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While a third of American adults and one in six children are obese, a report Thursday suggests the rate of increase could be stabilizing in some states. Citing statistics collected by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the report by the Trust for America's Health and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation said West Virginia had the highest obesity rate at 37.7 percent. Mississippi was second at 37.3 percent and Alabama and Arkansas were tied for third at 35.7 percent. The report says the adult obesity rate increased between 2015 and 2016 in Colorado, Minnesota, Washington and West Virginia,...

I have been on a low carb diet for about 4 years and have lost at least 30 pounds...but lately I was feeling poorly.I work out daily (at least every cardio to a sweat for 30 minutes and weights every other day).Don't know how I stumbled upon it, but I started doing daily veggie and fruit smoothies (in my ancient Osterizer blender). Great burst in energy and "general feel good." Did a bike ride yesterday after a two month absence and, though I took it somewhat easily, I was loaded with energy.Curious about yous guys thinking about veggie and fruit...

Daniel Begay, who is Navajo, had always been told growing up that traditional American Indian foods were good for him. But because most American Indians are lactose intolerant, "they aren't getting that same source of calcium from dairy products," Begay says. Turns out that it's a traditional cooking method that is key to his bone health. The Navajo burn juniper branches, collect the ash and stir it into traditional dishes. The most popular: blue corn mush. Begay, a graduate student at Northern Arizona University, analyzed the amount of calcium in 27 samples of juniper from all over the reservation. But...

Veganism in Britain has increased by 360 percent over the last ten years, as healthy eating takes a hold amid a widespread obesity epidemic. In order to cut the risk of health related diseases such as obesity, type 2 diabetes and stroke, many are turning to a plant-based diet. This involves cutting out all animal products, including meat, eggs and milk. Just 150,000 people followed a vegan diet in 2006, but that number rose to 542,000 in 2016. As a result, veganism is now the fastest growing lifestyle movement ever. Vegan study - Verdict Even The World Health Organisation have...

Vegetarians are almost twice as likely to suffer from depression as those who consume a conventional balanced diet, according to a new study. The new Bristol University study of almost 10,000 from southwestern England found that vegetarians were more likely to develop depression due to vitamin and mineral deficiencies that can negatively impact their mental health. The 350 committed vegetarians who participated in the study had a higher average depression score when compared to the meat-eaters, according to the study, which was published in the Journal of Affective Disorders. The vegetarians’ diet tended to feature lower vitamin B12 consumption, as...

Adults in the United States are dying from colon and rectal cancers at an increasing rate about age 50, when they should just be beginning screenings, according to a new study from the American Cancer Society. Since routine screening is generally not recommended for most adults under 50, the cancers found in younger adults are often in advanced stages and more deadly, said Dr. James Church, a colorectal surgeon at the Cleveland Clinic in Ohio. Church, who was not involved in the new study, said he has seen this trend in death rates up close. Last year, on separate occasions,...

Watch out, diners: There are serious calories in some restaurant meals. That was the message of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a nutrition advocacy group, as it released its annual "Xtreme Eating Award" winners — the most calorie-stuffed dishes and drinks from the country's chain restaurants. Topping the list were entrees like The Cheesecake Factory's Pasta Napoletana, which the chain describes as a meat lover's pizza in pasta form. The pasta, dressed in a Parmesan cream sauce, is topped with Italian sausage, pepperoni, meatballs, and bacon and clocks in at 2,310 calories, 79 grams of saturated fat,...

...Why two black pastors are suing Coca-Cola William Lamar, the senior pastor at D.C.’s historic Metropolitan African Methodist Episcopal Church, is tired of presiding over funerals for parishioners who died of heart disease, diabetes and stroke. So on Thursday, he and another prominent African American pastor filed suit against Coca-Cola and the American Beverage Association, claiming soda manufacturers knowingly deceived customers about the health risks of sugar-sweetened beverages — at enormous cost to their communities. The complaint, filed in D.C. Superior Court Thursday on behalf of the pastors and the Praxis Project, a public health group, alleges that Coke and...

A 7-month-old baby died after his parents fed him only gluten-free and lactose-free foods, including quinoa milk, the New York Post reported. The child’s Belgian parents self-diagnosed him with an array of food allergies, but never sought a medical professional’s opinion before deciding on his diet, according to the newspaper. “The parents determined their own diagnosis that their child was gluten intolerant and had a lactose allergy,” lawyers said in court during the trial for the child’s 2014 death, the Independent reported. “Not a single doctor had a dossier about Lucas and child protection services did not know about them.”...

Pizza is healthy. And it isn't healthy. Depending on the type of crust, the amount of cheese and the toppings used, pizza can rank anywhere from nutritionally decent to a diet disaster. Even healthy pizzas deliver a good amount of sodium from tomato sauce and cheese, so if you are watching your salt intake, you should eat with caution. Of course, the size of the slice and the number of slices you eat count, too. Pizza pros include the fact that it offers calcium from cheese and disease-fighting lycopene from tomatoes. And pizza crust made with whole-wheat flour (including whole...

