We were standing around in the dog park discussing the somewhat annoying dog habits of our various pets.

"My dog never comes when I call him," the owner of a rather pudgy lab said. "He pretends to be asleep or deaf. But as soon as I open the refrigerator or...

The mantra chanted by most weight loss experts is, "Eat less, exercise more." Eating less is not hard to understand, although one person's "eat less" may be someone else's binge. If you and the cushion on your couch move about the same amount each day, exercising more is also not...

Many years ago, an eminent obesity researcher was explaining why weight-loss drugs or diets rarely produced permanent weight loss. Dr. George Bray compared weight gain to emotional disorders like depression, panic attacks or anxiety. "No one," he said, "would treat a patient only once with an antidepressant or anti-anxiety drug,...

Soon the advertisements on television for holiday eating and drinking will be replaced with promotions for weight-loss programs guaranteed to remove those extra pounds effortlessly and quickly. Before the tree is even put out for recycling you will be forced to make good on your New Year's resolution to lose...

I went off to my favorite discount clothing and housewares store the other day to buy some glasses for a party we are throwing. As I emerged from the escalator, stacks of elaborately-boxed food items, ready for gift giving or at-home nibbling, surrounded me. Chocolate-covered pretzels, nuts and coffee beans,...

A dog park opened up a few blocks from where I live. Now, instead of walking my dog Simon (a long-haired dachshund) around several neighborhood blocks I, along with my pet, invariably head toward the doggy play area. Once there, he runs around to sniff other dogs while I stand...

This is the week to plan Thanksgiving Day menus, watch celebrity chefs fry, brine or steam their turkeys, and search for the pie recipe that Aunt Carol used to make. As soon as cooking for Thanksgiving Day begins, caution and calories will be thrown to...

The Wall Street Journal recently (Oct. 24) had a story about how some companies are attempting to enhance productivity of their employees by offering them perks and making the workplace a more pleasant, mood-happy environment. Interventions ranged from isolating a productive but cantankerous employee from his team to...

There is nothing like sitting still to make you feel exhausted. Long plane trips are particularly notorious for leaving the body feeling leaden and heavy, and several hours at a conference table or computer station can have the same effect. One undervalued culprit in producing sitting exhaustion, however, is being...

Who knew that competitive eating was an international sport? Or that people who eat unthinkable amounts of food in restaurants are the subject of reality TV programs? It was only after watching an episode of "Man v. Food," where the host devours enormous quantities of food in a limited timeframe,...

Diets should be all about losing fat, gaining better eating habits and exercising more. But those very low-calorie diet plans that contain less than 1,200 calories a day may cause you to lose something your body really needs: muscle.

When you get on the scale and notice that the...

Many years ago, when running a smoking cessation program at MIT for a research project, I was told by one of the participants that she did not know how to fill the time left empty by not smoking. "Smoking used up time," she told me. "When I am home and...

We all know the sermon: We are fat and getting fatter because we eat too much. These days the people giving us too much food are (pick one):

a) Your mother
b) Your spouse
c) The chef at your favorite restaurant

The answer is probably c), the chef....

The MIT Technology Review July/August 2011 journal features an article by Emily Singer describing the development of self-monitoring devices that can function as a robotic mothers, nurses and personal trainers. Many of these devices resemble sleeker, more efficient models of instrumentation used by research labs to record brain activity during...

For the past several weeks I have been going to the physical therapy clinic in a large teaching hospital in Boston. A partially-slipped disc made learning how to "engage my core" and overcome bad posture in front of the computer screen an imperative. While waiting in the crowded waiting room,...

I recently saw a television advertisement for a weight loss program that showed a woman changing her shape from obese to skinny while taking the advertised product. As she stepped on the scale over a period of time, her expression changed from desperate to joyous as the scale registered her...

A few days ago, soon after the unveiling of MyPlate (the latest nutritional logo), my husband and I were at a museum event that included dinner. To my astonishment, the dinner, served buffet style, seemed to follow MyPlate's dietary recommendations. MyPlate replaced the old food pyramid which stacked food groups...

I passed a billboard today with a picture of half of a hamburger on a bun and a whole turkey sandwich. The message said, "For 300 calories you can eat half of this hamburger, or this entire turkey sandwich." The message was compelling. If I want to get the most...

Staying on a diet long enough to achieve major weight loss can feel like a journey down a deserted highway: there are no signs to tell you where you are, no radio programs to ease the boredom, no restaurants to break the tedium and no one to whom you can...

One trivial but still agonizing stress of the season is going into a dressing room with three-way mirrors and a handful of bathing suits. Moans, gasps and little wails reverberate off the walls as customers take the first real look at their bodies since Christmas. I've heard all the following...