The latest McDonald's critic isn't your run of the mill nutritionist. This time, a Royal has set his sights on the fast-food chain.

On a visit to the United Arab Emirates, Prince Charles suggested that banning McDonald's fast food was crucial for improving people's diets, a British news agency reported.

Charles made the comments while visiting the Imperial College London Diabetes Center in Abu Dhabi for the launch of a public health campaign, The Press Association reported.

"Have you got anywhere with McDonald's? Have you tried getting it banned? That's the key," Charles was quoted as asking one of the center's nutritionists.

Guess he won't be hanging out with Ronald McDonald anytime soon.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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A mother who feared she might lose custody of her obese 8-year-old son unless he lost weight was allowed to keep the boy after she made a pact with social workers to safeguard his welfare, according to an Associated Press report.

Connor McCreaddie, of Wallsend in northeastern England, weighs 218 pounds, four times the weight of a healthy child his age.

The story has set off worldwide debate on childhood obesity and whether to blame it on genetics, junk food or bad parenting.

What do you think?

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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Most of us like to indulge even just a little when we eat out, but new research suggests those tasty tidbits may pack a truckload of calories.

MSNBC reports that The Center for Science in the Public Interest, a research group that advocates good nutrition, highlighted menu items from popular chain restaurants that in some cases have as many calories in just one plateful as some people should eat in an entire day.

The examples included Ruby Tuesday’s Colossal Burger, which weighs in at around 1,940 calories and includes 141 grams of fat.

The research group wants companies to offer calorie counts and other nutrition data, so customers can better evaluate what they plan to eat. According to the Los Angeles Times, some legislators want to make providing menus a law.

What do you think? Would you want nutritional information on restaurant menus? Would you use it?

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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Many of us are focused on calories as we fight the weight-loss battle. But do you know exactly what a calorie is?

Kathy Wollard explains in this week's installment of Newsday's How Come?

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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Researchers are gaining some insight into why our efforts to lose weight often fail, according to a HealthDay News report.

The biggest pitfall seems to be setting unjrealistic goals. Instead of trying to lose, say, 15 pounds in a month -- very unrealistic -- most experts suggest a slow, steady loss, about one or two pounds a week.

Another biggie is lack of planning for social events. God, I am so guilty of that one. Even when I have it in my mind to control during dinner out with friends, sometimes I still find myself splurging.

Check out the full article to see how to deal with this and other pitfalls of dieting. And while you're at it, share your thoughts on what your pitfalls are. Maybe some of our fair readers have suggestions that can help.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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A new study has dropped a bomb on the holy partnership of diet and exercise as the most effective way to lose weight.

Researchers report that dieting alone is just as effective as dieting plus exercise.

In the words of the immortal Robin: Holy, moly, Batman!

"For weight loss to occur, an individual needs to maintain a difference between the number of calories they consume everyday and the number of calories they burn through metabolism and physical activity," Dr. Leanne Redman of the Pennington Biomedical Research Center in Baton Rouge, Louisiana, explains in a story on Reuters Health.

"What we found was that it did not matter whether a reduction in calories was achieved through diet or burned everyday through exercise."

The study is reported in the Journal of Clinical Endocrinology and Metabolism.

Now before you chuck your gym membership and throw out your sneakers, remember that regular exercise can improve aerobic fitness and lower the risk of heart disease, diabetes, and certain types of cancer.

Check out the full story and let me know if this affects your weight-loss plans.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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A new DVD game called Body Mechanics has become the latest tool to fight childhood obesity.

The game teaches youngsters how to avoid being overweight by joining forces with a team of superheroes who battle villains with names like Col Estorol and Betes II, according to an Associated Press article.

The fighting takes place inside the body of Jack Decayd. If Obeez City is not contained, "Jack will die soon," says Neuro, the Yoda-like wise one who narrates the game's story line.

Get the full story.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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Any dieter will tell you can be awfully hard to stay on your food plan with loved ones around, especially if they're not supportive or if they try to play food cop.

“Money and sex aren’t the only things that break up a relationship,” Cynthia Sass, co-author of Your Diet Is Driving Me Crazy, says in an article in the Kansas City Star. “Food can, too. Anything that is critical or embarrassing can start a fight. It’s like a slap in the face.”

Sass says your partner may resort to sabotage to sink your diet because he or she figures you're not happy with them. Check out the article to get her tips on dealing with diet sabotage.

And let me know what works for you? How do you keep your loved one's mitts off your diet?

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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While tooling around the web today I came across a pretty nifty quiz entitled "Is Your Job Making You Fat?" on IVillage.com.

It asks questions such as whether you bring your lunch to work and how much time you spend at your desk. I scored a No, but with all the snacking that goes on in your office, that is a minor miracle.

Check out the quiz and while you're at it, have a look at IVillage's fitness tracker, BMI calculator, activity calculator and more at the site's Diet and Fitness section.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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If you're considering trying LA Weight Loss to help you shed pounds, make sure you check out Samantha Wender's article on her experience going undercover there for ABC's "20/20."

