Former Health Canada Advisor Warns Women: DON'T DIET
As many as four million Canadian women - and 40 million American women - who diet constantly to lose weight are increasing their risk of disease later in life warns a former Health Canada adviser.
Dr. George Grant owner of the Academy of Wellness in Toronto www.academyofwellness.com says his client data indicates that the majority of Canadians who diet do not consume enough fiber on a daily basis, and are also deficient in many key nutrients.
"Most Canadians are only having one bowel movement per day,” explains Dr. Grant. "This is very unhealthy in the long-term. People should have on average three if they are eating three meals per day. This is essential to maintain intestinal health and will help reduce the incidence of many diseases later in life.”
Dr. Grant points out that low fiber intake increases the likelihood of many diseases including heart disease, diabetes, cancer of the colon, breast, ovaries and uterus, diverticulitis, kidney stones and gallbladder disease. Dr. Grant warns that Canada will face a huge increase in these degenerative diseases as the next generation of Canadians - those obsessed with dieting - reach old age.
“In my work as a health analyst across Canada I see many, many people consistently under eating in a vain attempt to lose weight and keep it off," says Dr. Grant. "This starvation approach to life not only doesn't work for weight loss but it actually leaves people dramatically deficient in most essential minerals and vitamins as well as fiber," he said.
According to the National Eating Disorder Information Centre (NEDIC) 70% of Canadian women over the age of 20 are currently on diets, and 40% are yo-yo dieters, constantly losing weight and gaining it back.
Dr. Grant recommends the Keep Canada Slim weight loss program www.keepcanadaslim.com to his clients. This program is shipped worldwide.
"The Keep Canada Slim program recommends higher levels of calories than any other commercial program in Canada, and yet still delivers weight loss results. Most Canadians trying to lose weight are eating so little that they increase their risk of disease. It is imperative that we stop Canadians from living on low calorie diets," said Dr. Grant.
According to Dr. Grant most overweight women should not eat less than 1450 calories per day and men should aim for a minimum of 1850 calories per day.
“Obese people should eat even higher levels of calories,” he suggests. “Overweight people should aim to create no more than a 500 calorie deficit based on their daily maintenance levels while obese people should aim for no more than a 1000 calorie a day deficit.”
Typical commercial diets suggest calorie levels as low as 500 calories per day, ranging to a high of perhaps 1200 calories for women and 1500 calories for men. This creates a calorie gap of between 1500 and 2500 calories per day for most people. Because of the body’s response to the starvation nature of these diets 95% of the people who lose weight gain it back.
Dr. Grant says it is impossible to consume adequate levels of fiber and nutrients at these levels.
For a list of high-fiber foods click here
Showing posts with label fiber. Show all posts
Showing posts with label fiber. Show all posts
Monday, March 2, 2009
Thursday, February 26, 2009
CMAJ calls on government to regulate commercial weight loss programs
Regulation would discourage innovation, limit solutions
While I share the authors’ concerns about misleading advertising claims by commercial weight loss providers, attempting to have governments regulate the industry would be a huge mistake.
To see the CMAJ editorial go to http://www.cmaj.ca
The first challenge to the proposal would be to establish an accreditation program void of political agendas and special interests [i.e. pharmaceutical companies] while at the same time encouraging innovation and new solutions. Given that no existing major private company offering or medically approved program can be said to meet a realistic criteria of long-term success, limiting entry into this field by requiring new participants to abide by dated and flawed principles would doom our ‘ever-growing’ population to a lifetime of the same end result-getting fatter and less healthy.
The second challenge is the sheer scope of the proposition. The CMAJ editorial focuses on weight loss products, but this is a small part of the $5billion Canadians spend trying to address this health challenge. Outrageous weight loss claims are also made throughout the exercise industry, and recently we have seen the food industry join the fray as the dairy industry and high-fibre food products industry have begun making weight loss claims for their products.
For weight control without misleading claims go to www.keepcanadaslim.com.
Much of this money is also spent on books, CDs, DVDs, and website programs which also make various claims. And finally the media itself is constantly reinforcing stereotypes of dieting such as The Biggest Loser television show, and ongoing coverage of anyone anywhere who achieves significant weight loss – no matter how temporary or what the long-term health costs may be. Does the CMA propose the government regulate all of these industries since they all contribute to the problem? And since much of this industry originates in the US, regulation by Canadian governments would have little overall impact.
