Health professionals and parents are up in arms today over a new anti-obesity ad campaign in Georgia, featuring stark black-and-white photos of overweight children with lines like “Some diseases aren’t just for adults anymore,” and “Being fat takes the fun out of being a kid.” Is it a useful tactic, or just shameful? And when will Bloomberg bring it to New York? more ›

Olive Garden, home of unlimited breadsticks, and Red Lobster, purveyors of fine cheddar biscuits, are shaping up at Michelle Obama's request. more ›

Last week there was considerable consternation over a new children's book called Maggie Goes on a Diet, which was being marketed on Amazon with a reading level for kids between ages 4 and 8. As you can see by the cover illustration, Maggie does need to drop a few pounds in order to fit into that sleeveless dress and earn the respect of her peers. As the book's synopsis puts it, "Maggie has so much potential that has been hiding under her extra weight." And [SPOILER] she manages to unleash that potential without any binging, purging, cutting, or cocaine. For that, Fox News hails Maggie as "a welcome truth-seeker" and "a fabulous role model, far better than the size 20 women who go on talk shows and lie about how happy they are with their bodies." And today the Daily News concurs: more ›

Recently parents and kids gathered at City Hall to protest the DOE's ban on homemade treats at school bake sales and a New Yorker reporter bore witness to "the noise made by wooden spoons being banged against saucepans." Doing away with brownies from scratch, the regulations limit sales to packaged foods like whole grain Pop-Tarts and reduced fat Doritos, so at the rally kids in foot-tall paper chef's hats chanted “N.Y.C. D.O.E. Read our lips. No more chips,” and “Yay, apple! Boo, Snapple!” Their hand-lettered picket signs read “Joel Klein Get Out of the Pantry” and “Our Schools Are Not Supermarkets.” But the opposition was present too—not the schools chancellor and his cronies but a row of pre-teen boys shouting “We want junk food! We want Doritos!” more ›

As the debate over bake sales rages on—with a City Hall "bake-in" scheduled for tomorrow—the Times takes a close look at both sides of the bitter butter battle. In one camp there's the Education Department, which has banned homemade treats in favor of fresh fruit and vegetables and a prescribed list of low-cal packaged chips and cookies. Then there are the parents who say schools are cutting out an important income source, while encouraging the harmful consumption of processed food. Laura Shapiro, a food writer and historian, says the debate is an historical one, dating back to the rise of big food companies during WII: "That was the start of the war between the food industry and American home cooks, which this bake-sale flap shows is not over,” more ›

Parents are planning a city hall “bake-in” in protest of new regulations that ban homemade treats from their kids' school bake sales. The city's rationale is that brownies and cookies made from scratch carry an uncountable calorie load, whereas Doritos, packaged cookies and other food items on a list of permissible items, disclose their nutritional content. "We don't really want to be told what to buy, especially when it's junk food from Kellogg's," one mom told the Daily News. more ›

Months after it barred schools from holding most food fundraisers, the city says bake sales can go on—as long as no homemade treats with undisclosed calorie counts grace the fold-out tables. The new regulation, designed to combat ever-increasing childhood obesity, limits bake sales to "fresh fruits and vegetables, or one of 27 specific packaged items" that include low-fat Doritos, Nutri-Grain Cereal Bars (blackberry only) and Linden’s Cookies (butter crunch, chocolate chip or fudge chip cookies in two cookie packs) among other things. The city has also recently slapped health regulations on school vending machines and is considering a "Meatless Monday" school lunch program. more ›

Who says vegetarianism is dead? Last week Manhattan borough president Scott Stringer proposed that NY public schools institute a "Meatless Monday" program, by which students would start their week with spinach and green beans, foregoing bacon strips and chicken wings. “The way to get to kids is to raise the flag: ‘Give up meat one day a week. I’m not going to have Burger King or McDonald’s for one day,’” said Stringer, who edited the "Go Green East Harlem Cookbook." “You’ve got to reach the next generation of New Yorkers early.” more ›

Obesity, especially childhood obesity, is an issue that the city takes seriously. But one Upper West Side mother's tactics at P.S. 9 have caused the school—and many other parents—to become frustrated and weary. MeMe Roth, an anti-obesity activist who gets upset by "special occasion" junk food ("cupcakes that come out for every birthday, the doughnuts her children were once given in gym"), tells the NY Times, "I thought I was sending my kid to P.S. 9, not Chuck E. Cheese. Is there or is there not an obesity and diabetes epidemic in this country?” more ›

Researchers from Columbia University and Berkeley say they've proven that children attending schools near fast-food restaurants have higher-than-average obesity rates. Using data gathered from 1,047 California high schools over the course of eight years, the report [PDF] concludes that among 9th grade children, a fast food restaurant within a tenth of a mile of a school is associated with at least a 5.2 percent increase in obesity rates. more ›