Could you look yourself in the eye, then load your grocery cart up with root beer and ice cream bars? No, literally. Stakeholders ranging from from physicians to grocers want Americans to buy (and eat) more fresh produce and less junk food, but how can they do that without a complete overhaul of the food system? With gentle nudges. [More]
obesity epidemic
Would A Shopping Cart Mirror Showing Your Fat Face Make You Buy More Vegetables?
By 8.30.13 — Updated: 5.15.14
Even Our Fittest State Is Still Pretty Fat
By 7.8.10
According to a new study on your ballooning bottom, Colorado, America’s fittest state, has more adult obesity now (19.1%) than Mississipi, America’s fattest state (33.8%), did in 1991 (15.7%). [More]
Need An Ambulance? If You're Overweight, It's Going To Cost An Extra $543
By 7.4.09
An ambulance ride with American Medical Response in Topeka, Kansas will soon cost an extra $543 for folks weighing 350 pounds or more. Though AMR already owns cots that can support up to 500 pounds, they claim that because of rising demand from so-called “bariatric patients,” they now need to buy winches and “extra large and reinforced cots.”
10 Popular Diets Ranked According To Healthiness
By 10.1.07
A new report in the Journal of the American Dietetic Association ranks ten diets according to nutritional quality and potential effects on heart health. The best of the ten is the Ornish diet, while the least healthy is the Atkins plan. Dieters, begin fighting.
By 9.26.07
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Health organization Kaiser Permanente has launched an online game for kids that teaches them about nutrition and healthy lifestyles, then “locks” the kids out of the game after 20 minutes so they’ll go outside and play. We imagine the lock-out functionality won’t be needed, as the educational aspect of the game should organically repel the target audience of 9- and 10-year-olds in 10 to 15 seconds. [Reuters]
Exercise Doesn't (Necessarily) Make You Lose Weight
By 9.26.07
Good news if you hate the gym, bad news if you’ve invested your time, money, and faith in the body-shaping power of daily workouts: despite what most people think, there still isn’t overwhelming evidence that exercise will reduce weight. Over the past several decades, research continues to show that exercise will definitely increase your body’s energy needs but not always reduce fat, and that a sedentary lifestyle and obesity are linked but not in a proven cause-and-effect relationship. Meanwhile, the popular press has promoted and mythologized a sort of “faith-based” concept of exercise as a key requirement for weight loss.
Portion Control And Snack Replacements Pervade Annual Candy Trade Show
By 9.26.07
Green tea Hershey’s Kisses, diabetic-friendly sprays that taste like ice cream, chewy Lemonheads and Atomic Fireballs: the candy industry’s All Candy Expo was held in Chicago earlier this month, and over 2,000 new products were revealed, many of which reflect consumers’ current fondness for low-calorie snacks, portion control, and energy-boosting products.
Pay More Attention To What You Eat At "Healthy" Restaurants
By 9.17.07
That councilwoman from L.A. isn’t going to like this: a new study says that when people eat at what they perceive to be “healthy” restaurants, they underestimate the calories, which could help explain why Americans are continuing to get fatter even as healthy restaurants have grown faster than fast food restaurants over the past 5 years.
By 9.12.07
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Researchers find that shopping malls can encourage healthier “incidental activity” by placing signs next to stairwells that read, “Take the Stairs,” which caused a 190% increase in stair activity over three weeks. Or, just do what most the stores in NYC do and make sure at least one escalator is out of service at all times. [Reuters]
L.A. Considers Temporarily Banning New Fast Food Restaurants In South L.A.
By 9.12.07
NYC isn’t the only big city picking fights with fast food restaurants these days. Citing high obesity rates in her mostly working-class district, Los Angeles councilwoman Jan Perry has proposed a 2-year ban on new fast food restaurants in parts of South L.A., in the hope that it will make room for healthier restaurants to compete.
Burger King To Offer Healthier Menu Options For Kids
By 9.12.07
Burger King knows you don’t want your kids to be fat, but it does want your money. Introducing: “Apple Fries!”
Kellogg To Stop Marketing Unhealthy Food To Kids
By 6.14.07
Kellogg announced today that it would phase out advertising to children under 12 unless the food met nutritional guidelines for sugar, calories and fat, reports the New York Times.
