CBS February 8, 2010
Many overweight teens don’t think they are, according to an article in The Journal of American Academy of Pediatrics.
Referring to the February article, “Where Perception Meets Reality: Self-Perception of Weight in Overweight Adolescents,” CBS News Medical Correspondent Dr. Jennifer Ashton said one in three children surveyed don’t consider themselves overweight or obese.
Ashton said this altered perception becomes a problem because you can’t begin to treat issues unless one identifies that there is a problem in the first place.
If you are a parent of an overweight or obese …

Reuters, February 9, 2010
Alarmed that nearly a third of U.S. children are obese or overweight — and likely to stay that way all their lives — President Barack Obama launched an initiative on Tuesday to roll back the numbers and put his wife in charge of promoting it.
“I have set a goal to solve the problem of childhood obesity within a generation so that children born today will reach adulthood at a healthy weight,” Obama said in signing the order at the White House.
He assigned his cabinet officers to meet …

Walter Willett for Newsweek, February 5, 2010
Until last year, the residents of Albert Lea, Minn., were no healthier than any other Americans. Then the city became the first American town to sign on to the AARP/Blue Zones Vitality Project—the brainchild of writer Dan Buettner, whose 2008 book, The Blue Zones, detailed the health habits of the world’s longest-lived people. His goal was to bring the same benefits to middle America—not by forcing people to diet and exercise, but by changing their everyday environments in ways that encourage a healthier lifestyle.
What …

Los Angeles Times, Marni Jameson, February 1, 2010
Slim society’s tolerance is wearing thin.
As more people over the last decade have tipped the scales toward obesity, normal weight folks have signed up for employee wellness programs that offer them lower premiums and other financial perks as a reward for their healthy weight — and that indirectly penalize heavier workers. They’ve crafted policies, most unsuccessful, to compel individuals to lose weight. They’ve become vocal, sometimes vehemently so, in their support for “sin taxes” on junk food and soda. And they’ve increasingly attacked, …

The Huffington Post, Jeffrey Levi, February 1, 2010
One of the biggest public health crises our country has ever faced is finally getting serious attention.
During the State of the Union address Wednesday night, President Obama announced that First Lady Michelle Obama was going to take on the childhood obesity epidemic. I’d say the epidemic better watch out! It now has a worthy adversary.
Mrs. Obama is stepping up to provide leadership, recognizing if we don’t take serious measures now, this generation of kids could be the first in U.S. history to live …

Don Sapatkin, January 31, 2010, The Philadelphia Inquirer
Swati Kapoor, 25, was about to order a double chocolate cake doughnut when she noticed something new on the rack at Dunkin’ Donuts. A tag said 290 calories. In an instant, she switched to a chocolate frosted doughnut (230 calories).
“To prevent obesity,” the skinny medical student explained, munching away at a table in 30th Street Station.
Philadelphia begins phasing in enforcement of its strictest-in-the-nation menu-labeling law tomorrow. This first part, requiring chain restaurants to list calories on food tags and menu boards, is a …

William Neuman, The New York Times, February 5, 2010
Seeking a new weapon in the fight against obesity, the Food and Drug Administration wants to encourage manufacturers to post vital nutritional information, including calorie counts, on the front of food packages.
The goal is to give people a jolt of reality before they reach for another handful of chips. But the urgency of the message could be muted by a longstanding problem: official serving sizes for many packaged foods are just too small. And that means the calorie counts that go with …

Katherine Skiba, Chicago Tribune, January 19, 2010
WASHINGTON—First lady Michelle Obama, who is ratcheting up her campaign against childhood obesity, will ask the country’s mayors Wednesday to join her fight to get kids fit.
Obama, who said last week that she hopes to make combating childhood obesity her legacy, will address the U.S. Conference of Mayors, which is holding meetings here through Friday.
The address comes before the launch of a major policy initiative, her aides said.
About 220 mayors, including Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley, are expected to attend, said conference spokeswoman Elena Temple.
Obama …

NICE (Jan. 21) — Air France this week was embroiled in a public relations debacle that proved what a delicate issue obesity is becoming even for the once proudly svelte French. The airline was forced to deny reports that it would penalize overweight passengers by making them buy two seats after a barrage of stories accusing the airline of treating fat people unfairly.
Dozens of newspapers quoted an Air France spokeswoman saying that as of April 1, passengers who appear too heavy would be obliged to buy a second seat at a …

Ginny Graves, Health.com, January 20, 2010
It’s shocking, but it’s true: Being a woman who’s more than 20 pounds overweight may actually hike your risk of getting poor medical treatment. In fact, weighing too much can have surprising — and devastating — health repercussions beyond the usual diabetes and heart-health concerns you’ve heard about for years.

Recent studies have found, if you are an overweight woman you:
• May have a harder time getting health insurance or have to pay higher premiums
• Are at higher risk of being misdiagnosed or receiving inaccurate …