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]

Erika Van Calcar, MS, RD, Nutrition Coach:   We have all been there, right? We’re curled up in front of the TV with a bowl of ice cream and suddenly we look down and are shocked to find that it’s all gone.  Someone else must have come along and helped themselves or perhaps it was a case of momentary possession; we think, “Certainly I could not have eaten all of that! Could I?” Researchers at UT Southwestern Medical Center at Dallas say, yes you can. Certain fats, specifically palm... [More]

Sandi Kaplan, Associate Director, Clinical Development and Support:   I stared aghast at the photo of long-time fashion model Filippa Hamilton in a recent Ralph Lauren ad. We know that if the doll Barbie was a real woman, her dimensions are such that she would be unable to stand upright. Well, the dimensions of Hamilton’s photo made me wonder how the woman could possibly be alive. She looks emaciated in the extreme. Hamilton spoke out after the release of the photo to say that it ... [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]

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]

Jennifer Lovejoy, Vice President, Clinical Development and Support:   “Processed food is gross, Mom,” said my 7th grade daughter the other day. She was prompted to make this statement by a book for kids called Chew on This by Eric Schlosser and Charles Wilson. (Yes, she checked this book out of the library completely on her own without any maternal pressure!) Schlosser, who also wrote the book Fast Food Nation for adults, does a good job in making the scary side of fast food and process... [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]

Beth Shepard, MS, Exercise Physiologist, Contributing Writer:   At a time when consumers are getting mixed messages regarding the value of exercise, the New York Times serves up a recently published study from Finland pointing to moderate and vigorous exercise as a cancer prevention tool. Researchers studied the physical activity habits of about 2500 middle-aged Finnish men over the course of 17 years. After controlling for factors such as age, fiber and fat intake, and cigarette ... [More]

Jennifer Lovejoy, PhD, Vice President, Clinical Development and Support:   There’s been a lot of talk lately about a new study conducted by researchers at Louisiana State University that showed that increasing exercise doesn’t cause weight loss. In fact, people who exercised the most in this study were actually more likely to gain weight than those who exercised least. Despite the buzz, the idea that exercise doesn’t help you lose weight is actually old news; there have been dozens of s... [More]