The updated advice from the Preventive Services Task Force about obesity screening harbors good, bad, and a bit of the downright silly.

Fundamentally, we have converted a world in which calories were relatively scarce and hard to get and physical activity unavoidable into a world where physical activity is scarce and hard to get and calories are unavoidable.

As you likely know, U.S. News and World Report released a list of "best diets" to coincide with the annual bumper crop of weight loss resolutions as the new year begins. I was privileged to be one of the 22 judges.

With a nod to my many colleagues who are genuinely expert in weight management counseling, and have long addressed it well -- and especially to those who taught me to do so -- I must acknowledge that the track record for the large majority of our clan is not pretty.