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

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??

Tell Me Your Answers for Obesity...

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.)

Zero Weight-Gain Pregnancy- Blame the Baby?

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...

Hating Obesity is the Start...

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..?

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...

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...