat "healthfully" or "exercise" or are "vegetarians..."

But what your mouth says doesn't much matter when your body tells a different story. And your body is a major confessor.

Many people who claim to be **vegetarians, when a better description is "Carbotarian," "Macaroni-n-Cheeseatarian," or "Bag-of-Chips-and-a-Diet Coke-atarian." I worked with with a bright young woman in D.C. years ago. She called herself a vegetarian, but I never saw her eat a vegetable that was green. She was big on corn, pasta and mashed potatoes.

And yep, her body told on her. She was kinda squishy and pasty and frequently under-the-weather.

We're seeing a whole bunch of hoppin' mad Americans shouting down Congressmen and Congresswomen at local Town Hall meetings. Maybe they have a lot to be angry about when it comes to the health-care reform plans on the table: Obama's, the House's or the Senate's.

But I'm sure you've noticed what I've noticed. Most the screamers are also visibly overweight or obese--just like the rest of America. And no, it's unlikely they're suffering from rare medical conditions that promote obesity such as Prader-Willi, Pica or Cushing's Syndrome. 9 times out of 10 it's extra weight as a result of improper eating (eating the wrong foods, too much of the right foods, or a combo of both), and inadequate exercise.

We know the expected fate of most of these folks: chronic disease--very expensive, decades' long, chronic disease.

You'll be paying for it. You already are. It's the unspoken "Obesity Bailout." No matter what becomes of today's raging health-care reform debates, you're already paying higher premiums due to a nation with self-inflicted illness. Employers already pay $45 Billion a year due to employee obesity in lost productivity, extra time off an a higher incidence of workers compensation claims. And as you know, the annual U.S. price tag for obesity is $147 Billion--with a big chunk to cover obesity costs through Medicare and Medicaid.

So as our fellow countrymen shout out at elected government officials during Town Hall Meetings, we are indeed seeing Democracy in Action. We're also witnessing far more than what's being said. Freeze your frame, and take a look at what all these overweight and obese American bodies are telling us.

**(I'm a "mostly-vegetarian," eating chicken about once a week.)

Today is My Grandmother's 85th Birthday

2009-08-13T12:32:00.004-04:00

The debate rages as to how many annual U.S. deaths can be blamed on obesity: 40,000? 400,000? Absent a definitive digit, obesity acceptance groups counter that maybe being obese isn’t the threat headlines proclaim. Either way, using mortality figures to gauge obesity impact isn’t the answer. Medical advances can keep the obese living decade upon decade, whether they suffer from diabetes, heart disease, orthopedic problems, cancer or all of the above.

Consider my grandmother. At five-foot-nothin’ she tips the scale at 300 pounds. For decades, she has lived in a self-decreed obesity exile, where she won’t socialize beyond family, hides when the cameras come out and refuses invitations other than to sedentary gatherings where she can hold court from her easy chair—or in recent years—her bed.

You’d really like her. She’s a sassy and skilled conversationalist with a great sense of humor, a heaping dollop of southern hospitality and a dash of gossip. Her looks harken back to a 40’s movie studio starlet: heart-shaped face, smoky eyes and full lips. Grandmom was always voluptuous—when voluptuous meant curvy and curvy meant hourglass, not fat. Since the 60’s, becoming twice widowed and after numerous failed diet attempts, she donned a muumuu, surrounded herself with walls of commissioned artwork of luxuriating beauties, and added another 150 pounds to her petite frame. As the weight increased, so did the limits on her activities. It’s the norm now, but back in the early 80’s my grandmother was the first person I ever knew who had a handicap parking pass for obesity.

She’s survived breast cancer, diabetes, heart disease, orthopedic issues of every kind, broken bones from falls—the list goes on and on. At 82 years of age, Muriel “Merle” Hamilton Coomler Hamn Williams is certainly alive and off the obesity mortality chart.

Her way of living wouldn’t rate as living for many of us. Her colossal adiposity suffocates. She’s in endless and indeterminate pain. Frequently hooked up to oxygen, the pressure from fat poundage on her chest leaves her breathless. Surgery is out of the question. Instead she’s now hooked on OxyContin, amid a sea of other pills, inhalants and medical gadgets. My once lucid grandmother is uncertain as to who is or isn’t in her family—and if she does guess that you’re “in,” you’re likely mixed up with an aunt or uncle of a different generation. My grandmother is certifiably alive, but dead to me. Don’t worry for her feelings; she’s forgotten she has a granddaughter.

