'The Biggest Loser' speaks

CNN's Larry King talks with the winner and runner-up from this season's edition of "The Biggest Loser."

Restaurants take calories to the extreme, report says

By Sabriya Rice
CNN Medical Producer

An estimated 67 percent of U.S. adults over age 20 are overweight or obese - and a new report from the Center for Science in the Public Interest says some popular restaurant chains are contributing to the problem.

The report awards the Extreme Eating 2010 Award to a total of nine dishes from seven companies.

“These chains don't promote moderation. They practice caloric extremism, and they're helping make modern-day Americans become the most obese people ever to walk the Earth," stated CSPI executive director Michael F. Jacobson in a press release.

The report highlights for example that a Five Guys bacon cheeseburger with a large order of fries adds up to 2,380 calories, and that P.F. Chang’s double pan-fried noodle combo, which includes beef, pork and chicken, comes to about 1,820 calories. One meal can put a person close to – or well over – the 2000 -2500 calories per day the USDA recommends for the average person to maintain a healthy weight.... (MORE...)

Personality Type Diet (Diet.com)

FreeDieting.com:

Dr. Kushner's Personality Type Diet, authored by Dr. Robert Kushner, and his wife Nancy. Dr Kushner is a well-regarded expert in the weight loss field, often consulted by various health authorities.

Dr Kushner expanded the Personality Type Diet into an online format at Diet.com. However this program is very different to your typical online diet.

Personality and Diet - The Missing Link?

Dr Kushner believes that our personality has a major impact on our attitudes towards food and exercise. This will come as no surprise to most of us! Every week another new fad or eating plan comes out, claiming weight loss miracles. Unfortunately most of us 'fall off the rails' for some reason or another.....

Easy Tips for Planning a Healthy Diet and Sticking to It

HelpGuide.org

Healthy eating is not about strict nutrition philosophies, staying unrealistically thin, or depriving yourself of the foods you love. Rather, it’s about feeling great, having more energy, and keeping yourself as healthy as possible– all of which can be achieved by learning some nutrition basics and using them in a way that works for you.....

For cancer survivors, yoga may boost energy and aid sleep

(Health.com) -- Cancer survivors often feel fatigued and have trouble sleeping for months -- or even years -- after their last chemotherapy or radiation session. Now, a new study shows that yoga can help them sleep better, feel more energized, and cut back on sleeping medications.

"We really wanted to find something useful, because right now there are not a lot of good treatments out there for fatigue," says the lead author of the study, Karen Mustian, an assistant professor of radiation oncology at the University of Rochester Medical Center, in Rochester, New York.....

10 Foods That Sound Healthy (but Aren't)

CookingLight.com:

Multi-Grain and Wheat Breads

Terms like multi-grain, 7-grain, and wheat sound healthy, but they may not actually contain heart-healthy whole grains. Many breads labeled "multi-grain" and "wheat" are typically made with refined grains, so you're not getting the full nutritional benefit of the whole grain. How can you be sure?

Recipe Makeover: Meatloaf with ketchup

(CookingLight.com) -- Meatloaf is a family favorite and with good reason.

There's something about the moist texture and the sweet ketchup topping that children and adults love. When it's put on a plate with a side of mashed potatoes to dip into, everyone is happy.

Most recipes use fatty cuts of meat, but it's still possible to keep your meatloaf moist and delicious while cutting out much of the fat in the recipe.

(Click here to read the rest at CNN.com)

7 habits of highly successful snackers

CNN:

(RealSimple.com) -- Hint: None of these habits include chips from the vending machine. Learn the rules for getting through the afternoon satisfied and junk-free.

1. Fix your own food

Even if you need to be tied to the mast of your shopping cart (or chained to your desk) to avoid the tempting call of those cellophane-wrapped, curlicue-topped cupcakes, you must resist.

Most ready-made snacks are low in vitamins, nutrients, and protein and high in calories, fat, sugar, and sodium, which can inhibit the body's retention of much needed calcium. (Sports and protein bars are a shining exception.) (click for more...)

Why our salt addiction is hard to kick

(Health.com) -- Americans love salt. And we eat too much of it. So much so that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is thinking about limiting the amount of sodium in packaged foods.

