I know that case studies are not powerful; statistically speaking that is. But I must confess that I really enjoy reading case studies of those who have lost weight – made lasting change to their eating style. Besides the joy of reading about someone’s success, what cases do offer are ideas about what might work […]

Yogurt is an old food; actually it’s one of the oldest known to mankind. I assume that since Greece was one of the early civilizations, that they’ve had plenty of time to practice making extraordinary yogurt. The makers of Greek yogurt use different bacterial cultures than our regular American-style yogurt. Those cultures and the straining […]

By now, most everyone knows that sleep deprivation interferes with hunger and satiety hormones crucial to regulating appetite.  Perhaps you know some night owls who are also plump owls. We envision them mindlessly snacking their way through fatigue to keep going. Research has gone deeper than the snacking, and revealed a chain of hormonal effects […]

If you’re like millions of Americans, you’re starting off the New Year with some extra pounds. For some, they’re the same pounds as last year, only with some additional ones, perhaps, to keep company with last year’s pounds. Rather than getting tied up in a sad story of how it happened, I wonder if any […]

Here we are at the beginning of the school year again. For me it’s a time much like New Year’s Day; a time to assess how things are going. I ask myself, “Are there things that need improving upon? The answer to my question has never been, “No, there’s nothing to improve upon.” If a […]

Mary Ireland discusses new research supporting healthy lifestyle choices.

Since the 1930s there has been a body of research telling us that if we would restrict our calories to less than we need, we could live longer lives. I used to be the director of a weight loss program for morbidly obese patients; one of the patients told me that you don’t really live […]

Each year when the statistics of the obesity rates by state – the percentage of obese residents by state are published, I picture a collective sigh of relief by those in the other 49 states and the District of Columbia. Whew!!!  I’m sure glad I don’t live in Mississippi (even though it’s so much fun […]

I am amazed how little things can make a big difference. Research from Arizona State University is a great example of this. Researchers found that subjects who ate energy-dense food in smaller bites felt full faster and ate less food overall. The research was conducted both on lab rats and college students with similar results. […]

These pages have had much praise of Brian Wansink’s book, Mindless Eating: Why We Eat More Than We Think. Part of the reason is that this brilliant and articulate food psychologist has a knack for uncovering eating behaviors that lead to unwanted over-eating. Some of us have guessed a few of these, but then he […]