Nutrition

For the third year, Emory cardiologist Laurence Sperling helped U.S. News & World Report rate the country’s top diets. Sperling joined a panel of 20 experts to evaluate 29 diets from Atkins to Zone. Fortunately for Sperling, medical director of Emory's Center for Heart Disease Prevention, he didn’t have to actually try all the diets.

How much time do you spend in that drive-thru? On an average day, we get a little more than 11 percent of our calories from fast food, according to a new study from the CDC.

Once in a while, I find myself running—occasionally from someone, or as part of an annual St. Patrick's day pub run, but more often late at night to sober up—with alcohol in my system.

We need to exercise more. A new report says 29.1 percent of Georgians are obese, making the Peach State the 20th most obese state in the country. Based on data released in July 2013, Louisiana is the most obese state and Colorado is the least.

Would you rather lose $1,000 or gain 20 pounds? A new survey says more than half of Americans would rather lose the cash. Probably because it's a lot harder to eventually lose the weight.

Feeling sick to your stomach? Where did you have lunch? A new report released by the CDC finds nearly half of all foodborne illnesses in the U.S. each year are in some way associated with restaurants and delis.

Kristina Lewis, a medical researcher with Kaiser Permanente of Georgia, snagged one of the inaugural awards from the New York Academy of Sciences’ Sackler Institute for Nutrition Science.

Michael Pollan, author of "The Omnivore's Dilemma" and the standard-bearer of the local food movement, has been promoting his new book lately, "Cooked." The basic premise, he told Stephen Colbert on "The Colbert Report" this week, is this: "The most important thing about your diet is not a nutrient, but an activity: cooking."

I stare at the partially-mashed glob of sweet potatoes, immersed in a bowl of water. It looks like Jabba the Hutt is taking a bath. This can’t be right. I consult the recipe card from Garnish & Gather, a new Atlanta business that provides cook-at-home kits with local, organic foods and pre-measured ingredients for simple recipes from notable chefs like Seth Freedman and Julia LeRoy.

No doubt you've heard a lot about the U.S. obesity epidemic. If you're tired of reading about it and just want to see it, check out the CDC's obesity-over-time map, sped up for your viewing pleasure.