Newswise — "Saturday, May 6 is International No Diet Day but every day should be about lifestyle changes designed to improve your health instead of simply dieting," says one of Canada's leaders in nutrition research, Dr. Diane Finegood based in Vancouver and the Scientific Director of the Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) Institute of Nutrition, Diabetes and Metabolism.
Almost 60 per cent of Canadians are either overweight or obese -- and it has created a major health crisis for the country. According to Dr. Finegood, the problem of obesity is not rocket science, it's more complex. " It's frustrating to see that Canadians are continuing to blame themselves for not being able to solve the problem. But, the fact is, no single diet program or exercise plan is going to solve this," she says.
"Dieting alone is too simple a solution for a very complex problem. Lifestyle modification should be our focus," argues Dr. Finegood who herself lost over 70 pounds and continues the battle against obesity every day.
Dr. Finegood notes that Canadians make numerous choices daily that can increase a person's chances to gain weight. "We need to work harder to ensure that, of the many choices people make each day, making the healthy choices is easy," says Dr. Finegood. "If we can address this, then we will have a chance in the fight against obesity."
Dr. Diane Finegood questions the simple solutions advocated by the weight loss industry, which in the United States, for example, led individuals to spend more than $48 billion in 2005 on weight loss products.
Dr. Finegood is available to talk about the complexity of factors behind weight gain and obesity and our need to focus on health and lifestyle modification.Under the leadership of Dr. Finegood, her Institute has made research into obesity its number-one priority and, in the past year, CIHR has invested $12.2 million in research on obesity across Canada.
The Canadian Institutes of Health Research (CIHR) is the Government of Canada's agency for health research. CIHR's mission is to create new scientific knowledge and to catalyze its translation into improved health, more effective health services and products, and a strengthened Canadian health care system. Composed of 13 Institutes, CIHR provides leadership and support to close to 10,000 health researchers and trainees across Canada. http://www.cihr-irsc.gc.ca/
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