Wender, who went to three different centers in three different cities, geared with hidden cameras and an alleged "goal" of losing 10 pounds, recorders her experience an ABCNews.com.

Wender writes that the company used a low advertised price to get customers in the door, then emotionally manipulated them into buying high-priced bars, shakes and juices.

Check out her full article and see what you think.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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The rumblings against low-fat dieting have grown into a roar of late. Dana Carpender, the Cook Well, Eat Well columnist is the latest to add her voice to the group.

The United Press Syndicate writer says she's weary of ads touting how low-fat this or that food is.

"Did we learn nothing from the past five years? Is it that hard to absorb new information? Let me put it simply: There is no health benefit from a low-fat diet. Is that clear enough?"

Carpender writes that an eight-year study involving 48,835 women found no protection against heart disease, breast cancer or colon cancer from a low-fat diet.

"Low fat is dead. Americans just haven’t buried it yet," says Carpender.

Check out the full article and see if you agree.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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Diet drug maker's GlaxoSmithKline's sponsorship of an upcoming PBS program on obesity has raised eyebrows, but PBS says it is following the rules.

According to Broadcasting and Cable.com, Glaxo is underwriting the April broadcast of Fat: What No One is Telling You, the second in the "Take One Step" series of health-related shows and outreach PBS is undertaking in concert with the YMCA.

The series kicked off this week with a show on heart disease, but Glaxo was not a funder, according to a spokeswoman for producer WGBH Boston. But Glaxo is underwriting the "Fat" show, which debuts April 11.

PBS says there is no conflict because it notes where the funding comes from and can't help it that the drug maker recently got FDA approval to take its obesity drug, Alli, over the counter.

Check out the full article and see what you think. And while you're at it, have a look at GlaxoSmithKline's presentation on obesity.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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With Americans' waistlines growing larger each year, government officials yesterday released guidelines for drugmakers getting into the obesity drug business.

According to a Reuters report, the FDA proposed that companies should prove their products can help people lose weight and keep it off for at least a year. It also urged them to study people with a body mass index of at least 30 or those with a BMI of at least 27 with diabetes, heart disease or other weight-related conditions.

The full guidelines are posted by the FDA at http://www.fda.gov/OHRMS/DOCKETS/98fr/07d-0040-gdl0001.pdf.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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Rarely do diet doctors face off, but they do in Dr. Dean Ornish's nutrition column for Newsweek this week.

Ornish takes on Dr. Arthur Agatston, founder of the South Beach Diet craze, about his new book, "‘The South Beach Diet Heart Program," which claims to “detect, prevent and even reverse heart disease.”

Check out the interview.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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I am not a big fan of Valentine's Day, but I ran across a story on USAToday.com that touched my cynical heart.

Julie McDonald, 27, an elementary school teacher from St. Cloud, Fla., and Kevin Switzer, 25, a web designer from Des Moines, Iowa, met on a Weight Watchers message board a year ago when they each were trying to lose weight.

The couple, who each weighed 307 pounds at one point, lost a combined 200 pounds and are engaged to be married in June, according to the article.

Now, that's a real heartwarmer. Happy V-Day.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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If you've visited Internet weight loss sites, chances are you've seen ads for Clenbuterol, "the size 0 pill."

The pill, the only FDA-approved for horses with obstructive airway disease, melts away 6 to 10 pounds a week with no prescription, no exercise and no change in diet.

But the pill comes with some very big risks, according to CBS5.com in San Francisco.

Dr. Kim Mulvihill writes that it elevates blood pressure, and heart rate, raising the risk of arrhythmias and stroke. It can cause tremors, headaches, insomnia and anxiety.

Get the complete story.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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Trying to eat better? CNN.com and Cooking Light have five tips for you:

Try new foods, cook dinner more often, eat more whole grains, eat breakfast every day and snack more healthfully.

Check out the benefits of each suggestions and get some quick and easy recipes.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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Food writer Julia Watson has a new task for us this Valentine's Day: She implores us to fall in love with food again.

The United Press International writer says part of the reason we're gaining weight is that our relationship with food has changed. It's now "nutrition," so we don't take the care we used to with food.

"All we need to do is go back to eating food. Real food. Around a table with the people we love," she writes.

"Subject each food purchase to the ancestor test: If you don't think this would have been seen on a grandmother's table before the 1950s, you probably shouldn't buy it."

Check out her persuasive full column and get her recipe for Valentine's Lamb with Love Apples.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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This week's Personal Trainer shows you how to get a little fusion fitness with a moves that combine yoga, cardio and strength training.

amNewYork's Elaine Paoloni talked with Jess Gronholm, yoga director at Crunch Fitness, teaches a cross-over class called Buff Yoga.

"This is a great workout because yoga students benefit from the additional strength training that they don't receive in their traditional yoga classes, and cardio/weight-lifting students, who may feel yoga isn't enough of a 'workout,' still get that strength work while also getting the flexibility/stretching benefits of yoga," Gronholm says.