However, another rule is set to take effect soon that might just take the cake. Or pizza, in this case: The nation’s franchise restaurants are about one month away from the imposition of new nutritional-labeling rules dreamed up by the Obama administration, another gift of the grievously misnamed Affordable Care Act. For outlets of brands with 20 or more locations, that means posting signs in the shop with calorie counts for every item on the menu and for every variation on that item. That’s probably not such a big deal if you are, say, Raising Cane’s, and your menu ranges...

For several years anti-abortion advocates have been warning that a new technology for enhancing flavors such as sweetness and saltiness uses aborted fetal cells in the process. The biotech company using this novel process, Senomyx, has signed contracts with Pepsi, Ajinomoto Co. (the maker of aspartame and meat glue), Nestlé and other food and beverage companies over the past several years. The primary goal for many of these processed food companies is to make foods and beverages tasty while reducing sugar and salt content. While Senomyx refuses to disclose the details of the process, its patent applications indicate that part...

Bread for the World warned that the current FY 2018 budget outline drafted by President Donald J. Trump would worsen hunger and poverty in the U.S. and abroad. The cuts to domestic social safety net programs and foreign aid are aimed to boost the Pentagon’s budget by 10 percent. “President Trump is proposing slashing programs that help hungry and poor people,” said Rev. David Beckmann, president of Bread for the World. “These programs include nutrition assistance in the U.S. and aid to poor and hungry people around the world. This comes when 20 million people are at risk of famine...

It appears that one of the most visible achievements of Michelle Obama’s legacy as first lady will live on in the Trump White House: her garden. First lady Melania Trump announced last week that she would preserve the White House vegetable garden planted in 2009. It came as a surprise to many nutrition advocates and food policy experts, who had expressed fears that Michelle Obama’s garden and the health and nutrition initiatives it symbolized could be endangered under the Trump administration. Some advocates, including Michael Jacobson, president of the Center for Science in the Public Interest, are lauding the new...

The first-ever cases of obesity have been recorded among nomadic Arctic reindeer herders, after they became exposed to instant noodles and other junk foods. Russian scientists are warning about the dramatic change in the Nenets and Khanty peoples on the icy Yamal peninsula in northern Siberia, who for centuries had eaten only traditional foods. A diet based on venison and fresh river fish meant that obesity was unknown among these indigenous peoples, but now outside influences are changing everything.

What do households on food stamps buy at the grocery store? The answer was largely a mystery until now. The United States Department of Agriculture, which oversees the $74 billion food stamp program called SNAP, has published a detailed report that provides a glimpse into the shopping cart of the typical household that receives food stamps. The findings show that the No. 1 purchases by SNAP households are soft drinks, which accounted for 5 percent of the dollars they spent on food. The category of ‘sweetened beverages,’ which includes fruit juices, energy drinks and sweetened teas, accounted for almost 10...

If cayenne pepper (Capsicum annuum) is not the king of medicinal herbs, it is certainly a prince among them due to the incredible health benefits it gives. It may have been presumptuous for me to have first coined it "king of herbs" but I feel it is just that -- for there is no other medicinal herb or spice that can do what it can. If you have heard about Capsicum or are interested in its benefits, you've come to the right place. Bold to say yes, but I stand by it. For I am the one who conducted the...

By now, you’ve likely heard of juicing. But what about “souping”? Essentially, instead of downing green juice all day long, this cleanse involves sipping on soup. In my opinion, souping is a better option than stricter cleanses. That said, you certainly don’t need to limit your entire diet to liquid meals in order to take advantage of soup’s health and weight loss benefits. Here, why and how to incorporate some healthful soup into your diet. A study published in the journal Appetite found that when people ate a low-calorie soup (about 130 calories for women and 170 for men) before...

Behind-the-scenes, so much is happening to help progress the science supporting a low-carb, high-fat, ketogenic diet. One of the leading voices helping bring this about is investigative journalist Nina Teicholz, New York Times bestselling author of The Big Fat Surprise: Why Butter, Meat and Cheese Belong in a Healthy Diet, who came under fire in 2015 for her British Medical Journal article “The scientific report guiding the US dietary guidelines: is it scientific?” This brought on a media firestorm with public pressure being applied to the BMJ to retract Nina’s column. A bright light of hope happened recently when the...

Here’s an excerpt from the Wheat Belly Cookbook about modern high-yield, semi-dwarf wheat, what I call the “Frankengrain” because of the extensive and bizarre changes introduced into this grass by geneticists and agribusiness. (Even though a cookbook, I tried to make the Wheat Belly Cookbook a standalone book that discusses the background on why and how the Wheat Belly lifestyle yields such unexpected and extravagant health and weight loss successes. For this reason, the first 90 pages of the cookbook reiterate many of the Wheat Belly basic concepts.)From the Wheat Belly Cookbook: Wheat encapsulates a fundamental dilemma of our technological...