If a desire for healthy eating is anywhere present in your mind, I have a suggestion for you. Next time you head into your local grocery store in search of goods to fill your cupboards, your shelves, your refrigerator, I want you to try this: steer clear of the inside aisles of the store.

Think about this:

The healthiest foods, the freshest foods, the whole foods are housed on the outside walls of grocery stores. Fruits, vegetables, breads, meats, dairy, and often times the organic department border the aisles filled with cookies, candies, colas, crackers, cereals, dressings, and a whole host of other preserved items. So see if you can shop without entering the less-healthy regions of your store. And if you must make a detour, shoot for the most natural foods you can find. If your search is for cooking oil, opt for canola oil instead of vegetable oil. If peanut butter is your thing, pick up natural nut butters. If you must have mayonnaise, reach for reduced fat or soy versions.

Staying on the perimeter of your store still requires some thinking -- meats should be lean, breads should start with the word whole, cheeses and dairy should be low in fat, and juices should be free of sugar. But still, this is the healthiest place for your next grocery store stroll.

UK's Food Standards Agency, FSA, is suggesting a ban on television advertising of junk foods in a continuing effort to curb the rising number of overweight children. The FSA's three possible actions that could be taken in relation to television food ads, as reported by Reuter are:

1. Ban all food and drink ads during television programs that are made specifically for children, or that appeal to children of nine and under, which covers a broad range of programs like The Simpsons.
2. The first ban option except the restricted food advertising would simply be for junk food high in fat, salt or sugar.
3. Limits on the number of food and drink ads shown per hour at any time when children are likely to be watching.

No celebrities or animated figures will be allowed in food commercials aimed at children. What happened to the parental NO? Unless you have your child doing the grocery shopping alone, how is junk food making it into the home? I can understand a need to make certain lunch programs at school are regulated to ensure healthy foods are being served to our kids while they are away from home, but are we really all that incapable as parents of saying no when asked for the latest sugary-treat? Or, while the regulatory agencies wrestle over the fine print of the new proposed bans, why don't we just turn off the television, get up and go take a walk with our kids?

Every parent knows the pitfalls of Saturday morning cartoons and the commercials plastered between cartoons. As a parent, you can count on your children coming and extolling the latest greatest breakfast cereal or toy and adamant about getting it. With my children, I counter with lessons about Madison Avenue advertising and the massive amounts of money they sink into finding out what will appeal to the consumer and how to appeal to them. For children, advertisers sell fun.

Researchers took a good hard look at the advertisements for oncology drugs appearing in cancer magazines and found them to be a bit misleading. It does make sense if you are trying to sell a product that you would emphasis the benefits and minimize the less attractive aspects of the product when advertising them, but these products are drugs and not toys or breakfast cereals, and the impression can lead the consumer to believing something that simply isn't true. For cancer patients, advertisers sell hope.

Dana-Farber Cancer Institute first noticed that the benefits of the drug appear in large text while the side effects and risks appear in smaller text. According to the researchers conclusion, the ads are designed in such a way that the consumer might not appreciate the dangers of the drug. There was a time when prescription drug makers did not advertise, in the same way lawyers did not advertise. Of course, we are so bombarded each day with prescription drug advertisements that I doubt many of us can remember when advertising directly to the consumer wasn't the norm. I am certain doctors everywhere are seeing patients each and every day come in and request a drug because they saw it advertised by the drug company wanting to sell more of the drug. In this study, the magazines that were analyzed were CURE, Coping with Cancer and MAMM.