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]

Sandi Kaplan, Associate Director, Clinical Development and Support:   I stared aghast at the photo of long-time fashion model Filippa Hamilton in a recent Ralph Lauren ad. We know that if the doll Barbie was a real woman, her dimensions are such that she would be unable to stand upright. Well, the dimensions of Hamilton’s photo made me wonder how the woman could possibly be alive. She looks emaciated in the extreme. Hamilton spoke out after the release of the photo to say that it ... [More]

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]

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]

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]

Sandi Kaplan, MS, RD, Associate Director, Clinical Development and Support:   The Smart Choices Program is a great idea. A Smart Choice seal of approval, a big green check mark, is put on the front of any product that is a healthy option. You are in the grocery store and the check mark lets you know right away that the product is a great choice for your own health and the health of your family. It’s so easy and convenient to know which nutritious foods to choose. Unfortunately, th... [More]

Cindy Cernohous, B2B Marketing Manager:   I am a new a parent, the mother to a 6-month-old little boy. When I read this, it hit me between the eyes. The article begins, “You would never give a child a cigarette. Or a drink, or a snort of cocaine. But every day we American parents are giving our children something almost as addictive—meals laden with sugar, salt and fat. That mac n’cheese we all think is the only thing our child will eat is priming them for a lifetime of ... [More]

Beth Shepard, MS, Exercise Physiologist, Contributing Writer:   A new study released by the American Academy of Sleep Medicine links obesity in teenagers to reduced sleep caused by excessive use of technology and caffeine. Researchers studied a group of 320 children, gathering data on nutrition and physical activity habits. Results showed that those who slept less consumed more caffeine and spent more time on screen-based activities ― like television, video games, Internet, and co... [More]

Ken Wassum, Senior Product Manager:   As a kid I used to sit on the floor beside my father’s easy chair when his best friend, Bill, visited from out of state.  Bill was a cigar smoker and I loved the smell of cigars. When stationed beside the chair I was in position to savor the aroma of these stogies.  The big surprise came the day when Bill leaned over the chair and let go a spit of tobacco juice into a coffee can narrowly missing my head….. I hadn’t been expecting that! New smo... [More]