Hey Americans, give yourself a big pat on the back.  Why?  Over 64% of adults were meeting the minimum level of aerobic physical activity in 2007.  That’s a 30% increase from 2005 when about 48% of men and women were getting the recommended amounts of physical activity.  Did Americans finally take the old Nike slogan to heart and, to paraphrase, “Just Did It?” Not so fast. What has accounted for this seemingly impressive gain in adults getting the recommended minimal amount of physical activity is simply a change in the way the government assessed physical activity.  In 2005, people were

  The debate about what type of diet is most effective for weight loss seems never ending. Yesterday you were told to eat low fat and today you're told to cut out the carbohydrates. A new study now says that while macronutrients (fat, carbohydrate, protein) are important to consider for overall health, it's calories that really count for weight loss. Reported in The New England Journal of Medicine, researchers assigned 811 overweight/obese adults to one of four reduced-calorie diets: Low-fat, average protein (high carbohydrate)  Low-fat, high protein High-fat, average protein High-fat, high-protein (low carbohydrate) Study subjects were asked to record their food

“Phone a friend” is a way contestants on a popular game show recruit help on their quest for a million bucks.  If your goal is to lose weight, then phone a registered dietitian.   A study published last month in the Annals of Internal Medicine compared different ways for supporting obese men and women in their efforts to lose weight while taking a weight loss medication called sibutramine, otherwise known as Meridia.  Patients were randomized to one of five groups: Weekly face-to-face meetings with a RD for 3 months followed by bi-weekly face-to-face meetings with a RD (high frequency F2F) Monthly face-to-face