Food Diaries, Risky Chiles, and the Elusive Obesity Gene

And I thought finding enough links to post each week would be hard.

ABC News - Keeping Food Diary Doubles Weight Loss
A study proves what for me was the biggest takeaway lesson in my own weight-loss journey. Writing down what's in every bite that passes your lips may sound like a chore, but it's a huge motivator for success and a significant educational tool. You'll finally understand why you "just couldn't" lose weight before. And hey, you'll have a record to check should you contract that dreaded salmonella . . .

Fast Food Maven - Salmonella outbreak probe turns to jalapeños & salsa
How frustrating is it when someone pulls the rug out from under you like that? All across the country, people and businesses discard millions of tomatoes, and it may have been all for nothing. There's a thousand confirmed cases of salmonella now, and no one even knows what produce we should avoid.

Yahoo! News - Hardwired for fat: scientists identify obesity gene
Don't see it as a wall, but merely as another obstacle you can overcome on your way to better health. It will require more work and more vigilance, no doubt, but it's a worthwhile fight. Genes are not destiny, too. Just because you have additional risk for any given disease written into your makeup doesn't mean you will end up that illness (DNA is highly complex) and doesn't mean you can't work to prevent or alleviate the problem.


Weight Watchers - The Secret to Hungry Girl's Success
I subscribe to Hungry Girl's daily newsletter myself. I find her gung-ho spirit inspiring and the writing cute. The food reviews are a guilty pleasure, although I know I could never let myself indulge in most of the carb-heavy items mentioned in the e-mails without bingeing. The rest of the content is useful for anyone looking to maintain a healthy weight without shunning all the fun of food.

Hungry Girl - HG's Holy Moly Guacamole
Hungry Girl posts all of her e-mails online. Check out this guacamole revision that cleverly cuts down on the calories (by subbing in peas) without pulling out all the avocado. What's guacamole without avocado, anyway? Thankfully, too, the recipe calls only for "safe" grape tomatoes and canned chiles.

Well - Cholesterol Drugs for Kids
Wow. When doctors start recommending statins for eight-year-olds, something must be out of whack. The sad thing is, while American kids are suffering from the effects of obesity, kids on the other side of the world are facing starvation. Nobody wins here.

New York Times - 8-Year-Olds on Statins? A New Plan Quickly Bites Back

The backlash emerged awfully quickly for that new treatment recommendation. Certainly, diet and exercise should always be the first line of defense, no matter what your age. It's trickier than you might think with kids' diets, though, and I'm not talking about the inevitable picky eaters. Plenty of kids who, say, only eat white foods are at least slim. Instead, either you have parents who don't model the healthy diet these kids need to follow, or you have grocery gatekeepers who like to indulge as an expression of love. There's no need to be judgmental. Parents are not trying to hurt their kids, but they may not realize what's happening or may feel powerless to change, just like overweight adults.

Good Housekeeping - The Limits of Thin: Losing Weight Doesn't Fix Everything
Losing weight will make you feel better about many things. Your body will feel renewed and reenergized, and your mind may feel less stress about your health and more confidence about your appearance. But it's important to keep perspective: Weight loss does not make all your problems evaporate and it most definitely does not cure depression. (Via That's Fit.)

Well - Should Doctors Lecture Patients About Their Weight?
Here's a refreshing view on how to approach health-oriented weight loss in a doctor's own words. More doctors should consider an overall-health approach to encouraging patients to lose weight. For many people, emotional problems need to be overcome before other health issues can be addressed. It's just like in education: Students need to have basic needs, such as food, shelter, and social acceptance, met before they can strive for academic achievement.

New York Times - Not a Moment Too Soon, I Thought of Tim Russert
It's scary that heart attacks can have such subtle symptoms. Like the guy says, he would be dead now if the recent passing of Tim Russert hadn't led him to research his mild symptoms. Also, the article reminds us again that even if you exercise and try to eat right, you still have significant cardiac risk if you, like Russert and the author, carry a bit too much around the middle.

Gather.com - Meal Planning Saved My Marriage
CityMama writes about how meal planning allows her to feed her family whole, nutritious foods without busting the budget. (Via CityMama.)

Every Day with Rachael Ray - Menu Planner
One link to help you start thinking about meal planning before we get to the big meal-planning basics article here. Not all of the recipes look particularly healthy, but meals cooked at home, by you are going to beat fast food any day.

EatingWell - Ten Pounds in 10 Days?
Reasonable weight loss is one or two pounds per week. Really.

Divine Caroline - The Top Ten Most Ridiculous Diets
None of them will honestly help you lose 10 pounds in 10 days, either! I have to say, the Russian Air Force Diet is my favorite. Is that a hoax?! (Via That's Fit.)

Whew, I think it's the link list that needs to go on a crash diet for next week! Don't forget to check back Monday for one of my personal secrets for curbing mindless snacking. Enjoy clicking around, and have a great weekend!