Despite our personal familiarity with hunger, it is an extremely complex phenomenon. It is not just an empty stomach that causes that nagging feeling. To simplify things, we need to look at a number of levels of control.

The ultimate decision-maker lies in the brain. The hypothalamus is the part of the brain given the tide [...]

Anyone who has ever been on a diet knows it is extremely difficult to keep weight off once it is lost. Sure, she might shed a few pounds in the first weeks or so but, try as she might, that weight almost invariably returns. When it does, the person usually blames the diet or, more [...]

Talk about your dynamic duo!

In the mid-1990s, Patti Pottebaum and her husband, Gary, kicked their 20-year smoking habits. The couple, who live in the Lehigh Valley in Pennsylvania, say that attacking the problem as a team helped them succeed.

But in the months that followed, the usually trim Patti and Gary found their waistlines expanding—a byproduct, [...]