Here's one of my favorite recipes for frozen butternut squash ! I love using frozen butternut squash cubes because you can cut a couple of the first food prep steps from most recipes calling for butternut squash. You know...cutting the butternut squash into large pieces, scooping out the seeds and rind, roasting the large pieces until tender and then removing the hard outer shell from the tender flesh.

Despite a general belief among physicians that extreme obesity is too difficult to treat, except with bariatric surgery, researchers at the Pennington Biomedical Research Center have learned a substantial proportion of individuals with extreme obesity can lose 10-percent or more of their body weight through medical treatment that does not include surgery...

By as early as 7 years of age, being obese may raise a child's risk of future heart disease and stroke, even in the absence of other cardiovascular risk factors such as high blood pressure, according to a new study accepted for publication in The Endocrine Society's Journal of Clinical Endocrinology & Metabolism (JCEM)...

A new documentary, Orgasm Inc, which is causing a storm in America sets out to expose the drug companies and doctors who are now locked in a race to produce a 'female Viagra' - a treatment that promises women a super-charged sex life in a pill.

Forum Post: i have been on the metabolism miracle diet for what will be a month tomorrow, and love how i feel and i have lost weight, but my scales are messed up and im going to buy some new ones. the...

Taylor LeBaron is much like your average teenager in that he loves video games. The difference is that Taylor parlayed his joy of video games into a very impressive 150 lbs weight loss. Now 17, he has authored a book called "Cutting Myself in Half: 150 Pounds Lost One Byte At a Time" featuring his own fat burning system...

Most of life's circumstances are beyond our control. Family, work and busy schedules can bring all of us a certain amount of stress and anxiety. In my work with patients with difficulty managing their weight, stress is often reported as the number one thing that triggers emotional eating, which means reaching for food for comfort and support rather than asking for help...

The average 30-year-old will have just 12 per cent - barely an eighth - of her eggs left, the research shows.

A Université de Montréal research team is developing a pill composed of leptin, the protein that tells our brain to stop eating. "Mice deprived of leptin will not stop eating. They become so big they have trouble moving around," says Moïse Bendayan, a pathology professor at the Université de Montréal Faculty of Medicine who has studied the leptin protein extensively...

The New York Times reports on health in the U.S. "The percentage of people who reported having excellent or very good health declined to 66.6 percent in the 2009 period, from 69.1 percent in 1998. Americans report that they have been exercising more. Nevertheless, more than a quarter were obese in 2009 (with a body mass index of 30 or more), up from 19.5 percent in 1997...

Forum Post: I love chocolate and ice-cream. I just cannot stop eating them. Even when i tried my best to eat less of them, i just go for more. What can i do? I do exercise, but i can't even lose a...

UroToday.com - The morbidly obese patient is not an uncommon presentation for renal stone disease requiring percutaneous nephrolithotomy. These patients can often be a challenge even with the extra long Amplatz sheath to access the intra renal collecting system...

Forum Post: Hi, My name is greg, im turning 13 in 2 months. i eat about 1020 calories to 1330 calories a day. Is that healthy? i am 5'7, and weigh 140 to 143 pounds. Please help....

Filed under: Feast Your Eyes , Features Photo: adashofsass, Flickr . The blogger herself says it best: "I subscribe to a ton of food blogs, and generally get a handful of recipes delivered to my inbox each day. The gems get filed away under the bulging To Make list. Very rarely do I receive a recipe that sounds so good it produces a Run-Don't-Walk level of urgency. This salad is of the Run-Don't-Walk variety." It's a satisfying main-course salad, especially with addition of black-eyed peas and black beans, but light enough for a warm summer day thanks to the bright, tangy dressing, sweetened with agave nectar (talk about a great secret weapon!). Become a member of the Slashfood Flickr pool to get a shot of having your photos featured in Feast Your Eyes.

Filed under: Offal , History , Events Flickr, The Pug Father. Members of an eastern North Carolina historical organization are trying to stimulate interest in Colonial-era pig preparations they claim the current crop of pork devotees has unfairly overlooked. "Cracklings have gotten a lot of bad press," sighs Sarah Weeks, a volunteer for the Perquimans County Restoration Association . But she insists, "People can add them to any savory recipe," she insists. While a few high-end chefs have toyed with cracklings, Weeks would like to shift the crunchy, salty byproduct of rendering lard from the amuse plate to the kitchen pantry. That's why she's enlisted an ally to show up at the association's hog-killing festival this weekend with crackling-streaked biscuits. Continue reading Colonial Historians Press for Crackling Revival

Filed under: In Sixty Seconds , Features Photo: mrjoro, Flickr .

