. . . a misleading new study from CanadaAmericans keep getting fatter. In the past 15 years adult obesity has approximately doubled in 17 states according to a survey sponsored by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. Twenty years ago, not one state had an obesity rate of more than 15%. Now, only Colorado, with 19.8% obese, has an obesity rate of less than 20%. In twelve states, the obesity rate is above 30%.As obesity becomes more normal, it's become more socially acceptable and less cause for concern. In the same way that many people consider themselves healthy even though they're taking several different medications, the overweight and even the obese now tend to see themselves as fundamentally healthy. A new study from Canada feeds this misperception.Published last August in Applied Physiology, Nutrition and Metabolism, this study used a new rating system called the Edmonton Obesity Staging System (EOSS) to categorize the obese. It puts them into five categories according to the prese…

. . . or taking good care of your nerve cells?  Alzheimer's disease has become an epidemic. Many people today fear losing their mental capacity more than they fear having a heart attack or getting a cancer diagnosis. One in eight individuals aged 65 and under now has Alzheimer's. For those aged 85 and older, it's one in two! Bad as this is, if the epidemic continues to grow at its current rate, the number of people in the U.S. with Alzheimer's could triple by the year 2050! Though these odds are alarming, Alzheimer's is easy to prevent. In fact in healthy cultures in the past, it didn't exist. The risk factors for getting Alzheimer's are familiar to anyone who's read my books: poor diet, nutritional deficiency, toxins, stress, free radical damage, chronic inflammation, blood sugar disregulation and insulin resistance (from eating sugar and other refined carbohydrates), excess body weight, stress, not enough exercise, particular prescription drugs, excessive use of salt and dehydr…

Beyond Health’s approach to weight loss, presented in Raymond Francis’ Never Be Fat Again, (NBFA) is based on the theory of one disease and two causes. We say there is really only one disease—malfunctioning body cells, and two reasons why cells malfunction—they are deficient in needed nutrients and/or they are being poisoned by toxins. Overweight is a type of disease, and as better health is achieved, the body will naturally lose excess weight.Intuitive eating (IE) is an anti-diet approach to weight loss which seeks to help people regain a lost or weakened ability to “hear” and respond to body cues relating to hunger and satiation. Regaining this ability, it is hoped, will lead to losing excess weight. Both IE and NBFA agree that diets don’t work. Thought they can lead to short-term weight loss, most of this weight is regained over time. They also agree that diets are usually harmful and enforce the bad habit of overriding internal body cues. Following the strategies of IE that we…