Check out the routine and for more personal training exercises, read our complete gallery.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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Dieters got some big news today when the FDA announced that it has approved over-the-counter sales of the fat-blocking diet pill Orlistat.

Currently available as Xenical, the capsules will be sold in a lower, nonprescription dose under the name "alli," according to an Associated Press report.

The drug is intended for people 18 and older to use along with a reduced-calorie, low-fat diet and exercise.

When taken with meals, orlistat blocks the absorption of about one-quarter of any fat consumed. That fat -- about 150 to 200 calories worth -- is passed out of the body in stools, which can be loose as a result. About half of patients in trials experienced gastrointestinal side effects.

I can definitely confirm those side effects. My doctor prescribed it for me a couple of years ago, when I was feeling mighty desperate.

And it was UGLY. I was gassy and always in the bathroom. I quit after one week, despite having spent $120 for a month's perscription not covered by my insurance.

So, if you decide to go for it, please be aware. And let me know if you are considering it. I'd like to know your feelings about it. You can also make take our poll

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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Enviga, the new green-tea drink from Coca-Cola and Nestle, has come under fire for claims that it can burn calories.

Connecticut Attorney General Richard Blumenthal on Monday said his office was investigating the drink, saying the claims may amount to "voodoo nutrition," according to an Associated Press report.

Enviga contains caffeine, calcium and a green tea extract known as epigallocatechin gallate, or EGCG. Coke says EGCG speeds up metabolism and increases energy use, especially when combined with caffeine.

An Enviga Web site claims that the drink's blend of green tea and caffeine burns more calories than it contains and can help drinkers maintain an ideal weight. According to a Nestle study, young people who drank three of the 12-ounce drinks a day burned an average of 106 calories.

I've thought of trying the drink, but the idea of a green tea extract mixed with caffeine scares me. I've had my heart race after drinking too much coffee.

If any of you have tried it, let me know if it worked for you and how you felt afterward.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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Anna Nicole Smith and the diet products company TrimSpa Inc. have been sued in a class-action lawsuit alleging their marketing of a weight loss pill is false or misleading, according to an Associated Press report.

Janet Luna and three people identified as her guardians were named in a lawsuit filed last Thursday in Los Angeles Superior Court, alleging deceptive business practices and a violation of California's unfair competition law.

They are asking for unspecified damages, restitution and an injunction preventing Smith and New Jersey-based TrimSpa, maker of TrimSpa X32, from making claims that users of the pills can lose substantial amounts of weight.

Check out the full article.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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It happens to all of us who try to lose weight. For a while, it's going swimmingly, then, without warning, your weight loss hits a wall.

If you've hit a plateau, look for these diet mistakes you may be making. The list comes courtesy of KDKA 2 in Pittsburgh.

Eating too much healthy food, skipping meals, not counting liquid calories, taking weekends off from your eating plan and swearing off treats of any kind are all common errors.

Check out the full story for complete explanations.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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You've undoubtedly heard of the Vagina Monologues. Now, here comes a weight-loss version with Diet Monologues: The Musical.

According to Broadway World, the play written by Monica Bauer, features the Nutrition Nun, Reverend Delphina preaching on the Ten Commandments of Dieting and the problems of being a high-carb man in love with a low-carb woman.

The show runs Feb. 12 through March 7 at John Chatterton's Where Eagles Dare Theatre, located at 347 West 36th Street, between Eighth and Ninth Avenues in Manhattan.

Call 212-868-4444 or visit www.smarttix.com for tickets and more information.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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The smell of french fries wafting through the air or chocolate chip cookies baking in the oven may be good for your nose, but not your lifespan according to new research released Friday.

A study published in the journal Science Express indicates that even the smell of food can reduce the life span of creatures on reduced calorie diets, according to a Seattle Post-Intelligencer article.

Researchers at New Mexico State University, Baylor College of Medicine and the University of Houston took fruit flies on restricted diets and exposed them to the smell of food -- in the form of a yeast paste.

Surprisingly, just smelling the paste shortened their expanded life spans, even though they didn't eat that food, said Wayne Van Voorhies, a researcher at New Mexico State University who worked on the project.

The hypothesis for why reduced calorie diets make creatures live longer is that when cells process food, they release toxic byproducts called oxidants, Van Voorhies explained.

Those oxidants can take their toll on the body, perhaps reducing life span. So decreasing the amount of food the body has to process may create less oxidants and extend the life span, he said.

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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Health experts say you can still get your diet on, even when everyone else hits the wings, nachos and pizza on Super Bowl Sunday.

Lisa Farley, a nutritionist at Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis, told the Associated Press there are generally two kinds of football fans: "Couch potatoes who sit back and watch it all happen" -- they tend to eat more -- and those who get physical.

Go ahead and jump off the couch, throw your hat on the ground and pace while riveted to the screen, Farley suggests. It burns more calories -- and keeps your hands from automatically grabbing more food.

To get more tips, check out the complete article.

And let me know how you handled the big day.

Go Colts!

-- Amanda Barrett, amNY.com

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