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]

Jennifer Lovejoy, Vice President, Clinical Development and Support:   “Processed food is gross, Mom,” said my 7th grade daughter the other day. She was prompted to make this statement by a book for kids called Chew on This by Eric Schlosser and Charles Wilson. (Yes, she checked this book out of the library completely on her own without any maternal pressure!) Schlosser, who also wrote the book Fast Food Nation for adults, does a good job in making the scary side of fast food and process... [More]

Beth Shepard, MS, Exercise Physiologist, Contributing Writer:   A recent online headline caught my eye: “Michigan Baseball Park Offers 4,800 Calorie Burger.” Hoping it was a joke, I clicked on the headline, but saw that it was no laughing matter. The article described a new ballpark burger as a “4-pound, $20 burger featuring five beef patties, five slices of cheese, nearly a cup of chili and liberal doses of salsa and corn chips, all on an 8-inch sesame-seed bun.” And that’s... [More]

Beth Shepard, MS, Exercise Physiologist, Contributing Writer:   My husband is obsessed with organic gardening. With the addition of a greenhouse this year, not only should we have an abundant crop of tomatoes this summer, but we hope to eat fresh lettuce and carrots well into the winter. Gardening is a popular pastime these days. According to a recent article in the Los Angeles Times, people all over the U.S. are rediscovering the joys and benefits of gardening. Victory gard... [More]

Annie Short, Marketing Intern:   As the obesity rate continues to climb in the United States, new ideas to shrink our ever-growing waistlines are on the rise. A law in Washington, California, New York, Pennsylvania and other states now requires chain restaurants to provide calorie and nutrition information to its customers in hopes that people will make healthier choices. Recently, I ate out at two chain restaurants that I frequently go to. A nutritional guide was set down along w... [More]

Beth Shepard, MS, Exercise Physiologist, Contributing Writer:   In his inauguration speech last week, President Obama said, “Starting today, we must pick ourselves up, dust ourselves off, and begin again the work of remaking America.” What does that mean for obesity and overweight in America? How will the new administration guide policy, practice, and fund research to help solve this serious health crisis? What do we need to shake ourselves out of the Web-surfing, deep-fried-Twink... [More]

Jennifer Lovejoy, PhD, Executive Director, Weight and Nutrition Services:   With daily reports about the economic crisis and other urgent national issues grabbing our attention, the fact that our national nutrition crisis can make headlines is noteworthy. The current obesity epidemic is one symptom of the national nutrition crisis.  Research has implicated the environment we live in as a major predictor of obesity and poor health.  Factors like the availability of neighborhood sid... [More]