• Take your downward-dog right down into the soup course at a "Yoga for Foodies" session. Chocolate truffles follow the chaturanga.
• Martha Rose Shulman unearths a blueberry pudding recipe that sounds almost -- dare we say it -- sexy.
• Growling for an extra-large beer? " Growlers have been around since Christ was a child. . . . We're not doing anything new."
• Vodka is just a day job for this absinthe maker .
• Ah, c'est tres moderne : These venerable Parisian restaurants are both angling themselves for twenty-first-century customers, but in very different ways.

Filed under: Local Delicacies Photo: urbanfoodie33, Flickr . You won't find many titles that contain both the words "vice president" and "shop manager," and you won't find many salumi shops like Boccalone either. The salumeria in San Francisco's Ferry Building is one of the best places in the country to experience the sheer joy of chowing down on high-quality, slow-cured pork. We recently caught up with Executive Vice President Tatiana Graf and asked her about her day-to-day routine working in a pig lover's paradise. One day about a month after we had opened the shop, an older woman came in and started looking around. When I greeted her, she asked in a slightly gruff way, "You don't make head cheese, do you?" I said, "Of course we do. We call it Coppa di Testa . Would you like to try some?" She was surprised and said "Sure." I could tell she wasn't convinced that I knew what I was talking about. I got a sample and brought it over for her to try. While she tasted it, I explained a little about our company and how we make make everything in the traditional, old-world style. She considered for a minute and then a smile grew across her face. She looked me in the eye and told me she hadn't tasted any head cheese that good since her father, who was a butcher, had made it when she was a kid. She said the flavor took her right back to her childhood. All the gruffness in her voice was gone. She was happy and so was I. Continue reading Boccalone - Ask a Shopkeeper

Filed under: Drinks Photo: YouTube How badly does Dr Pepper want you to be a pepper too? To commemorate Dr Pepper's 125th anniversary, not only was the soft drink company on hand Monday to ring the closing bell at the New York Stock Exchange, it also sprung a singing and dancing flash mob on the stock exchange floor, urging traders to "Be a Pepper," USA Today reported. Dr Pepper re-created its 1970s ad campaign -- with its catchy "Be a Pepper" theme song -- bringing back David Naughton, star of the original ads , the paper reported. Wall Street, however, didn't seem very amused by the spontaneous burst of marketing. Check out the video after the jump. Continue reading Dr Pepper Shakes Up Wall Street

Filed under: Restaurants Photo: FilmNut, Flickr. Restaurants are running out of money, which means more of them are trying to lure in new customers with coupons. Even the ritziest eateries are starting to run clippable promos in newspaper circulars, promising free appetizers or two-for-one entrées to any penny-pincher with the sense to cash in on the restaurant's miserable financial fortunes. I have no beef with coupons, and hope they work to resuscitate some of the restaurants that seem in serious danger of shuttering due to the recession. But, for whatever reason, coupon users tend to be among the most impolite diners. Here then, a guide to using coupons - without making an enemy of your server (which, as outlined in previous columns , is never a wise thing to do).

• Don't create a little coupon shrine on your table. Many coupon-carriers, terrified their server might accidentally charge them full price, make a point of prominently positioning their coupon as soon as they're seated. I've seen coupons folded and set on the edge of the table, propped up by the salt and pepper shakers and balanced on candle holders. All that conveys is cheapness, which is what all servers dread. Try your best to keep your coupon enthusiasm in check.

Filed under: Fast Food , Food News Photo: Sleeping.to.Dream, Flickr by Catherine Donaldson-Evans McDonald's is building its Roman Empire. In Rome, the fast food giant introduced a new " McItaly " line of burgers made entirely with Italian ingredients, ABC News reported Tuesday. Italy's Agriculture Minister, Luca Zaia, donned a McDonald's apron to help prepare the new fast-food fare, which includes two sandwiches and a salad. One of the burgers has artichoke spread, Asiago cheese and lettuce -- all produced in Italy along with the ground beef and bread. Continue reading Buon Appetito: McDonald's New 'McItaly' Burgers