Free Republic

Having solved all other problems plaguing our society, New York Times opinion author (and food journalist) Mark Bittman has his eye on the big prize. Taking a page from Michael Bloomberg’s big government playbook, Mark is looking for a new way stop people from drinking soda. Since efforts to ban sales of any sort fell flat in the courts (pun intended) the author is looking for more of a generational change, and the way to do that is to stop kids from getting in the habit of drinking the sugary beverages at an early age. How do we do that?...

Food hunger in America: More Hype than Reality. Why?He that speaketh truth sheweth forth righteousness: but a false witness deceit. (Proverbs 12:17)We see often such claims in the media such as that "millions in people here in American could be staring at an empty plate," "49 million people [approx. 1 out of 6 in American]...face hunger," "millions of Americans go to bed hungry," "1 in 7 people struggles with hunger in the US," (Feeding America) or "1 in 6 people in America faces hunger every day," (https://www.dosomething.org) or "50 million Americans—including 1 out of every 4 children—do not know where...

Obesity is a National Security Issue: Lieutenant General Mark Hertling at TEDxMidAtlantic 2012 Lieutenant General Mark Phillip Hertling, is the Commanding General, US Army Europe and Seventh Army. In that role, he is the commander of the approximately 42,000 U.S. Army forces assigned to Europe, and he is the Army Component Commander of U.S. European Command. While Hertling's primary role is training U.S. Army soldiers and units for Contingency and Full Spectrum Operations, he is also responsible for Theater Security Cooperation and Building Partner Capacity with the 51 allied nations that are part of the European area of operation.

David Diamond, Ph.D., of the University of South Florida College of Arts and Sciences shares his personal story about his battle with obesity. Diamond shows how he lost weight and reduced his triglycerides by eating red meat, eggs and butter. You can download Dr. Diamond's PowerPoint and the iTunes U podcast here: http://www.cas.usf.edu/news/s/169/#VI...

Obesity is still rising among American adults, despite more than a decade of public-awareness campaigns and other efforts to get people to watch their weight, and women have now overtaken men in the obese category, new government research shows. For the past several years, experts thought the nation's alarming, decades-long rise in obesity had leveled off. But the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention said in a report Thursday that the obesity rate has climbed to nearly 38 percent of adults, up from 32 percent about a decade earlier.

Gary Taubes, a nationally known science writer, gives a lecture about obesity. The event was held at New Brighton School and was sponsored by the Santa Cruz County Office of Education.

Despite their bad reputation, junk food, fast food and soda aren't the root cause of America's obesity epidemic, Cornell University researchers contend. While these sugary and salt-laden foods may not be good for your health, the scientists found no significant difference in how much of these foods either overweight or normal weight people consumed. The real problem, according to the researchers: too many Americans eat too much. "These are foods that are clearly bad for you and if you eat too much of them they will make you fat, but it doesn't appear to be the main driver that is...

The National Institutes of Health (NIH) has spent over $1.1 million studying the “freshman 15,” trying to determine whether friends influence their college peers to eat more.Sen. Rand Paul (R., Ky.) highlighted the project as an example of wasteful spending, calling out the agency for studying a myth invented by Seventeen magazine.“The ‘freshman 15’ is an old legend around college campuses; the idea that new college students, away from home and confronted with a campus food service smorgasbord tend to put on a few extra pounds,” Paul’s latest edition of “The Waste Report” reads. “Well the National Institutes for Health...

The United States is home to the most obese population in the Americas, Asia and Europe, has the fattest kids by a wide margin and is tops in poor health for teenagers, according to the latest measure of well-being from the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development. In its "How's Life 2015?" report released Tuesday, the United States is also among the nations with underperforming students and second in murders and assaults. But the U.S. shines when it comes to personal wealth and even the number of rooms in our homes, said the organization that charts the personal and economic...

Cajun Chef's death announced

A man who tips the scale at close to 800 pounds says he has nowhere to go after being kicked out of a hospital weight loss program for ordering pizza. Now he rides in the back of an SUV while his father drives the roads of Rhode Island, looking for someone who can help. Steven Assanti, 33, said his eating addiction has led him to this place, living in the back of his dad's SUV with nowhere else to go. For the past 80 days, Assanti was getting the help he needed in a Rhode Island hospital where he lost 20 pounds. But...

