Weight Management: What Works and How Do We Tell Patients
Guest: Yoni Freedhoff, MD
June 18, 12 p.m. ET
Early in his career, Dr. Yoni Freedhoff realized the medical community, himself included, was not adequately managing obesity. Many patients requested weight-loss advice, but he had little to offer as the management of obesity is not taught during medical school. Consequently, Dr. Freedhoff pursued training from the American Board of Obesity Medicine and began speaking differently to patients and policymakers. He has spoken before the Canadian House of Commons and Canada's Senate regarding his concerns about Canada's Food Guide, and he has been referred to as Canada's most outspoken obesity expert and "nutritional watchdog." Dr. Freedhoff is quoted regularly in the international press; sounds off regularly on his blog, Weighty Matters; and has contributed to US News and World Report, Vox, and the Huffington Post. He is an assistant professor of family medicine at the University of Ottawa.
Drs. Pagoto and Freedhoff discussed the following questions.
- We haven’t seen any breakthroughs in behavioral weight management in quite some time. Which areas of research should we spending more time on? And which less time on?
- The public discourse about diet and exercise contains a lot of misinformation. What can providers and researchers do to mitigate misinformation and get evidence-based messages out there?
- The saying is that the diet you can stick to is the best diet for you. However, in choosing a diet, how does a patient know which one they will be able stick to over the long haul?
- There is a lot of debate about the role of exercise in weight management. If someone wants to lose weight, should they exercise or not?
- One thing I have noticed about obesity research that I haven’t noticed in other areas I study is the “camps” -- groups who are very adamant about specific approaches. Why is that? Is it affecting our progress?
Transcript link to share: http://wke.lt/w/s/4bQE9
