Weight bias, renaming adiposity and the No Fat Shame Movement with Dr. Ali Zentner

Listen in to my interview with Dr. Ali Zentner, Obesity Medicine Physician and Medical Director of the Revolution Medical Clinic in Vancouver.

In this episode, we talk about:

• The history of obesity medicine in Canada
• The origins of weight bias and fat shaming
• The need to come up with new language around obesity, “adiposity”, “weight loss”
• What we can do to recognize our own bias

Dr. Zentner is one of the pioneers in the field of Obesity Medicine in Canada and a strong voice for patient advocacy and ending fat-shaming.

Dr. Zentner completed medical school at McMaster University, then Internal Medicine Residency with an extra year of Cardiology training at the University of Calgary. She is a Diplomat of the American Board of Obesity Medicine. Dr. Zentner founded the Southern Alberta Obesity Clinic in 2001. In 2004, she moved to Vancouver and established her own community based practice in West Vancouver focusing on obesity and cardiometabolic risk management. She has become a national leader in the field.

In 2015, Dr. Zentner became the Medical Director of the Vancouver Island Bariatric Program and built the program into a multidisciplinary bariatric program which now supervises the bariatric surgeries of over 200 patients annually. After three years as director she moved on to establish a similar bariatric program within Fraser Health region.

Dr. Zentner is the author of the book The Weight Loss Prescription: A Doctor’s Guide to Permanent Weight Reduction and Better Health for Life. (Penguin Canada, 2013).

Dr. Zentner is also an avid runner and triathlete. In 2011 she gave up her car and now commutes everywhere by bicycle or on foot. She can be seen walking the Arbutus Greenway every morning and evening on her way to and from work….. walking all the way.

Check out the video of our conversation at https://youtu.be/6ZnAz6sE7BQ.