Janice Milliman, Quit Coach, Service Delivery:   What do cereal and tobacco manufacturers have in common? Walking down the grocery store cereal aisle can be a challenge, especially with kids in tow. Brightly colored cereal boxes with toys and other freebies grab their attention. Cereal manufacturers developed creative and effective ways of marketing toward their most important audience: kids. Unfortunately, tobacco manufacturers are using some of the same tactics to lure kids into... [More]

Ryan Crawford, Quit Coach Supervisor, Service Delivery:   A friend came to me recently, heartbroken. She and her husband have been together for 10 years. He was her first love. And now, they’re getting a divorce. We thought they were great together. Sure, he smelled bad, but we let that go because she loved him so much. He was always with her at parties, always there to celebrate the fun times with her. He was there in the hard times too, when she had stressful days, when she felt... [More]

Jane Connell, MS, RD, Nutrition Coach:   Among the many hats I wear, I’m a soccer coach. Last year at this time, our local newspaper ran an article I wrote called, “Sports Snacks: Food for Thought.” With childhood obesity and obesity-related diseases skyrocketing, I thought it made good sense to seriously look at our tradition of feeding our kids the overly-processed, “ginormous” post-game snack. For some reason, many of our children’s sports events have evolved into a “will play ... [More]

Janice Milliman, Quit Coach, Service Delivery:   The recent death of Patrick Swayze raised much media attention and discussion of a little known and very deadly cancer: pancreatic.  For me, it also brought back bad memories. My good friend, Jim, was diagnosed with pancreatic cancer in March of 2007.  Unfortunately, he did not survive long, and lost his battle 2 months later. I felt such grief and compassion upon learning of Mr. Swayze's death.  I wondered if he suffered the extrem... [More]

Jessica Adlin, MS, RD, CN, Nutrition Coach:   Maintaining weight loss is the biggest challenge in the treatment of obesity. Fifty percent of the weight people lose is regained by the one year mark. And by five years, most people regain all the weight they lost. Why is maintaining weight loss such a challenge? There are many reasons. Psychologically, losing weight is the most rewarding aspect of treatment. Once an individual reaches a goal weight, most of the motivators disappear. ... [More]

Sandi Kaplan, MS, RD, Associate Director, Clinical Development and Support:   My 4 ½-year-old son recently started preschool. He was so proud to go off with his lunchbox filled with goodies like beans and rice, cherry tomatoes, a nectarine and a couple of dried dates for a sweet treat. He helped to prepare his lunch and was especially excited that the tomatoes were ones he had picked in a friend’s garden. On the second day of school, he was equally happy about taking his lunch. Bu... [More]

Jennifer Lovejoy, Vice President, Clinical Development and Support:   With all the focus on the health care reform debate, there has been startlingly little attention to the major cause of rising health care costs in America: obesity.  Our nation currently spends nearly $150 billion per year on costs related to obesity, and another several hundred billion dollars per year on diabetes and heart disease, which are closely linked to obesity and poor nutritional habits.  And yet, relatively... [More]

Tim Kilgallon, Chief Executive Officer:   I’m excited to announce the signing of a definitive agreement that will make Free & Clear, Inc. a wholly owned subsidiary of Alere LLC. (Here's our Press Release.) We’ve told our customers, business partners and employees about the acquisition, and many people have let us know how much they respect Alere® and that the acquisition makes sense for both companies. We're excited about the opportunities this ownership change presents for Free &... [More]

Ken Wassum, Senior Product Manager, Tobacco:   In a move that one cannot help but suspect is strategically calculated, Big Tobacco has filed suit against the FDA for restricting their First Amendment rights of free speech. The Congress passed legislation this last summer that gives the FDA the ability to regulate tobacco products, including how the industry advertises (Title II; Section 201; Sections a & b) their products. Given the track record of the tobacco industry of putting profit... [More]

Gillian Schauer, Senior Program Manager, Tobacco Cessation Resource Center   Last week, I was among many others in Washington State who celebrated the exciting news that the adult smoking prevalence had dropped to a new low this year of 15.3 percent, down from 16.5 percent last year. Washington’s adult smoking prevalence is not only the sixth lowest in the nation, but is significantly lower than the national average of 18.4 percent. While year after year press releases and article... [More]