A perfect media storm blew in for the week of Fat Tuesday.

First came an impassioned TED speech by Jamie Oliver challenging Americans to solve our obesity epidemic through food and nutrition education and more excellent cooking.

Then came New York City’s Fashion Week with its requisite news of models getting fired from runway gigs for allegedly “being fat” at size puny.

In parallel, there was a huge debate around the emotional outbursts, each in 140-character Twitter format, by Kevin Smith the actor and filmmaker who was kicked …

Tags: EcoMeme , Fashion Week , fat tax , Jamie Oliver , kevin smith , obesity , soda , TED , twitter

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As a shift worker, my eating habits leave a lot to be desired. Mealtimes are scheduled around a continually-changing work roster and I often end up snacking at the oddest of times, including 3 o’clock in the morning. And while I’d like to say it’s all healthy food, unfortunately it’s not. For some reason, an apple doesn’t seem as appealing as ice cream in the middle of the night just before I head for bed.

Habits like mine are not unusual for shift workers, or for that matter, a large percentage …

Tags: body clock , circadian rhythm , obesity , poor dietary habits , snacking , weight gain

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There are times when watching what my husband calls “the idiot box” is the only option for kids who can’t jump on a bike and go exploring outdoors. But it is an option with more health consequences than we thought, according to a new study on 111 children ages 3 to 8 published in the Archives of Pediatric and Adolescent Medicine.

We all know kids tend to become obese watching too much TV due to the tendency to snack mindlessly, but these results found the more kids …

Tags: high blood pressure , hypertension , junk food , kids , obesity , salt , sedentary , sugar , TV , weight gain

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Keeping up with the Joneses may entail more than you think. As our neighbors get a little fatter, we allow ourselves to get a little fatter, too. At least, that’s what the latest research shows. After studying obesity data from the last 6 decades, two British economic experts concluded that obesity is socially contagious simply because of the way people perceive their status in society. As being overweight becomes more common and less of a stigma, people are less likely to care about maintaining a normal …

Tags: diet , fitness , health , obesity , weight loss , wellness

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