Yoni Freedhoff is an associate professor of family medicine at the University of Ottawa. He is also a founder and medical director of the Bariatric Medical Institute, a for-profit, non-surgical weight management clinic.

Education and career

Freedhoff attended the

University of Toronto The University of Toronto (UToronto or U of T) is a public university, public research university whose main campus is located on the grounds that surround Queen's Park (Toronto), Queen's Park in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It was founded by ...

. He was a guest blogger at the ''

Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers ...

'' in 2011–12. In 2012, the

Ontario Medical Association The Ontario Medical Association (OMA) is a membership organization that represents the political, clinical and economic interests of Ontario physicians. Practising physicians, Residency (medicine), residents, and Medical school, medical students en ...

invited Freedhoff to give a talk on nutrition policy before food industry executives at an event organized by the public relations firm Fleishman-Hillard. Fleishman-Hillard then informed him that he would not be on the program. In 2013, Freedhoff criticized Health Check, a nutritional certification program operated by the

Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada is a Canadian charity dedicated to advocacy, education, and the funding of research surrounding heart disease and stroke. Nomenclature In November 2016, the organization re-branded as Heart & Stroke a ...

, for having endorsed products with high sodium and/or sugar contents.

''The Diet Fix''

His first book, ''The Diet Fix: Why Diets Fail and How to Make Yours Work'', was published in 2014. A review by ''

Newsday ''Newsday'' is a daily newspaper in the United States primarily serving Nassau and Suffolk counties on Long Island, although it is also sold throughout the New York metropolitan area. The slogan of the newspaper is "Newsday, Your Eye on LI" ...

'' described the book's concept of "post-traumatic dieting disorder", which includes feelings like guilt and depression that may occur after failed dieting attempts. A ''

Scientific American ''Scientific American'', informally abbreviated ''SciAm'' or sometimes ''SA'', is an American popular science magazine. Many scientists, including Albert Einstein and Nikola Tesla, have contributed articles to it, with more than 150 Nobel Pri ...

'' review said that Freedhoff touches on the "toxic, obesogenic environment" of the modern world, but it lamented the fact that Freedhoff does not go into more detail on that aspect of the dieting problem.

2023 comments

In November 2023, Freedhoff alleged in a blog post that social media posts referencing the "Free Palestine" movement by Dr. Yipeng Ge, a

medical resident Residency or postgraduate training is a stage of graduate medical education. It refers to a qualified physician (one who holds the degree of MD, DO, MBBS/MBChB), veterinarian ( DVM/VMD, BVSc/BVMS), dentist ( DDS or DMD), podiatrist ( DPM), o ...

at the

University of Ottawa The University of Ottawa (), often referred to as uOttawa or U of O, is a Official bilingualism in Canada, bilingual public research university in Ottawa, Ontario, Canada. The main campus is located on directly to the northeast of Downtown Ot ...

, were antisemitic. The University suspended Ge, and a subsequent petition demanding Ge's reinstatement and an investigation by the university was signed by more than 100,000 people. As of January 20, 2024, Dr. Ge had been reinstated without an apology.

Personal life

Freedhoff is the son of

theoretical physicist Theoretical physics is a branch of physics that employs mathematical models and abstractions of physical objects and systems to rationalize, explain, and predict natural phenomena. This is in contrast to experimental physics, which uses experi ...

Helen Freedhoff and chartered accountant Stephen Freedhoff. His sister, Michal Ilana Freedhoff, is the Assistant Administrator of the EPA's Office of Chemical Safety and Pollution Prevention.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Freedhoff, Yoni University of Toronto alumni Academic staff of the University of Ottawa Canadian general practitioners Canadian Jews Obesity researchers Living people Diet food advocates Year of birth missing (living people) 21st-century Canadian physicians