Allright.

Lots of ground to cover.

First: What's your food weakness?? Email me: sstricklen@kgw.com

Mine is..... peanut butter. How weird is that?!! It's not cookies or ice cream or even potato chips (unless they are salt and vinegar.. then I'm hooked) but peanut butter. John has had to hide it in the house so I don't eat it all. It makes great camping food but is definitely one of my "anytime" favorite foods. Oh yeah, also avocado. Not just half or maybe one.. but a whole lotta avocado. I keep those out of the house too unless I'm making guacamole... which, by the way, usually turns out better than my chicken ((see post below)).

Now, today didn't tank like yesterday.. so I'm feeling much less stressed.

The bosses had me chase one story until about 11:30am and then realized it was not going to happen. I switched gears and called on this other story they wanted me to look into... so I got in touch with Legacy to see about getting reaction to the obesity/phone survey story. The PR gal at Legacy struck gold and lined me up with not one.. but TWO interviews at 1:30pm.

Happy happy happy.

I got back and had to anchor these little mini-news-update things we call "oprah cut-ins". Two run during her show and one runs before. Then I anchored the webcast ((Have you checked that out yet?? We post it weekdays at 3:45pm on the website)). Usually Tracy does it but she's off today and Laural and Joe were "in with the consultants". Bottom line is this: I got the script to the phojo much later than I like which was the only downer to today. Oh yeah, and I wolfed my lunch down in about 15 minutes but that's nothing new.

Speaking of food (come on, that's a good segue!!) let's talk about the mistake we all make when we eat. It's portion-distortion. Now before the dieticians and the ultra-fit and the pretty-fit write in to tell me you never ever suffer from portion distortion... you have to keep in mind you're in the minority... the healthier minority... but the minority nonetheless.

Dr. Patterson points out we are on average 10 pounds heavier than our grandparents. Sedentary jobs don't help, but neither does all that food we're eating. One trouble spot: restaurants. We, as customers, demand whopping portions to feel like we're getting value for our dining dollar, but it's a waistline killer waiting to happen. Dr. Patterson says people battling obesity who have to eat out all the time have the toughest time because so much of what's out there isn't healthy.

A couple of suggestions that dieticians have passed along to me over the years: eat something small at home before you show up at a restaurant like an apple or banana. No joke.. it totally works.

Another tip: drink water with your meal. So simple and it helps your stomach tell your brain it's time to stop eating.

And the thing I've done from time to time at restaurants that serve large portions is ask for half the meal in a to-go box before it ever shows up on the plate. The server will do it for you and you'll have an added meal later ((or a very large snack)).

Now onto some more interesting findings from this study.

*19 percent of obese people said they always read nutritional labels on food packages compared with 24 percent of normal-weight people.

*29 percent of obese people said they eat out at restaurants three plus times a week compared with 25 percent of normal-weight people.

The phone surveyors asked: How often do you eat all of the food you are served at restaurants?

*41 percent of obese people said they always did while 31 percent of normal weight people always did.

Picture time.. I forgot to do this. Meet Cosmo Kramer. Okay, he's just Cosmo but he's named after the Seinfeld character. I snapped this photo after interviewing a woman on the door-to-door blood draw story. Cute, huh??

And if you were a duck having a swab stuck in your you-know-what.. how would you feel about this crowd?? What you can't see are the twenty people next to me. This was after the swabbing when they banded the ducks. It was for that bird flu testing story I did last week.

Email me: sstricklen@kgw.com