A child nutrition bill on its way to President Barack Obama — and championed by the first lady — gives the government power to limit school bake sales and other fundraisers that health advocates say sometimes replace wholesome meals in the lunchroom.

Republicans, notably Sarah Palin, and public school organizations decry the bill as an unnecessary intrusion on a common practice often used to raise money.

“This could be a real train wreck for school districts,” Lucy Gettman of the National School Boards Association said Friday, a day after the House cleared the bill. “The federal government should not be in the business of regulating this kind of activity at the local level.”

Hold the brownies! Bill could limit bake sales

Ryan Gosling was suppose to play Soarise Ronan’s father in The Lovely Bones, even though he’s a little young, but instead, Mark Wahlberg got the job. So, what happened? Ryan said he was too fat for the part.

During an actor’s round table, Ryan explained to The Hollywood Reporter why he didn’t end up starring in Peter Jackson’s The Lovely Bones.

“We had a different idea of how the character should look. I really believed [he should be 210 pounds],” Ryan said of how he showed up to set weighing 60 pounds heavier than when he was hired. “I’d gotten it wrong. Clearly. And then I was fat and unemployed.”

Ryan Gosling Got Fired From ‘The Lovely Bones’ for Being Too Fat? | OK! Magazine – The First for Celebrity News

A federal advisory panel panel Friday endorsed a company’s request that a device used for weight-loss surgery be approved for people who are slightly less obese, a crucial step towards making the already increasingly popular procedures available to many more patients.

The 10-member Food and Drug Administration advisory committee voted overwhelmingly to recommend the agency grant the request from Allergan Inc. of Irvine, Calif., to market its Lap-Band device to people with a body mass index BMI of between 30 and 35.

Currently, the device, which is implanted around the stomach to restrict how much food a person consumes, is only approved for people who have not been able to lose weight through diet and exercise and have either a BMI of 40 or above or a combination of BMI of 35 or above and at least one serious weight-related health problem. Allergan’s request was to change that to a BMI of 35 with no health problems or 30 with health problems.

The Checkup – Experts endorse obesity surgery

Lugging around a few extra pounds? One of the largest studies to look at health and weight finds that you don’t have to be obese to raise your risk of premature death. Merely being overweight carries some risk, too.

Obesity increases the risk of death from heart disease, stroke and certain cancers. But whether being merely overweight contributes to an early death as well has been uncertain and controversial. Some research has suggested being a little pudgy has little effect or can even be a good thing.

Fat Thanks to Sunita K. for the tip!

Study says even being a bit overweight is risky – Yahoo! News

Weight-loss surgery, once a last resort for extremely overweight people, may soon become an option for those who are less heavy.

An advisory committee to the Food and Drug Administration will consider on Friday a request by, the pharmaceutical company, to significantly lower how obese someone must be to qualify for surgery using the company’s Lap-Band device, which restricts intake to the stomach.

Fat Thanks to Sunita K. for the tip!

F.D.A. Studies Band Surgery for Less Obese – NYTimes.com

In 30 years, 25% of adult Texans will be diabetic, four times this year’s figure, according to a new study reported in the Fort Worth Star- Telegram.

Obesity and poor nutrition are to blame for the epidemic, which the authors call “a threat to the solvency” of the state’s health systems.

“The numbers are shocking,” said Republican state Sen. Jane Nelson, who chairs the Senate Health and Human Services Committee. “It’s even worse than what I had imagined.”

Report: 25% of adult Texans will be diabetic in 30 years –

Being too fat can shorten your life, but being too skinny may cut longevity as well, a new study suggests.

Using data on almost 1.5 million white adults culled from 19 separate analyses, researchers from the U.S. National Institutes of Health NIH found that 5 percent of the U.S. population can be classified as morbidly obese — a number five times higher than previously thought.

Obesity Can Shorten Life, Analysis Finds – US News and World Report