THURSDAY, July 16, 2015 (HealthDay News) -- One-third of young adults in the United States are too overweight to be in the military, according to a report from a group of retired military leaders.

WHAT COMMON PRACTICE WILL HORRIFY OUR KIDS SOMEDAY?It puts babies' overall nutrition at risk Question Everything IconMany families are trying to reduce their soda intake but manufacturers are fighting back with “no added sugar” formulations and “fruit” drinks. So far, they’re winning. A drink of diluted fruit juice is the routine afternoon snack of many babies. It’s often the good stuff: pure juice. No nasty preservatives, more vitamin C than necessary and no added sugar. But you don’t have to add sugar to make fruit juice sweet—that’s why babies prefer it to water. And because they prefer it, it becomes...

The trendy nutritional advice that's more likely to make you ill than healthy The supermarket aisle has become a confusing place. It used to be full of recognisable items like cheese and butter; now you find yourself bamboozled by all manner of odd alternatives such as ‘raw’ hummus, wheat-free bread and murky juices. You have to stay pretty alert to make sure you pick up a pint of proper milk, rather than a soy-based alternative or one free from lactose. Supermarkets have become shrines to ‘clean eating’, a faith that promises happiness, healthiness and energy. Food is to be worshipped...

The woman, 70, was hoisted in a large yellow net by FDNY paramedics from her Fifth Avenue home and rushed to St. Luke’s Hospital, where she was listed in stable condition. “Firemen came down and measured the elevator door,” the building doorman said. “She would not have been able to get out of the door.”

This story is not satire. According to a study funded by the National Institutes of Health and awarded to a Boston hospital for more than $1.5 million, some mysterious phenomenon is covertly making lesbians obese, in apparent violation of the dietary laws of cause and effect. For now, I'm calling this phenomenon "obesity gremlins," and here's how a NIH-funded study describes this extraordinary mystery: It is now well-established that women of minority sexual orientation are disproportionately affected by the obesity epidemic, with nearly three-quarters of adult lesbians overweight or obese, compared to half of heterosexual women. So let me get...

Scientists have finally figured out how the key gene tied to obesity makes people fat, a major discovery that could open the door to an entirely new approach to the problem beyond diet and exercise. The work solves a big mystery: Since 2007, researchers have known that a gene called FTO was related to obesity, but they didn’t know how, and could not tie it to appetite or other known factors. Now experiments reveal that a faulty version of the gene causes energy from food to be stored as fat rather than burned. Genetic tinkering in mice and on human...

(CNSNews.com) – During a “voters first presidential forum” in New Hampshire on Monday, GOP presidential candidate Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal criticized President Barack Obama’s deal with Iran, saying he “declared war on trans fats and a ceasefire with the largest state-sanctioned sponsor of terrorism.” “This is a bad deal. He’s declared war on trans fats and a ceasefire with the largest state-sanctioned sponsor of terrorism,” said Jindal regarding the nuclear deal with Iran. As CNSNews.com previously reported, the Food and Drug Administration ruled in June that trans fat is not “generally recognized as safe” for use in food and gave...

On Friday, even the hosts of NBC’s Today had enough of Michelle Obama’s effort to micro-manage people’s food choices as they mocked the First Lady’s attempt to create a healthy version of s’mores. At the top of the 9 a.m. ET hour, co-host Willie Geist explained: “So the First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, and the USDA have teamed up for this program called ChooseMyPlate.gov. It's an initiative proposing a makeover, for among other things, this classic campfire treat. So instead of graham crackers with chocolate and marshmallow, they propose graham crackers with, want-wa, strawberries and low-fat yogurt.”...

Since a lot of people talk about various personal health issues here for a number of reasons, I wanted to pass along two documentaries I watched recently and thought have good information for people to review. First, is one called "Fat Head". It is done by a science writer that basically refutes the "Supersize Me" documentary. It discusses how a high carb, low fat and protein diet is the cause of obesity in America, and it's exactly what the government and health groups are demanding people follow to "get healthy". It gives an excellent easy understanding of why this does...