We all have bad days when our sour mood gets the best of us and we end up binging on bags of potato chips and Netflix in an attempt to cope. But there’s a difference between reaching for comfort food now and then and a full-blown food addiction. But if you’re not sure where your habits lie, you’re not alone. Food addicts aren’t entirely different from folks who overeat. The same ingredients that cause intense cravings can also cause addiction. “The food industry makes food intentionally addictive,” Vera Tarman, MD, MSc, FCFP and author of Food Junkies: The Truth About Food Addiction, told Dr. Oz, The Good Life. Some people have genetics that make them even more susceptible to developing addiction. “There’s a subpopulation who gets that hook like everyone else, but then they’re vulnerable because of a previous addiction or genetics,” Dr. Tarman said. “It’s like an alcoholic who can’t put down a…
The average size of the American woman might not be what you think
Body image continues to be a hot button topic in America. And it should be. For decades, the media and the fashion industry have given women a distorted perception of what being beautiful means. The standards are unreachable for most — particularly when it comes to clothing sizes. A recent study published in the International Journal of Fashion Design, Technology and Education reveals that the average size of an American woman is actually size 16 — not size 14 as previously thought. One of the study’s experts, Susan Dunn, spoke to TODAY about how this new information should affect the fashion industry. “We hope that this information can get out and be used by industry and consumers alike. Just knowing where the average is can help a lot of women with their self image,” said Dunn in an email to TODAY. “And we hope that the apparel industry can see the numbers and…
U.S. obesity epidemic not budging
NEW YORK — America’s weight problem isn’t getting any better, according to new government research. Overall, obesity figures stayed about the same: About 40 percent of adults are obese and 18.5 percent of children. Those numbers are a slight increase from the last report but the difference is so small that it could have occurred by chance. Worrisome to experts is the rate for children and teenagers, which had hovered around 17 percent for a decade. The 2-to-5 age group had the biggest rise. The years ahead will show if that’s a statistical blip or marks the start of a real trend, said the report’s lead author, Dr. Craig Hales of the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The bad news is that the numbers didn’t go down, experts say. In recent years, state and national health officials have focused on obesity in kids, who were the target of the…