DIET | DETECTIVE^®

The flood of e-mails I have been receiving since the calendar flipped to 2007 has been phenomenal. People are quite literally HUNGERING for quality information that can help them lose weight and keep it off for good. It's the neverending battle that tens of millions of people around the world are grappling with because they've been told there is only one way to better health. You and I know better and others are starting to catch on.

Hey Oprah—you think you have such great willpower, with your no-food-after-7:30 rule?  Think again.

Elizabeth Hurley has announced she won’t be munching after 4:00. Not a morsel. Take that, Oprah! Never mind that Liz is borderline scary-skinny at times—she’s obviously still not skinny enough to be a celebrity bride.

This Medical News Today column looks at a new report debunking a popular myth that poverty is actually leading to an increase in the rates of obesity in the United States. I addressed this issue somewhat back in September 2006 in this blog post which may be worth revisiting in light of this new report.

The lead author of the report is Eileen T. Kennedy, dean of the Friedman School of Nutrition Science at the Boston, MA-based Tufts University, who looked at data regarding the participants in such government-funded programs as Food Stamps and the Special Supplemental Nutrition Program for Women, Infants and Children (aka WIC) which come directly from the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA). With doubling obesity rates resulting in a tripling in the costs of Medicare, this is a poignant topic for serious discussion.

Has anyone seen photos of Alicia Silverstone lately? She’s come a long way from her post-Batman, pre-veganism days, when she earned the unenviable tabloid nickname "Fatgirl."