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Light up the sky for Arts Whistler's Solstice Celebration

Arts news: Get Hungry for Change at Ecoflix screening
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LIGHT A FIRE Fire spinners will be onhand to entertain guests as part of Arts Whistler's Canada 150 Winter Solstice Celebration next Thursday, Dec. 21. Photo by Eric Beckstead / Courtesy of Arts Whistler

Arts Whistler wants you to show your love for Canada next week by lighting up the sky on the longest night of the year. Next Thursday, Dec. 21, the arts organization will help kick off Whistler's favourite season with an illuminating parade featuring whimsical characters and giant neon robots as they make their way up the Village Stroll to Florence Petersen Park. There, revellers will have the chance to enjoy some free live music, holiday entertainment, hot chocolate and winter activities.

Guests are encouraged to bring their own light source, whether lantern, flashlight, headlamp or glow stick. Arts Whistler has decided to offer an extra last-minute lantern-decorating workshop on the day of the event from noon to 4 p.m. at the Maury Young Arts Centre. The workshop is free.

The Canada 150 Winter Solstice Celebration sets off from the Olympic Rings at 5 p.m., wrapping up at 8 p.m.

For more information, artswhistler.com/winter-solstice.

EcoFlix doc exposes brutal truth behind the 'diet trap'

With analysts predicting the global weight loss and weight management industry to climb over the $245-billion mark in the next five years, there's no denying dieting is big business.

But a 2012 film screening at the Whistler Public Library from the same people behind the best-selling documentary, Food Matters, aims to expose the troubling reality behind some of the most popular diet fads out there.

Featuring interviews with leading medical experts and authors, Hungry for Change unravels the "deceptive" strategies at the core of the booming weight-loss industry designed to keep you from losing and keeping off weight. In an interview with non-profit Responsible Eating and Living, James Colquhohn, one of the film's producers, said that, over the course of making Hungry for Change, he discovered that the vast majority of ineffective diets were based on restriction, when people should be thinking about adding to their diet.

"The key point is we want to release any of this neurosis around food," he said.

"But what we know works and what our research is showing, if you focus on adding one thing at a time, and it might be the green juice, it might be the sprouts, it might be the fermented foods, it might just be a salad with every lunch ... As you start to do this, you start to feel better incrementally. You want to keep going with it, and you get motivated to keep going. That is one of the most effective ways we found that people can really take this onboard and see the remarkable transformation in their health."

The EcoFlix film series is headed by the Association of Whistler Area Residents for the Environment, and focuses on a range of environmental issues. Each screening is free, and is followed by an audience discussion.

Hungry for Change plays at the library on Thursday, Dec. 14 at 7 p.m.