Grandmom is cared for around-the-clock by Carolyn, a pseudo-nurse, who’s mostly my grandmother’s gofer and sole companion. The family is immensely glad for Carolyn’s existence and crosses fingers she’ll never leave, die or be run off. She is sent out daily to purchase a bounty of pies, shakes and cakes. Sometimes she fibs that Piggly Wiggly is out of cakes. But that doesn’t fool my drugged-out grandmom. She manages to collect herself enough to make a quick call to the bakery department. “Thaay haaayuv caaakes nowah, Darlin’.”

You also help in my grandmother’s care. Medicaid, or was it Medicare, came in as an answer to Carolyn’s pleas to force my grandmother to bathe. She had refused to leave her bed for any of life’s little emergencies. Too much effort.

If she were anorexic, suicidal, even one of today’s “cutters,” the family likely would commit her or at least convene one of those terribly awkward interventions. But that’s just not done when the danger is obesity. Discussing a Southern Belle’s ample weight is simply out of the question. She’d rather die.

More to Love...or More to Fear..?

2009-08-11T22:39:00.008-04:00

She's a self-proclaimed "size 18" who thinks plus-sized should be called normal because it's America's new statistical norm. Plus, she thinks leading lady love interests on TV should be overweight to prove mainstreaming and acceptance of overweight/obese. Here's her article specifically about these new plus-sized reality shows.

More to Love or more to fear..? I'm going with fear. Meet pro-fat pundit Joy Tipping by clicking here. (Blink and you'll miss my appearance...)

And for fun check out the difference between obligatory compliments vs. the real deal... Is that a Victoria Secret catalogue in your pocket, Harry Smith? Or are you just glad to see the underwear models up close and personal..? Either way, authentic desire is a dead give-away... Harry throws compliments of "beautiful" to plus-sized poster child, Emme, in the link above. But just watch him here with the models... Healthy hetero-libido doesn't lie.

Should a love connection be made on the FOX show "More to Love", keep this in mind. These contestants are 200-300+ pounds and only in their twenties. Ahead the expectation should be orthopedic problems, snoring and sleep apnea, gall bladder disease, kidney stones, and more seriously, type 2 diabetes, cancer and dementia, as well as fertility and pregnancy complications including a greater likelihood for a child with birth defects. This is the "reality" of obese love in America 2009.

Obesity and the Exercise Myth

2009-08-11T01:07:00.009-04:00

In his excellent August 17, 2009 TIME cover story "Why Exercise Won't Make You Thin," John Cloud's real case isn't about exercise as the culprit, but exercise-induced eating--either from hunger or reward seeking. If we're going to address the obesity public health crisis, the first thing we'll have to acknowledge is that Americans are more than a bundle of unmitigated impulses. Just as frustration does not equal quitting, anger does not equal hitting, and arousal does not equal intercourse, between the urge to eat and the act of eating must come intervening rational thinking--a judgement call. (Devices like the scale, snug clothes or a mirror serve as decent proxies.) As someone who relies on the health benefits of daily exercise and comes from a family history of obesity, the defining difference between most overweight Americans and me isn't a fast metabolism, it's recognizing the difference between wanting of food versus partaking.

Wedding Gown Challenge- Of Course It Fits..!

2009-08-07T00:26:00.010-04:00

Love makes us fat...

Marriage makes us fat...

Our friends make us fat...

Yeah, yeah, yeah, we've read all the reports. Truth is, we make ourselves fat. Of course, industry couldn't be more helpful. What with their adding sugar to everything so food plays tricks on us: Cravings anyone? Feeling hungry when maybe you're not really hungry? Digging that dopamine high?

It's damn hard to not get fat these days. We're hardwired to eat all food available and to store fat. Otherwise our DNA wouldn't have survived eons of scarcity. But today's survival skill is surviving abundance. With processed foods--I mean ingestible entertainment--formulated, packaged and marketed to bypass all reason, it takes all the logic you can muster to override your neuro-chemical responses driving you to Dunkin' Donuts at 3am...

Kelly Brownell at Yale's Rudd Center says it takes "motivation" and a "willingness" to control these impulses and make healthful lifestyle choices instead. I agree. When it's "no thanks" as tiramisu is offered... or the face of every runner along the path...I'm pretty sure I'm witnessing pure determination.

Were you at a healthy weight when you hit your twenties? Are you still at about the same weight? You should be. (Weight lifters and the like get a free pass on this.) Whether it's your acid wash jeans, Bugle Boys, or whatever you wore the first night you got drunk (legally), those clothes should still fit--your body if not your current sense of style.

America is a collective 5 Billion pounds overweight, the average adult is 23 pounds overweight, and most couples put on 25 to 30 pounds after the first few years of marriage.

