Welcome to the first in a four part series exploring some of the common myths or misunderstandings about the Health at Every Size® approach to health and wellness. I have both a professional and personal relationship with this radical and empowering framework, having embraced Health at Every Size® years ago after I stumbled across Lindo Bacon’s book: Health at Every Size; The Surprising Truth About Your Weight. It was a revelation to learn that my larger body wasn’t inherently unhealthy. And to know I could positively impact my well being at my size was a game changer in my ability to take care of myself.
Taking the pursuit of weight loss out of the equation meant that I was more able to sustain efforts like exercise or a healthy relationship with food. Before, when I would take a up a new form of exercise or start a diet in order to lose weight, I would find myself quickly de-motivated when my body didn’t change as I wanted it to. Feeling frustrated and defeated, I would I give up on my new exercise or diet plan. Then, the shame I felt for once again failing to lose weight and become a thin person would cause me to retreat back into often unhealthy but familiar ways of soothing the pain.
As I learned about and began to practice a Health at Every Size® approach, (letting go of weight loss as a goal), the burden of body expectations lifted and I was able to take care of myself from a place of joy and care rather than dread and loathing.
So what exactly is Health at Every Size®? It is a way of looking at health and wellbeing that helps us focus on what we can control (behaviour) rather than what we can’t control (body size or weight). It is also a radical movement promoting body diversity with a goal of ending weight stigma.
“It (HAES®) supports people of all sizes in addressing health directly by adopting healthy behaviors. It is an inclusive movement, recognizing that our social characteristics, such as our size, race, national origin, sexuality, gender, disability status, and other attributes, are assets, and acknowledges and challenges the structural and systemic forces that impinge on living well.“
From: https://haescommunity.com/
For me, this means:
• intentional pursuit of weight loss is unhelpful, and even harmful to our goal of reclaiming body sovereignty.
• lifestyle changes that we make may or may not lead to weight loss, and our health benefits either way – if you start to exercise more it is doing your body good, whether or not it causes you to be thinner.
• pursuing health is not a moral obligation: a person’s basic worth is not determined by how ‘healthy’ they look or behave
• all bodies are beautiful and worthy of respect
Needless to say, this is a huge departure from our traditional view of weight and health and many people find it to be quite controversial. The belief that fatness is automatically unhealthy is so broadly accepted, we think of it as common sense, and many are unwilling to even consider the possibility. This resistance to critically looking at how we think of weight and health has given rise to misunderstanding or myths about what Health at Every Size® is promoting, such as:
• The Health At Every Size® message is that everyone is healthy regardless of weight
• The Health At Every Size® message is that people shouldn’t be concerned about nutrition and activity
• People who eat based on cravings will eat junk food all the timeI will explore each of these myths and others in upcoming posts.
How about you? What fears or assumptions do you have about a weight-neutral approach to health like HAES? I would love to hear from you. Sign up for my newsletter to make sure you don’t miss out on the conversation.
Sydney is a body image therapist providing online counselling grounded in Health at Every Size principles. Heal body shame by reclaiming Body Sovereignty and once again experience peace, trust and respect in your body. Read more about Sydney and her approach here or send an email: sydney@sydneybell.ca