Man mountain Paul Mason plans to sue the NHS – claiming they ignored his plight as he rocketed towards 70 stone.

Paul – once the world’s fattest man – vowed to use any compo to help other patients who need weight-loss ops.

The 50-year-old, of Ipswich, said he begged his local NHS trust for help at 30st.

But the medic he consulted in 1996 told him: “Ride your bike more.”

When the former postman hit 64st he asked to see an eating disorders specialist, but was sent to a dietician.

He had life-saving gastric surgery last year and is now a relatively slim 37st.

Paul said: “I want to set a precedent so no one else has to get to the same size – and to put something back into society.”

Fattest man Paul Mason sues the NHS for allegedly ‘letting him grow’ | The Sun |News

A nonprofit doctors’ organization is suing two federal agencies for ignoring a vegetarian alternative to the traditional food pyramid — despite skyrocketing obesity and diabetes rates.

In a lawsuit filed in the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine says the U.S. Department of Agriculture and U.S. Department of Health and Human Services violated federal law by failing to respond to a PCRM petition offering a simple, plant-based alternative — the Power Plate — as an alternative to MyPyramid, the USDA’s name for its food pyramid.

“We are asking the government to protect the average American, not special agribusiness interests,” said registered dietitian Susan Levin, the organization’s nutrition education director. “MyPyramid is confusing, and it recommends meat and dairy products despite overwhelming evidence that these foods are unnecessary and unhealthy. Research shows the Power Plate is a better choice, and it’s simple enough that a child could follow it.”

Fat Thanks to Sona S. for the tip!

Food pyramid: USDA sued by doctors’ group that wants vegetarian alternative – latimes.com

Nearly 75 percent of Americans will be overweight or obese by 2019. That’s the projection of economists in a report, “Obesity and the Economics of Prevention: Fit Not Fat,” issued by the Paris-based 33-member Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD). The condition will, they argue, drag down the economy and impoverish us.

Although the prediction seems dire, it’s not set in stone. The New Year gives us yet another chance to get it right — to lose weight and get fit. Here are the latest trends, research and products to help you decide how to eat and exercise to achieve your fitness goals in 2011.

Carole Carson: The Skinny on Fitness Trends in 2011

Despite surging obesity numbers in the U.S., a new survey finds that just one out of 10 Americans say their diet is unhealthy.

The survey, conducted by Consumer Reports, also found that while four in 10 admitted being “somewhat overweight,” just 11 percent said they were very overweight or obese — a direct contradiction of previous weight measurements taken by researchers at the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, which show that 68 percent of Americans are overweight or obese.

Is Our Fast Food Nation Kidding Itself?

“There does seem to be a disconnect,” between reality and the answers most of us give when asked questions about our diet, how much exercise we get and our weight, said Molly Kimball, a registered dietitian at Ochshner’s Elmwood Fitness Center in New Orleans.

Part of the disconnect, Kimball said, comes from the way foods are marketed to us.

“So many people think that what they’re eating is healthy — diet frozen dinners, fat-free ice cream, 100-calorie pretzel packs. Or they say,  ‘I never eat fast food,’ but that doesn’t mean they’re not eating a lot of other unhealthy things,” she said.

In her practice, Kimball said, people tell her all the time that they don’t understand why they’re not losing weight, because they believe they’re eating healthy foods.

But I’m not fat! Are Americans fooling themselves? – Health – Diet and nutrition – msnbc.com

People may be unknowingly consuming significant amounts of potentially harmful trans fats as a result of misleading food labels, researchers say.

The law allows foods that contain less than 0.5 grams of fat to be labeled as containing zero grams of fat. That’s because the policy requires that fat amounts less than 5 grams be listed in 0.5 gram increments, and allows food producers to round down to the lower increment. Foods with more than 5 grams of fat are required to use one gram increments.

This means if a product has 0.49 grams of trans fat, manufacturers can label its trans fat content as zero.

Consuming as few as three such food items could lead a person to exceed the recommended intake of 1.11 grams daily without knowing it, Brandt said. For example, consuming three servings of food labeled “zero trans fat,” each of which actually contained 0.49 grams of trans fat, would bring the total to 1.47 grams.

You might be eating more trans fats than you think – Health – Food safety – msnbc.com

The first week of January usually sees a spike in gym membership enrollments, but how many people actually stick to their resolution of exercising more and losing weight throughout the year? The CBC is launching an in-depth multiplatform focus on the health of Canadians called Canada Weighs In, which airs from January 2 to January 6.

Tonight sees the premiere of Village on a Diet, a 10-episode documentary series airing Mondays at 9 p.m. The series follows the northern B.C. town of Taylor, where over 60 percent of its population is either overweight or obese. However, the town has decided to attempt to lose one collective ton in the next three months and have their struggles and successes documented on camera.

Village on a Diet puts Canada’s obesity epidemic on CBC TV | Vancouver, Canada | Straight.com

A study of thousands of American babies and toddlers finds many are obese before they’ve taken their first bites of food.

Researchers have found one out of three babies are either obese or at risk for the condition by the time they reach nine months of age. Experts say babies should not be put on a diet. Instead, their parents need to learn healthy lifestyle habits.

Some childhood obesity detected at nine months of age – WLBT 3 – Jackson, MS:

His clothes are custom-made and sometimes he goes naked to avoid having to get dressed. But now his frame has shrunk so much he can get about on a special motorised chair.

Mr Mason admitted to eating 20,000 calories a day, eight times the amount needed by an average man.

Firefighters had to demolish the front wall of his former home so they could drive a fork lift truck inside to lift him out and put him into an ambulance when he needed a hernia operation in 2002.

‘I don’t want to go back to the old me. I’m determined to carry on losing weight until I’m a normal size. I’m much happier and healthier now.’

The former postman, who is is still believed to be the world’s heaviest man, had part of his stomach stapled off so that all the food he ate went into a small ‘pouch’, vastly restricting the amount he could eat. He was driven 143 miles in an ambulance with reinforced beds to have the operation at the specialist St Richard’s Hospital in Chichester. Doctors put him on a crash diet to bring his weight down to a safe level so the operation could go ahead.

His care bill costs taxpayers an estimated £100,000 a year and is believed to have topped £1million over the last 15 years.

World’s heaviest man Paul Mason has lost 20 stone after gastric bypass surgery | Mail Online

The Australian Medical Association is urging the government to use shock tactics in television commercials warning of the risks of eating fatty foods.

Doctors have proposed to the government of Victoria television and newspaper advertisements costing $25 million to graphically show the effects of fat on the body’s internal organs as part of a public health campaign about obesity, the Australian Broadcasting Corp. reported Sunday.

Dr. Gary Speck of the Australian Medical Association Victoria says the commercials would be modeled on U.S. ads that show people downing huge amounts of sugar and fat.

Doctors urge ‘shock tactics’ on obesity – UPI.com

According to a new study, children of alcoholics are more likely to face and suffer from obesity than kids who are not born into a family with a history of alcoholism.

Children Of Alcoholics Far More Likely To Be Obese | SmartAboutHealth.Net