In terms of diet products and their claims we already have substantial regulation in place. What is required is a strengthening of these regulations and perhaps a review to reflect more accurately a consumer protective stance. The supplement industry recently won the right to make limited claims about the benefits of their products after an exhaustive multiyear battle. All products approved for sale in Canada are proven safe when taken in recommended dosages. There is no value in wasting energy trying to reverse this position. Ephedra, mentioned in the editorial as having “fatal consequences” is illegal in Canada as I'm sure the authors know. And medical supervision of a very low calorie (VLC) diet offers no benefit over a medically supervised VLC diets. Both versions are unsafe and unhealthy.
If a consumer looks carefully at these outrageous claims they should find an adjoining statement that says "results not typical" or "results may vary". It may be useful to change labeling legislation to require these consumer warnings to be larger and more prominent, perhaps in the same type size as the claims themselves.
In closing, I would suggest the CMA and it's members open its doors to the many innovators, entrepreneurs, researchers and private companies that would like to help find a solution to weight gain and obesity, rather than expending energy fighting a massive battle that even if won, might provide no benefit to those in need. Let's do a better job of educating consumers so they are better able to recognize misleading advertising claims.
Let's become "pro-something" rather than "against something".
For a complete list of Keep America / Keep Canada Slim newsletters go to http://www.keepcanadaslim.com/index.cfm?page=archives
While I share the authors’ concerns about misleading advertising claims by commercial weight loss providers, attempting to have governments regulate the industry would be a huge mistake.
To see the CMAJ editorial go to http://www.cmaj.ca
The first challenge to the proposal would be to establish an accreditation program void of political agendas and special interests [i.e. pharmaceutical companies] while at the same time encouraging innovation and new solutions. Given that no existing major private company offering or medically approved program can be said to meet a realistic criteria of long-term success, limiting entry into this field by requiring new participants to abide by dated and flawed principles would doom our ‘ever-growing’ population to a lifetime of the same end result-getting fatter and less healthy.
The second challenge is the sheer scope of the proposition. The CMAJ editorial focuses on weight loss products, but this is a small part of the $5billion Canadians spend trying to address this health challenge. Outrageous weight loss claims are also made throughout the exercise industry, and recently we have seen the food industry join the fray as the dairy industry and high-fibre food products industry have begun making weight loss claims for their products.
For weight control without misleading claims go to www.keepcanadaslim.com.
Much of this money is also spent on books, CDs, DVDs, and website programs which also make various claims. And finally the media itself is constantly reinforcing stereotypes of dieting such as The Biggest Loser television show, and ongoing coverage of anyone anywhere who achieves significant weight loss – no matter how temporary or what the long-term health costs may be. Does the CMA propose the government regulate all of these industries since they all contribute to the problem? And since much of this industry originates in the US, regulation by Canadian governments would have little overall impact.
In terms of diet products and their claims we already have substantial regulation in place. What is required is a strengthening of these regulations and perhaps a review to reflect more accurately a consumer protective stance. The supplement industry recently won the right to make limited claims about the benefits of their products after an exhaustive multiyear battle. All products approved for sale in Canada are proven safe when taken in recommended dosages. There is no value in wasting energy trying to reverse this position. Ephedra, mentioned in the editorial as having “fatal consequences” is illegal in Canada as I'm sure the authors know. And medical supervision of a very low calorie (VLC) diet offers no benefit over a medically supervised VLC diets. Both versions are unsafe and unhealthy.
If a consumer looks carefully at these outrageous claims they should find an adjoining statement that says "results not typical" or "results may vary". It may be useful to change labeling legislation to require these consumer warnings to be larger and more prominent, perhaps in the same type size as the claims themselves.
In closing, I would suggest the CMA and it's members open its doors to the many innovators, entrepreneurs, researchers and private companies that would like to help find a solution to weight gain and obesity, rather than expending energy fighting a massive battle that even if won, might provide no benefit to those in need. Let's do a better job of educating consumers so they are better able to recognize misleading advertising claims.
Let's become "pro-something" rather than "against something".
For a complete list of Keep America / Keep Canada Slim newsletters go to http://www.keepcanadaslim.com/index.cfm?page=archives
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