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By Dr. Madelyn Fernstrom Now here’s a novel way to grab your attention about liquid calories and the amount of sugar in sweetened beverages. The advertisement, coming from the NYC Health Department, shows a man consuming whole packets of sugar to provide a warning about how many packets (one packet equals one teaspoon) a person ingests with a  20-ounce soft drink. It is currently in small-market distribution – but might get national exposure. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) offered the ad to 39 communities already receiving anti-obesity funds, as a way to support the community-tailored media campaigns already under way. Do you think this will be an effective way to draw attention to this “hidden” source of calories? Stay tuned – I’ll soon have more news to share from a meeting I am attending (and presenting at) this week in Washington, DC: the CDC Weight of the Nation Meeting.

By Dr. Madelyn Fernstrom These four words resonate with everyone – but how easy is this to do?  Michael J. Fox , the gifted TV and film actor, has a wonderful attitude about managing worry that I’d like to share with you. You might know that he has lived with Parkinson’s disease for nearly 20 years. And when it comes to managing a chronic illness, the “worry factor” is part of daily life. When asked about his concerns about his future physical health, his response provided me with a burst of clarity in “worry management.” He said that it doesn’t pay to worry and explained why. If you worry about something and it finally occurs, then you’re worrying twice about the same thing. And for him, once is enough.   So cast your worries aside, and keep a smile on your face. Start by looking at your day and listing the positives instead of what went wrong. Learn to be a glass-half-full person – not a half-empty one. Think about what put a smile of your face during the day. But if yo...