When I advocate for food addiction, I often encounter rank derision about the idea, especially when the commenters can remain anonymous. As I’ve expressed before (borrowed from my clever friend Marty Lerner), their attitude is, “what’s next, air addiction?” Read more »

The National Sustainable Agriculture Coalition (NSAC) is seeking a grassroots advocacy director to work with staff and member organizations to help galvanize support for and advance 2012 farm-bill and other federal policy priorities.

The coalition is alliance of over 80 grassroots organizations that advocates for federal policy reform to advance the sustainability of agriculture, food systems, natural resources, and rural communities. Read more »

I was one of those who expressed qualified praise for McDonald’s Happy Meal changes: Apple slices, smaller French fries, slightly better beverage options. Other commenters, particularly “Appetite For Profit” author Michele Simon, drew different conclusions, which she discusses in a blog post headlined, “Who Put McDonald’s In Charge of Kids’ Health?" at appetiteforprofit.com.

I don’t know her, but I follow her Twitter feed and respect what she writes, including this one, even though I find enough disagreement in it that I feel compelled to rejoin, even on a day when I should be writing other stuff.

Let’s start with the headline: To my mind, we did. Doing nothing more than taking full advantage of the capitalist process, they advertised and promoted until we made them, via our billions and billions of purchases, the leader in fast food. They could have spent all that promotional cash and if we hadn’t bought what they were peddling, they would have failed. But we have bought, and now they have enormous influence. Read more »

Some people oppose any public suasion of any kinds on food choices — and even some of those do so honorably, instead of being motivated merely by their paycheck. I suspect they would object to the above.

But here's the thing, even putting aside the question of whether sugary soda is even food, or, in the coinage of Michael Pollan, a "foodlike substance." If any currently "acceptable" food or drink product warrants this sort of treatment, it is sugary soda. Read more »

This is another in an occasional series on people who are working on behalf of problem eaters. If you've seen one of the others, you know the drill: I ask questions of 10 words of less, ask for answers of 10 words or less in return, and then edit a bit.

CHRISTOPHER CLARK, 49, Naples, Fla.
Founder, National Association for Males with Eating Disorders

Do you have an eating disorder?“I had an eating disorder, anorexia.” Read more »

I've visited this subject before, but not only is it important, and not only is the deadline approaching, but this post has a slightly different target. In the past, I've written about binge-eating disorder, which has been proposed as an addition to the next edition of the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual, the manual of the American Psychiatric Association. To now, anorexia, bulimia, and "not otherwise specified" have been the only eating disorders in the DSM. Read more »

Long-time readers will recognize this format:: I ask interview subjects questions of 10 words or less, and ask them to respond in kind (please, no counting). I've done about a dozen in this style on people working in sustainability, and now I hope to do a set with people working on some part of the obesity problem.

PHIL WERDELL, 68, Sarasota, Fla.
Cofounder, Acorn Food Dependency Recovery Services
What did you want to be when you grew up? “A leader.” Someone you admired in childhood, outside your family “Robert McNamara.” Someone you admire today, outside your family “Bill Wilson,” cofounder of Alcoholics Anonymous. What do you do for a living? “I work intensively with late-stage food addicts and write about food addiction.” Read more »

I am not, by any stretch, the only voice supporting recognition for food addiction. But since I'm the only writer here, it might sometimes seem that way. Read more »

I have also been late in addressing the recent announcement of pending changes in the Diagnostic and Statistical Manual of the American Psychiatric Association that regard eating behaviors. The DSM is in its fourth edition; the fifth is due in 2013.

You may know that the only substance abuse disorders regarding food in the DSM IV are anorexia and bulimia. There is another category, ED-NOS, which stands for eating disorders not otherwise specified, but they are mostly A/B-related, with exceptions. Read more »

I'm a little late to the party, but wanted to acknowledge Michelle Obama's joining the fight against childhood obesity, which she did last week. Her ability to focus attention on an issue is unique, and her focus on obesity is welcome. (I don't limit my own focus by age, but I don't mind if someone else does.) Read more »