I was fascinated by the simple question put out recently by foodnavigator-usa.com — “Who is best qualified to provide nutrition counseling? RDs? MDs? a CNS? You or me?” — because I’d have to say: As a class, at least, none of the above.

What a shocking realization: We got nuthin'!

Let’s talk about deprivation. As in “deprivation diets don’t work,” which is a mantra of most of the registered dietitians I’ve encountered. Everything in moderation, because people won’t stick to a food plan on which they feel deprived.

I don’t disagree with that last part, “feeling” deprived, and I understand the necessity of meeting one’s patient where they are.

Welcome to another installment of "10 Words or Less," in which I ask brief questions and request brief answers of interesting people. Today’s participant is the clinical director of The Source Health and Wellness Treatment Center, which will treat food and tobacco addiction when it opens in Los Angeles next month. Remember, “10 words” is a goal, not a limit, so please, no counting. It’s not so easy; let’s see you do it.
Name Adam Silberstein

My alert and studious friend Steve passed me this story from the Atlantic that springs from a familiar mold, taking the contrarian viewpoint on a reaction to orthodoxy. In this instance, the orthodoxy is our broken food system, the reaction is Pollanism, and David H. Freedman’s contrarian viewpoint is embodied by its headline, “How Junk Food Can End Obesity.”

“Grant me serenity to accept things I cannot change, courage to change things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.”

“Grant me serenity to accept things I cannot change, courage to change things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.”

“Grant me serenity to accept things I cannot change, courage to change things I can, and wisdom to know the difference.”

What I most like about the Serenity Prayer is that almost every quandary in life will be resolved by one of its three legs. But I’ve been thinking about one recently for which I need all three.

Ordinarily I’d just tweet this ‘cause I don’t have much to add to it, but I wanted to highlight the bankruptcy of this in a headline.

One of the Canadian government’s “partners” for an anti-diabetes campaign is the Tim Hortons donut empire. As Dr. Yoni Freedhoff said in his headline, no, this is "not The Onion."

A brief post on a topic I may return to: None of the writers I follow on blogs and other social media — the ones who understand the experience of obesity in the way that I do (Jane Cartelli and Zoe Harcombe come to mind) — think the AMA was right to label obesity as a disease.

Note: This is an edited version of a Google Hangouts chat Andy and I had last week.