For an employer, costs can be as much as 40% higher in one year for someone who is overweight because of all the issues associated with obesity, including diabetes, back problems, asthma, depression and heart disease.

Read the entire article.

Good advice from The Cleveland Clinic.

I do agree with them on item #5, however, I do not follow that rule.

Mark Bittman busts that myth. Thank you Mark. Foods with health benefits that taste great do not have to be expensive.

Food companies understand that these *ingredients are cheap, irresistible to our taste buds, and highly rewarding to the pleasure pathways in our brains, so they design their products with this in mind. - Miriam Nelson and Jennifer Ackerman (authors of: The Social Network Diet)

*Most foods now packing our grocery-store shelves are highly processed, containing little food value and too much sugar, fat, and salt to be considered healthy.

That's what this CBS Sunday Morning segment called the items below. Yes, this is one reason why people struggle with weight loss and health. No doubt, these items taste great. Unless you identify foods with health benefits that taste great, you will always crave these pleasurable items for the palate. 

A heartbreaking number of children in this country are struggling with their weight and obesity. They are addicted to sugar and processed food. Most people don’t realize that they keep eating because their bodies are hungry for nutrition. - Joshua Rosenthal

Unfortunately, the state that I reside in (Georgia) is the #2 state in childhood obesity - #1 is Mississippi.

Georgia knows it has a serious problem. Here's what Children's Hospital of Atlanta is doing:

1. News segment
2. Website
3. Facebook Presence

Will it help? Time will tell.

If you do, watch this fascinating presentation by the author of The Blue Zones.

We gave our cheeseburgers a taste-lift so big we want to share ‘em with everyone!  - Wendy's

Thanks Wendy's. That new juicy cheeseburger has 2.5 grams of trans fat in it. Trans fat is a known artery clogger killer and is being taken out of our food supply. But evidently, not by you. I'll pass on your trans fatty-burger and your "natural" French fries.

NPR states: You really need to be prepared to make the most of each appointment. Here's the article with the Ten Questions.

It also links you to a question builder. Check it out.

Dr. Rudolph Leibel explains. This is one of the more fascinating discussions that I have heard. 

And, once you listen to it, you will have a better appreciation for this new calorie calculator. It's science-based and designed by  The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases. 

NIDDK is part of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

In a recent Time magazine cover story, Dr. Oz stated: "The only fat that is universally accepted as bad is trans fat, and that's now been stripped out of most foods." 

The reality is: Trans fat exists in many of our foods. Here's just one example: A Wendy's meal (Frosty, Juicy Burger, and small fries - over 2,000 calories) that has 3.5 grams of trans fats.

For more information about Trans Fats, go to my website: Partially Hydrogenated.

Good nutrition is straightforward and simple, but in America pressure from the food industry makes it almost impossible for any public official to state the plain truth. - Joshua Rosenthal

Cargill recently recalled 36-million pounds of turkey meat. To get a visual: That would be 180,000 people each weighing 200 pounds.

Harvard has taken the USDA's food plate and made some modifications. Nice job Harvard. I would make some minor changes, but candidly, they're inconsequential. So, I'll leave well enough alone. 

Take a look. 

Copyright © 2011, Harvard University. For more information about The Healthy Eating Plate, please see The Nutrition Source, Department of Nutrition, Harvard School of Public Health, www.thenutritionsource.org, and Harvard Health Publications, health.harvard.edu

I'm all for that. Jeff Novick will let you in on some interesting food facts.