Refuse To Regain

The Paula Deen Flap: Sugar, Lies, and the Bitter Truth.

by Barbara Berkeley, MD I think I generally try to be non-judgemental, but I'm afraid I'm about to depart from that behavior temporarily. The reason? Paula Deen, her diabetes, and her response. Here's a nauseating little morsel: CBS News report on Deen's big reveal. Turns out, Deen has been diabetic for three years during which time she has continued to encourage Americans to eat some of the worst food on the planet. Of course, she intended her viewers to eat... Read more →

Is Your Irisin A'Risin?

by Barbara Berkeley, MD The latest chemical substance to get scientists into raptures is irisin, a hormone that is produced in muscle cells but exerts its effect on fat. We've all figured out that exercise and weight are somehow tied together and that this means that muscle and fat must communicate. Unfortunately, we've showed a woeful lack of imagination in tryng to come up with the mechanism. For decades, we've persisted in trying to jam the same puzzle piece into... Read more →

Sir: I Detect an Excess of Avoirdupois

by Barbara Berkeley, MD A few days ago, I wrote about the excessively blunt language and targeting of obese kids in an anti-fat campaign in Georgia. On the other end of the spectrum, doctors are being cautioned about using straightforward words like "obesity" when counseling patients about weight loss. A survey from the University of Pennsylvania asked overweight people to rate words that described their condition and to assign them negative, neutral or positive values. Words like "obese" and "fat"... Read more →

On Dietary Purism and Pragmatism

by Barbara Berkeley, MD Human beings are curious characters who seem to enjoy nothing more than dividing into factions, the better to denigrate those on the other side. Sometimes this unavoidable tendency turns life into a series of tiresome tug-of-wars. Are Cleveland Cavs fans really so different than Celtics fans? Clearly not, and yet even sports rivalries can engender strong beliefs that one side is physically, geographically, perhaps even morally, superior. When we divide into groups, we seem often to... Read more →

Big Kids on Billboards

by Barbara Berkeley, MD Just a quick post about a recent article on the anti-obesity campaign that is running in the state of Georgia. The bottom line is that someone has decided that a tough way to tackle childhood obesity is to put up posters that feature fat kids and harsh rhetoric (example: "Big bones didn't make me this way. Big meals did.") I believe I can predict your response to this, although some may say that we need more... Read more →

Got Eudaimonia? Beyond Diet and Lifestyle Change

by Barbara Berkeley, MD " The ancient Greeks called it eudaimonia, and positive psychologists have adopted the term to refer to the kind of profound satisfaction and meaning one derives from raising children, training for an Olympic event, completing a college degree or helping your neighbors rebuild after a disaster. " ( NY Times, "Get A MidLife", 1/8/12) It's a gift from the ancients! Today's New York Times introduced me to a word I've needed and searched for; a word... Read more →

And More Silly Season....

US News and World Report is now ranking diets. At the top of their list, diets that promote lots of whole grains, which immediately turn into blood sugar further taxing the damaged insulin axis of those who are overweight. Remember when good diet sense meant cutting out the bread and pasta? There was a reason for that: it worked! According to the article, the diet NOT to be recommended is the Primal diet. Better to do Jenny Craig, according to... Read more →

More Silly Season....

Here's a great example of Silly Season media coverage. This article in USA Today is utterly confusing. The headline shouts that LOW protein promotes weight gain, while the body of the article says that those who ate MORE protein while overfeeding themselves gained more weight. The recommendations at the end make no sense whatsoever and the whole article is based on a single small study. Dieters are so overwhelmed with this kind of pseudo info that they don't know what... Read more →

Silly Season

by Barbara Berkeley, MD In January, the attention of Americans turns to weight loss. Retailers exploit this interest, displaying towers of shiny new diet books. The media pumps out stories, offers tips and guidance (the same tips as every other year) and earnestly discusses the ways to make our New Year's resolutions work. Gyms fill will newbies. Thankfully, it will all be over in a couple of weeks and those with the serious intent of changing their lives will be... Read more →