This is a reply to Dr. Jon Robison, with whom I occasionally spar gently on the LinkedIn platform. I began it as a comment on the platform, but it said I’d exceeded the allowable character count.

The conversation began over a post I shared about a sugary-soda tax being implemented in Catalonia, Spain. His most recent comment was …

Part of a continuing series related to ideas in my book, “Sustainable You/8 First Steps to Lasting Change in Business and in Life.”

We venerate the quick fix. Don't have the time, don’t have the money, don’t have the willingness to honestly examine a problem and invest in a real solution.

(How do you identify a “real” solution? Hint: It solves. When it stops solving, it’s not a solution any more, and maybe never was.)

Welcome to another episode of “10 Words or Less,” in which I ask brief questions of interesting people and request brief answers in return. Today’s participant is a professor at Tufts University in the subjects of nutrition and psychiatry, and director of the university’s Energy Metabolism Laboratory.

Dr. Susan Roberts is a Tufts professor of nutrition and psychiatry and a researcher focused on obesity. She is the intellectual force behind the iDiet, which New York Times health writer Jane Brody called “perhaps the most comprehensive approach to eating for effective weight control."

Today, May 6, is "No Diet Day." Like so many such events, it makes a point we should value every day, but don't, so we give it a "day" so that we'll make the point at least once a year.

But this one is different: Unlike, say, Mothers Day (it's Sunday, don't forget!) or Fathers Day, there is confusion about just what "No Diet Day" is recognizing.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the concepts of “restriction” vs. “freedom.” For me, of course, the context is often around how to eat.

You probably know that I've been in conversation with Dr. Christopher Ochner, and this is probably the last installment in that conversation. I expect we'll continue to be in touch, but this exchange has been pleasingly unusual and I don't know that we'll approximate it. Please give Chris a hand for engaging on these points. I am.]

By Dr. Christopher Ochner

Welcome to another installment of "10 Words or Less," in which I put brief questions to interesting people and ask for brief answers in return. To be blunt, today's participant failed miserably — "I told you Michael, diets of any kind, even word diets, probably not going to work with me," she said afterward — but she has interesting things to say, and I'll take form over format any time. She is a northern California psychologist who works often with clients who have eating disorders. She is a leading voice in the Health at Every Size movement, which might be considered a response to body-focused America. 

Note: An unedited (considerably longer) video version of this interview is at the FatBoyThinMan YouTube channel.
Name: Deb Burgard
Born when, where "New Haven, I'm 55. I didn't live there very long, I actually grew up in St. Louis."
Any notable circumstance for that? "I was born on my dad's birthday."
Reside now "San Jose, and I work in Los Altos."
Family status "I just got married the whole way. I had been married in my state, and now, the feds recognize my marriage too."

Production deficiencies abound in this video installment of "10 Words or Less," but the content is great if you're willing to put up with my cut-off head and my amateurish lighting that fades with the rotation of the earth — how could I have seen that coming? The participant is a well-framed, well-lighted Deb Burgard, a psychotherapist in northern California who is a leader in the Health at any Size movement. She completely failed on the 10-words-or-less thing, but she's captivating, informed, and provocative.