Cutting back on sodium would almost certainly be good for the country's health. The average American consumes nearly 50 percent more sodium than experts recommend, most of it from processed foods.

Though it adds flavor and helps preserve food, all that sodium can cause high blood pressure and increase the risk of heart attack, stroke, and other health problems. (Sodium is a component of table salt, but they're not the same thing.)

I do not have time to train for a triathlon

By Meredith Clark
CNN Fit Nation Challenge

“I do not have time to train for a triathlon.” That’s the reality I face every morning when I’m up at 5:30 a.m., trying to squeeze in strength and cardio workouts before the day really gets churning. Those words are a mocking mantra when I make my way to the pool after work instead of catching a half-hour of rest before Bible study, community meetings and events begin that evening.

When parent's good intentions disparage obese children

CNN:

(CNN) -- Twinkies. Fat slob. Gordita.

It didn't stop with the nicknames.

"Eat only half." "Stop eating so much."

For Claudia Garza, these taunts didn't come from schoolyard peers -- they came from her family.

Obese children are 65 percent more likely to be bullied than their peers of normal weight, according to a study published in Pediatrics this month. But teasing about weight is not confined to schools-- it can also occur within the home, according to childhood obesity experts.

Bust that baby bulge -- realistically

CNN:

For the 35-year-old mom in suburban St. Louis, Missouri, and thousands like her, shedding the post-pregnancy baby weight is akin to shoving a boulder uphill (though she'd try that if it worked).

She doesn't feel like supermom. She feels supertired.

"Because I never really got down to my original weight from the first child, the second and third child just made me bigger," she said. "Once you're so far behind, you feel like you're never going to catch up and get back to the old you. Everyone else definitely wants you too, though."

Is food obsession linked to spirituality?

(CNN) -- Her obsession with food arrived early, at the tender age of 11. Then came laxatives and anorexia, weight loss and weight gain, and of course, unfounded diets like consuming only Grape Nuts or downing a hot fudge sundae every day.

She even attempted suicide.

When Diets Deliver By TARA PARKER-POPE

The New York Times:

Ever fantasize about having a personal chef cook up healthful delicious food just for you? In Wednesday’s Dining section, Fred Bernstein decided to try out services that deliver diet meals to your doorstep.

I began noticing the coolers left outside my neighbors’ door each morning. The couple explained they were having diet meals delivered, and that they had tried several companies. I decided to do the same, knowing I would never be able to stick to a diet if I had to do the buying and cooking myself....

Fast food-loving Kuwaitis battle the bulge

CNN:

(CNN) -- In Kuwait, at family gatherings and social events, food is always at the top of the menu.

Friends meet at restaurants two or three times a week and if you don't want to go out, Western fast food chains like Burger King will deliver tasty, high-fat meals to your front door.

At family occasions, the more opulent the spread the greater the social status conferred. Tables groan under the weight of multi-course banquets laid on by competitive hostesses, often aided by maids.

Many who think they’re lactose intolerant aren’t, panel says

CNN:

30 to 50 million Americans fear they are lactose intolerant. But are they?
Most people have some degree of difficulty digesting dairy, experts believe. One recent report suggested that the symptom trigger was not simply consuming dairy, but specifically the amount and the form.
The symptoms of lactose intolerance - diarrhea, abdominal pain, gas and/or bloating - occur after drinking or eating milk products. While most babies are born with enough of a specific enzyme in the small intestine to digest milk, this decreases and levels off as we mature into adults....

TV watching = unhealthy habits for kids

CNN:

(Health.com) -- Young children who watch a lot of TV aren't just missing out on more stimulating activities. They may also be destined for problems at school and unhealthier habits later in life, new research suggests.

Each additional hour of TV that toddlers watch per week translates into poorer classroom behavior, lower math scores, less physical activity, and more snacking at age 10, according to a new study in the Archives of Pediatrics and Adolescent Medicine.

Obese kids more vulnerable to bullies

CNN:

(Health.com) -- Children in Grades 3 through 6 who are obese are more likely to be bullied than their normal-weight peers, a new study has found.

No one who has attended grade school -- or who has even the slightest familiarity with children -- will be surprised by these findings. What is surprising, however, is that obese children are bullied more often even if they possess qualities that can discourage bullies, such as having good social skills or doing well in school....