Weight Loss and Food Thoughts

Good thoughts by Marion Nestle about Bloomberg’s proposed soda ban (here).

I’ve got mixed feelings about the proposal. I like the intuition Bloomberg has that there is something different/more problematic about sodas than many other foods, but have a hard time with the idea of a ban.

FDA decision denying name change from high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) to corn sugar (here). Marion Nestle covers it here.

This is a good decision for consumers by the FDA IMHO.

This will be an interesting case to watch. Oddly most of Slimming World’s comments are funny because the (redhaired bastard step child of WW’s, the Core plan/Simply Filling Technique) sounds a lot like Slimming World’s approach.

My $0.02 is it sounds like WW got a bit frisky and Slimming World decided to strike first.

Aside, case # 4:12-cv-00292 (Eastern District of Texas)

Marion has good coverage (here) of the FDA approval of another weight loss drug, scary risk factors:

• Causes tumors in rats (although perhaps at higher doses than might be taken by people).
• Damages heart valves (in the same way the withdrawn drug, Fen-Phen, did).

How about just eating less?

Readings on how to combat obesity from the Institute of Medicine. The link is a blog post summarizing the key findings.

The original report is here and can be read for free (478 pages!). My guess is that of the recommendations, this one “Promoting healthy foods and exercise through social marketing while limiting marketing of unhealthy foods” (emphasis mine) is most likely to fight obesity and will be hard to achieve.

Room for debate piece on women, weight and wellness:

A New York Times Op-Ed by Alice Randall calls for black women to “commit to getting under 200 pounds.” But in February, a Washington Post/Kaiser Family Foundation survey revealed that heavier black women have much higher self-esteem than average-sized white women.

What’s more important, a positive body image, whatever your size, or a fit physique that proportionately puts you at less risk for diabetes and other ailments?