If you have the determination, motivation and willingness, those numbers don't have to describe you. As for me, I'm celebrating the 5th Annual Wedding Gown Challenge today. More than 12 years and 2 children later, the gown still fits, Ba-bee..!

Plus Size Panty Liners..? What the What??

2009-08-05T13:50:00.006-04:00

Going down the escalator last night at the Duane Reade here in NYC, something caught my eye. It wasn't the purple stack of feminine products passing by as we neared the ground floor--it was the LABEL on the box of panty liners. It read "for sizes 14+..."

What the what??

We grew up on mini or maxi, but what is this newfangled, plus size panty liners? And eww.

We now have a growth market in plus-sized clothes (for kids too, who sadly aren't being fed properly), plus-sized surgical tools, plus-sized gurneys, plus-sized wheelchairs, and tragically, plus-sized coffins too. We have plus-sized seats on ferries and at sporting arenas, and have all but outgrown the "18-inch rule" for estimating a per seat size at any venue.

And last night I discover we have plus-sized panty liners, made especially to fit the size 14+ crowd, brought to us by Always, a Procter & Gamble brand. A poster jubilantly commented, "awesome product for plus size women!"

If we need 'em, we need 'em. But how have we let ourselves get to the point where we need any of the above? Our average woman is 5' 4" and 163 pounds. She's an overweight, but statistically "normal" size 14 and apparently in need of plus size panty liners.

That's 20 pounds of excess fat. That's 70,000 excess calories. If this same woman cut 200 calories per day for the next year, she'd be back within a healthy weight range. Cut one soda, or one syrupy-whipped-cream-topped coffee, or one candy bar, or that bagel, or two Girl Scout Cookies from your day and BAM! you're back to normal-sized panty liners. Worth it??

Obesity- an Elective Disability?

2009-08-04T14:30:00.020-04:00

We're a compassionate people and want to help those in need, especially those with disabilities. But what about a nation becoming disabled by choice? No one wants the effects of disability, but when the disability is a consequence of lifestyle choices, should the government pay in Medicare and Medicaid? Should insurance policies payout to cover the expenses, raising the cost to all covered? And how should elective obesity be addressed in today's health-care reform debates? According to the CDC, today's annual price tag for obesity is $147 Billion. The cost to employers for employee obesity is $40 Billion annually according to the Conference Board.

When it comes to obesity, we know more than 9 times out of 10, it is a result of lifestyle choices. We also know that a third of cancer is obesity-related, more than 90% of diabetes, and then of course there's heart disease, stroke, dementia, gallbladder disease, gout, kidney stones, infertility--the list goes on.

Yesterday a youngish, maybe 40?, couple was leaving the Cracker Barrel at Pennsylvania exit 29 on Highway 78. They were both obese and having trouble walking--he with a leg brace--she with a cane. They managed to get themselves into their truck, and then backed out of their handicap parking space.

Maybe their disability was not caused by obesity, only exacerbated by it..?

With the majority of Americans overweight or obese, imagine the levels of elective disability we'll need to accommodate in the not so distant future...

Tara Parker Pope of The New York Times Well blog relays a harrowing story of trying to escape the Wall Street Journal offices during the 9/11 attacks. She and all those behind her were stranded on the 9th floor in the stairwell, stuck behind an obese woman in need of many good Samaritans to help her. Thankfully, they did make it out of the building.

Oh Rush Limbaugh Oh Paul Campos...

2009-07-30T10:35:00.006-04:00

Did you see Paul Campos' off-base comments in The Atlantic..? Click here to check it out...

Here's my response to Paul Campos and the entire Pro Fat Acceptance nonsense...

When it comes to America's weight issue, there are two categories: 1- People who are overweight 2- People on their way to becoming overweight. I agree w/ Paul Campos. There's no benefit to forcing the fat to become thin. Not gonna happen. Instead, the emphasis must be to reduce the risk for chronic disease in those overweight or obese. That means daily exercise; a non-starchy, non-fried, mostly-vegetarian diet; and water instead of soft drinks, sports drinks or juice. All of the above applies to Category 2 as well. But also we must do all that we can to preserve their health and prevent them from becoming overweight in the first place. That means a focus on pre-pregnancy to age 5, when body composition, eating patterns and exercise habits are being established. How can we justify junk food in school and daycare centers? Or marketing these harmful substances to children in any setting? Tax ingest-able entertainment like sweetened soft drinks and earmark that money for education, safe recreation facilities and affordable produce. Launch campaigns to convince parents to hook their kids on water rather than liquid candy. Re-cast our nation as one in pursuit of the long-term pleasures of good health rather than the quick fix high of junk food. Nutshell? Prevention: Prevention from the overweight and obese from becoming heavier and sicker. Prevention from the next generation from becoming sickly and overweight in the first place.

