Jane Connell, MS, RD, Nutrition Coach:   Earlier in my career as a dietitian, I thought it would be really exciting if I could develop a magic pill which would assist my clients in losing weight. It would be so quick! And so easy! So well suited - a perfect fit - for our instant-gratification society. Just for fun, let us play out the magic pill scenario. What might that look like for you? You could eat whatever you want, however much you wished, whenever. You could do (or not do)... [More]

Jane Connell, MS, RD, Nutrition Coach:   Among the many hats I wear, I’m a soccer coach. Last year at this time, our local newspaper ran an article I wrote called, “Sports Snacks: Food for Thought.” With childhood obesity and obesity-related diseases skyrocketing, I thought it made good sense to seriously look at our tradition of feeding our kids the overly-processed, “ginormous” post-game snack. For some reason, many of our children’s sports events have evolved into a “will play ... [More]

Janice Milliman, Quit Coach, Service Delivery:   The recent death of Patrick Swayze raised much media attention and discussion of a little known and very deadly cancer: pancreatic.  For me, it also brought back bad memories. My good friend, Jim, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in March of 2007.  Unfortunately, he did not survive long, and lost his battle 2 months later. I felt such grief and compassion upon learning of Mr. Swayze's death.  I wondered if he suffered the extrem... [More]

Jessica Adlin, MS, RD, CN, Nutrition Coach:   Maintaining weight loss is the biggest challenge in the treatment of obesity. Fifty percent of the weight people lose is regained by the one year mark. And by five years, most people regain all the weight they lost. Why is maintaining weight loss such a challenge? There are many reasons. Psychologically, losing weight is the most rewarding aspect of treatment. Once an individual reaches a goal weight, most of the motivators disappear. ... [More]

Jennifer Lovejoy, Vice President, Clinical Development and Support:   With all the focus on the health care reform debate, there has been startlingly little attention to the major cause of rising health care costs in America: obesity.  Our nation currently spends nearly $150 billion per year on costs related to obesity, and another several hundred billion dollars per year on diabetes and heart disease, which are closely linked to obesity and poor nutritional habits.  And yet, relatively... [More]

Kara Linton, Mind & Body Coach   Recently PETA launched its “Save the Whales” campaign. Residents and tourists in Palm Beach, FL can’t help but notice the giant billboard featuring the back of an obese, bikini-clad woman with a slogan reading “Save the Whales. Lose the Blubber. Go Vegetarian.” A recent blog on PETA’s website states they are trying to remind residents and tourists that eating a vegetarian diets offers weight loss benefits, pointing to statistics showing vegetarians are 2... [More]

Erin Thompson, Marketing Manager:   Yesterday, The Washington Post ran excerpts from an interview with former FDA commissioner, David Kessler, who spoke about America’s obesity crisis and the need for a complete restructuring of the way we approach the problem: “…we have to change the way we look at food. Not how we look at fat people, not whether we want to be thin or not, but how we look at food. If you look at that lemon cake and say, ‘This is my friend,’ then there’s nothing I... [More]

Cindy Cernohous, B2B Marketing Manager:   I am a new a parent, the mother to a 6-month-old little boy. When I read this, it hit me between the eyes. The article begins, “You would never give a child a cigarette. Or a drink, or a snort of cocaine. But every day we American parents are giving our children something almost as addictive—meals laden with sugar, salt and fat. That mac n’cheese we all think is the only thing our child will eat is priming them for a lifetime of ... [More]

Beth Shepard, MS, Exercise Physiologist, Contributing Writer:   A new study released by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine links obesity in teenagers to reduced sleep caused by excessive use of technology and caffeine. Researchers studied a group of 320 children, gathering data on nutrition and physical activity habits. Results showed that those who slept less consumed more caffeine and spent more time on screen-based activities ― like television, video games, Internet, and co... [More]

Jennifer Lovejoy, PhD, Vice President, Clinical Development and Support:   The latest in a long list of reasons to avoid soft drinks and “super-sizing,” a recent report indicates that people who drink large amounts of cola (more than 2 liters per day) are at risk of low potassium, a medical condition called “hypokalemia.” Potassium performs many functions in the body and, as such, is normally tightly regulated. Our cells have been referred to as “little bags of potassium salts” and that... [More]