by Jill Weisenberger, M.S., R.D., C.D.E.

Unless you’ve been hiding behind a scarecrow, you’ve probably seen the bags of candy crowding the grocery store shelves. And if you’ve shopped with children lately, you’ve likely had bags mysteriously jump into your shopping cart. The junk food season which starts before Halloween and doesn’t end until Valentine’s Day is upon us.

So what’s a parent to do? How do we temper the candy frenzy with our kids? How do we handle it for ourselves? Without a plan, a lot of pounds can be gained before Cupid visits us.

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by James Hubbard, M.D., M.P.H.

An article in the most recent issue of the Archives of Internal Medicine attempts to discover what it takes to keep weight off after losing it. The participants lost an average of 8 to 10 percent of their original body weight after a year but gained back 5 percent by year two even while trying to stick with the same regimen. That is, all but one group, who kept all of their weight off.

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