Want to debate whether or not the obese are already sick? Ask an orthopedic specialist. Ask any doctor who understands the effects of obesity-induced, excess estrogen on men, women and children. Ask heart specialists who understand silent inflammation associated with obesity... Obesity is associated with a higher incidence of infertility, pregnancy complications and ultimately, birth defects. So forget what Campos or I think--debate the matter with Darwin.

Even Darwin would have a hard time explaining Rush Limbaugh... Yesterday he reviewed my Campbell Brown CNN appearance and called me a B-I-tch. Know what? I kinda agree. But other than that one point, not so much.

A challenge for Rush Limbaugh??

Rush ba-bee, if ya don't want anyone to have an opinion about what you eat and how much you don't exercise, then by all means, pay 100% out-of-pocket for any obesity-related health consequences from your lifestyle choices...and of course, forfeit any future claims from Medicare. Put your convictions where your mouth is, Rush. xxxooo, MeMe "the bitch" Roth

Wanna Offset that $147 Billion Dollar Obesity Price Tag?? Maybe a Soda Tax??

2009-07-29T14:33:00.007-04:00

Was thrilled to attend the CDC's "Weight of the Nation" conference this week in Washington, DC. The big news? The annual price tag for obesity has gone up to $147 Billion...

Wanna offset some of that obesity price tag? What do you think of a sweetened beverage tax--or the "Soda Tax"..? Just chatted this up on CNN. Check it out.

A Case Against an Overweight Surgeon General

2009-07-23T22:44:00.011-04:00

Our Surgeon General can’t be fat.

Somebody should have said that as a prerequisite, behind closed doors, sparing us—and Dr. Regina Benjamin—public embarrassment.

More politically correct, it should have been stated that whomever would be considered to lead our nation out of today’s obesity and diabetes twin public health crises (with an eye on every other public health threat), must exemplify a personal health lifestyle comprising a mostly vegetarian diet (appropriately-portioned, non-starchy), and daily exercise—the standard prescription for preventing chronic disease and premature death.

Or perhaps the Obama administration should have checked with the Surgeon General’s office and its Public Health Service Commissioned Corps, where standard weight requirements are published and must be met before a candidate is considered for employment. A woman between the ages of 51-64 at the average height of five foot four can be no more than 160 pounds.

Failure to meet these basic requirements obviates further consideration. The only exception might be a candidate, who regardless of personal practices, demonstrated quantitative success in reversing obesity and diabetes trends within a U.S. state or large municipality—Another preclusion from considering Dr. Benjamin. Her home state Alabama is the second fattest in the nation with more than 31% adults obese, trailing only Mississippi.

When it comes to health care, President Obama has a considerable challenge in driving down costs—especially the estimated $700 billion spent annually on unnecessary procedures and prescriptions, many of which are consequences of lifestyle choices: smoking, improper eating, inactivity. These elective illnesses include type 2 diabetes, a third of common cancers, heart disease, orthopedic failure, dementia, gout, kidney stones, gallbladder disease—the list continues totaling more than $90 billion spent annually on obesity (half of that on obesity for Medicare), and $40 billion spent annually by employers due to employee obesity. The human cost is incalculable. But experts estimate obesity claims more than 200,000 American lives annually—more than 600 everyday.

Now more than ever, we recognize our role in our own health outcomes and the day-to-day decisions that either increase or decrease our likelihood for chronic disease or premature death. Yet knowing isn’t doing. A mere 8% of American citizens—according to the government’s most recent National Health and Nutrition Examination Study—eschew cigarettes, limit alcohol to one or two glasses daily, eat recommended portions of produce and exercise regularly. Our next Surgeon General must come from this health-promoting 8%.

Dr. Benjamin is beloved by her food-as-payment patients she good-humoredly credits for her extra weight. And there’s no denying her myriad and stellar credentials. The New York Times dubbed this renowned and respected doctor an “angel in a white coat.” And among her many distinguishing honors, commendations have been bestowed upon her in the name of the pope and Mother Theresa. As a devout Catholic, Regina Benjamin might be better suited for sainthood than Surgeon General.

But what of her role as a model of prevention? A guide for reducing unnecessary health costs and human suffering? What is her obligation, if any, to African-American women—our largest category of obesity, and a segment prone to hypertension and type 2 diabetes at lower body-fat percentages than Caucasian?

In the midst of one of the greatest public health challenges our nation has faced, a do-as-I-say-not-as-I-do doc is unfit to serve as Surgeon General.