Just like a carpenter needs the right set of tools to build a house, you also need the right set of tools to make healthy, weight-appropriate decisions for yourself. Enter Dr. David Katz who has three essential tools for making faster, smarter, easier and more confident personal decisions involving food and activities. He explains the new Overall Nutritional Quality Index (ONQI) which makes it possible to quickly compare and rate the nutritional value of foods you see in the grocery stores. Dr. Katz also talks about the five important ways to become a “Nutrition Detective,” a program he co-developed with his wife, as well as his ABC for Fitness program. Dr. Katz is the author of 11 books on health and nutrition, the Director and Co-founder of the Yale Prevention Research Center and a professor at the Yale University School of Medicine. He’s a living example of someone who not only personally walks the talk, he’s also passionately dedicated to enriching the health and well-being of the general public. Our second guest is Dr. Thomas McDonagh, a pediatric physician in Huntington, NY who developed the “Healthier Tomorrows” program. Healthier Tomorrows is designed for young people, ages 9 to 16, with a serious weight problem. This program has it all: nutritional instruction, fitness instruction, behavioral instruction, family support, school cooperation. Comprehensive, experimental programs like these may be what’s needed to intervene and make a sustainable difference in the growing obesity trend for the next generation. Also, host Karen Bentley talks about the results of a study that compares the impact of personal coaching on long-term weight loss sustainability.

Karen Bentley is the founder and CEO of The Sugar-Free Miracle™ Diet Company which publishes The Sugar-Free Miracle™ Diet Handbook, The Sugar-Free Miracle™ Diet Cookbook collection, related workbooks, a newsletter, and the sugarfreenation blog. Bentley is living proof that a sugar-free weight loss strategy works and is sustainable. She personally lost 130 pounds on The Sugar-Free Miracle™ Diet, and then did the hard part. She kept it off. Because of lifelong weight issues, Bentley has extensive direct experience with many popular weight loss theories and protocols. Even more importantly, her ongoing focus on successful weight practices evolved into a vibrant life of passion and purpose. Over the last 10 years, she’s written four books on weight loss and is one of a handful of sugar-free eating experts in the world today. She’s also an accomplished physical educator, graduating summa cum laude, class valedictorian and winner of the Boston Bouve’ Award from Northeastern University with a degree in physical education.