A friend and fellow food addict called the other day to lament his latest lost eating battle and I asked him to tell me what had happened. But when he started by telling me how he’d been feeling that morning, I interrupted.

I didn’t want to know about his feelings, or the argument he’d had with his wife, or about the crack in the sidewalk he’d stepped on. I just wanted to know, specifically, what he’d eaten that was causing his agita.

Via my friend Jill Escher, I read this piece by David Bender on cravingsugar.net and wanted to pass it along. Though our backgrounds are fairly dissimilar, we’re brothers from his very first sentence, in which he says, “my goal is to raise awareness of food addiction.”

This squib from the Physician's Briefing website reflects some broad truths, considering it results from a survey of peoiple at risk for diabetes in Finland: Excerpts:

"Only 36 percent of at-risk men and 52 percent of at-risk women perceived the need for lifestyle counseling. ... Of those individuals who perceived the need for counseling, 35 percent refused to participate." About a third of the people who agreed to participate never showed up even once.

This time, it's the National Eating Disorders Association targeting a campaign against child obesity in Georgia. 

Back in April, it was the website Sociological Images, attacking the same campaign for the same reason, that it shames children. This morning's press release leads off...

When I advocate for food addiction, I often encounter rank derision about the idea, especially when the commenters can remain anonymous. As I’ve expressed before (borrowed from my clever friend Marty Lerner), their attitude is, “what’s next, air addiction?”

So let’s talk about “weasuring,” another word that doesn’t exist but easily could; it mashes together “weighing” and “measuring,” which is often how I portion my meals, with cup and scale. I do this, even into my 21st year of maintaining a three-figure weight loss, because, simply, it works for me. (Explaining why would be a whole other post, which I may nor may not also write, but not here.)

Hello friends and readers, and welcome to this leap and election year.

I find myself limping into the new year, dogged by "should haves" and "haven't dones," which don't usually fit into my outlook, but here I am. My experience tells me I need to accept where I am before I can change, so at least I'm that far on the path, but not as far as I'd like to be. That qualifies, at best, as semi-acceptance.

I didn't pick up "Change or Die," Alan Deutschman's 2007 book, for any reasons related to my food or sustainability interests. It was recommended, somewhat forcefully, by Sid Falthzik, who is helping to mentor me in the Fast Track Speaker Academy put on the New England Chapter of the National Speaker Association.

Welcome to another installment of “10 Words or Less,” in which I ask interesting people for brief answers to brief questions. Today’s participant is a clinical psychologist and author who holds the nation’s first endowed professorship in eating disorders, at the University of North Carolina. Remember, please: No counting! “10 words” is about attitude, not addition, and besides, let’s see you do it. 

Name Cynthia Bulik
Born when, where 1960, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
Residence Chapel Hill, NC
Family situation Married, three kids
A transformative event from your childhood “The death of my brother, Mark. I was 9. He was a premature baby who lived one day.”
When did you know you wanted to research ED? “My sophomore year in college. I was invited to do rounds with George Hsu, the attending physician for an eating disorders program in Pittsburgh.”
A surprising fact about you “I’m a [national-level] gold medalist ice dancer.”

Part 1 Part2 Part 3 (this one)

So I started off this series with the question I very often hear, "what's the most important action a person struggling with his or her weight can take?" I usually learn from such questioners that they really want to know what diet to go on, or what food to eat more of or less of.