One of my repeating tropes lately has been to ask those who rail against government involvement in setting nutrition standards, "what's your solution?" To me, it's not enough to wax nostalgic on parental guidance as the way to resolve the national obesity crisis, not necessarily because it wouldn't work, but because so few are using it!

When I saw a tweet about this post at NaturalNews.com the other day, I quickly responded, decrying how Kansas State professor's Mark Haub's junk-food diet proves nothing of what it purports to while confusing a very important topic — nutrition in America.

A robot assigned to me by Google hunts the internet relentlessly for uses of the term "food addiction," and it succeeds many times a day. One of the reports from 11/22 has 10 of them, which is on the larger size, but I get three to four of these reports every day.

On the face of it, that should hearten someone who's determined to broaden the discussion of obesity in America to include food addiction as a cause of some of it. (I assure those who might wonder if I realize: Food addiction is larger than obesity, but obesity as a result of food addiction is the one I am best versed in.)

But when I wade into these robo-reports, I see that we're not nearly there yet.

I've always said that my book is a counterpoint to all the research, clinical experience, and other professional inquiry into food addiction, and that when our mutual perspectives become mainstream thought, it will have been far more attributable to their scholarship and experience than anything I did. 

That's why I'm excited to contemplate the third annual conference of the Society of Food Addiction Professionals, which will be Jan. 28-30 in Houston. I'll be participating for the third year, and serving as MC for the second.

In the Rudd Center for Food Policy and Obesity's recent f.a.c.t.s. report (which I'm highlighting as a continuing series), "40 percent of parents report that their children ask them to go to McDonald's at least once a week; 15 percent of preschoolers ask to go every day."

These kids today! Where do they get such ideas?

From McDonald's, of course, through its endless marketing efforts, which saturate TV but go far beyond it, to 13 websites, banner ads, and social media.

I'll be appearing on the "Pundit Review" show Sunday night at 6 on WRKO-AM 680 in Boston. Thanks to host Kevin Whalen for the invite.

Imagine that: I'll be speaking from the same studios that Howie Carr uses. Yet another experience I never contemplated.

Please listen!

To be fair, when Cherrie Herrin-Michehl, a therapist in Seattle, wrote the phrase of the headline in her post about "Fat Boy Thin Man," she was speaking more about the details of my story, rather than my telling of it.

That's an important distinction: A joke, for example, can be really funny but can still be ruined by the jokester. My opinion is that "FBTM" has both, but as the author, I'd better think so, no? I hope you'll investigate for yourself, of course. 

Sarah Palin has found a new way to channel the Tea Party movement's anti-big-government fervor — and tweak First Lady Michelle Obama at the same time. On Nov. 9, she showed up at a Pennsylvania school bearing dozens of cookies, a gesture intended to show her disapproval of a state proposal to limit the sweets served in public schools. "Who should be making the decisions what you eat and school choice and everything else?" Palin asked the students, in a clear swipe at the First Lady's campaign to end childhood obesity. "Should it be government or should it be the parents?"

Thank you to Meredith Terpeluk for inviting me to be the first guest on her "Healthy Voice" show. We talked about being obese and overcoming it, and at Meredith's request, I also gave a couple of tips for surviving Thanksgiving. Here's the audio.

Please listen and, if you find it useful or entertaining, share.

Tamara, a blogger and kindred spirit in Colorado, recently posted on her search for the intersection of nutrition and cost. Here's her report.