Nutritionist
Wellness Specialist

"Our cultural obsession with extreme thinness and dieting is causing enormous problems for women and children. My goal is to help them shift toward health and well-being at their natural sizes, instead of struggling with hazardous weight loss. We need to encourage a health at any size lifestyle that embraces living actively, eating well, and feeling good about ourselves and others."

An internationally known authority on weight and eating, Frances (Francie) M. Berg, M.S., is a licensed nutritionist, family wellness specialist, and adjunct professor at the University of North Dakota School of Medicine. She has reported the scientific research on weight and eating issues worldwide to health professionals and educators for over 16 years as founder and editor of Healthy Weight Journal, and is the publisher of Healthy Weight Network, producing educational materials.

The author of 10 books and a weekly column, Healthy Living, appearing in over 50 newspapers, Berg presents at numerous national and international conferences, and has been a guest on national radio and television, including on Leeza, Inside Edition and Oprah.

Her book, Women Afraid to Eat: Breaking Free in Today's Weight-Obsessed World (Healthy Weight Publishing Network, 1999), challenges the powerful pressures to be thin, documents the harm it is doing and gives clear guidelines on how women can move ahead to enjoy health and well-being at any size. Her award-winning companion book, Children and Teens Afraid to Eat: Helping Youth in Today's Weight-Obsessed World(Healthy Weight Publishing Network, 2000), has been enthusiastically accepted by teachers, health professionals and parents, and is being used in schools and clinics throughout the U.S. and Canada.

As Coordinator of the Task Force on Weight Loss Abuse for the National Council Against Health Fraud, Berg owns what is probably the nation's best collection of weight loss products. She serves on the North Dakota Obesity Prevention work group, and is a member of the Academy for Eating Disorders, the North American Association for the Study of Obesity, the National Association for the Advancement of Fat Acceptance, and the Weight Realities Division of the Society for Nutrition Education.

Francie Berg's Masters degree in Family Social Science and Anthropology is from the University of Minnesota, and her Family and Consumer Science degree from Montana State University. She has four children and lives in Hettinger, N.D.

Her Web site is Healthy Weight Network.

The author of 10 books and a weekly column, Healthy Living, appearing in over 50 newspapers, Francie Berg presents at numerous national and international conferences, and has been a guest on national radio and television, including on Lezza, Inside Edition and Oprah.

Her latest book Women Afraid to Eat: Breaking Free in Today's Weight-Obsessed World challenges the powerful pressures to be thin, documents the harm it is doing, and gives clear guidelines on how women can move ahead to enjoy health and well-being at any size. Newly revised is her earlier, award-winning companion book Children and Teens Afraid to Eat: Helping Youth in Today's Weight-Obsessed World, which has been enthusiastically accepted by teachers, health professionals and parents, and is being used in schools and clinics throughout the U.S. and Canada.

"Our cultural obsession with extreme thinness and dieting is causing enormous problems for women and children," says Berg. "My goal is to help them shift toward health and well-being at their natural sizes, instead of struggling with hazardous weight loss. We need to encourage a health at any size lifestyle that embraces living actively, eating well, and feeling good about ourselves and others."

As Coordinator of the Task Force on Weight Loss Abuse for the National Council Against Health Fraud, Berg owns what is probably the nation's best collection of weight loss products. She serves on the North Dakota Obesity Prevention work group and is a member of the Academy for Eating Disorders, the North American Association for the Study of Obesity, the National Association for the Advancement of Fat Acceptance and the Weight Realities Division of the Society for Nutrition Education.

Berg's Master's degree in Family Social Science and Anthropology is from the University of Minnesota, and her Family and Consumer Science degree is from Montana State University. She has four children and lives in Hettinger, N.D.

Her Web site is Healthy Weight Network.

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