Jason Kalivas, Quit Coach, Service Delivery:   I picked up some "conventional wisdom" when I was a teenager, which said that we replace the cells in our bodies every seven years - out with the old, in with the new; grow new muscle and bone and whole organs. Except the brain. For whatever reason, our gray matter was our gray matter, and we wouldn't get any more. A few seconds thought would've told me that this was wrong - if nothing else, children's brains get bigger as they ... [More]

Sandi Kaplan, MS, RD, Associate Director, Clinical Development and Support:   The holiday season can be challenging for even for those of us with the best of intentions. I am committed to prioritizing my health during the holiday season. It can be a stressful time so I need my balanced meals and snacks and my regular physical activity more than ever. So imagine my response when I opened a recent holiday gift – an enormous cheesecake. Well, actually it was a package of twelve slice... [More]

Erin Thompson, Marketing Manager:   This Thursday, November 19, the nation will celebrate the 34th annual Great American Smokeout, sponsored by our partner in tobacco cessation, the American Cancer Society (ACS). Check out this endorsement from Dear Abby's Abigail Van Buren, who posted a letter from Dr. Alan G. Thorson, National Volunteer President of the ACS, in response to a request from "Desperate" in Arlington, Texas.

Ken Wassum, Senior Product Manager, Tobacco:   The slight increase in smoking prevalence detected by the National Health Interview Survey is cause for concern but probably not alarm. The upward trend was small (less than 1%) but it should definitely give us pause. Smoking prevalence has reduced over the years due to a number of factors. The increasing cost of smoking from excise taxes and price increases, as well as smoke-free indoor air restrictions, have both led to reductions in smok... [More]

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]

Aimee Schiefelbein, Quit Coach, Service Delivery:   "I think I want to quit but my parents and all of my friends smoke. I just don't know how I am going to do it because they won't quit." As a Quit Coach, this is something I hear often from teenagers. Furthermore, the teen I am talking with usually has ambivalence about quitting in the first place, as many don't relate to the long-term health impact or have incentive to quit in the first place. A recent study by the University of ... [More]

Krista Gilbert, Quit Coach, Service Delivery:   It can be easy to get overwhelmed by the tobacco problem. Tobacco is still the leading cause of preventable death in the U.S. Every day I talk to people suffering from emphysema or heart disease and tobacco is largely to blame. I talk to people whose budgets are drained by the price of their habit and whose families are begging them to quit. Tobacco takes its toll. But then I take a step back and look at the BIG picture. I think of w... [More]