So What Is Health At Every Size?
The Center for Every Body follows the Health at Every Size Paradigm - a revolutionary framework de-emphasizing body size in health. In the past decade, the paradigm has gained awareness, but is still being overshadowed by a weight focused approach. The concept has grown in the past decade alongside Intuitive Eating, and is being practiced more often by dietitians, doctors, and mental health providers (especially in eating disorder recovery) such as psychologists and therapists.
Health at Every Size is a Framework For Care
Health at Every Size (HAES) defines itself as a framework for care that is an alternative to the weight centric one that uses BMI. Its principles promote equality in healthcare, and support ending size based discrimination. HAES puts the focus on life enhancing movement, and eating for overall well being rather than to maintain or achieve a certain body size. Health at every size focuses on health promoting behaviors. Our body size isn’t a behavior, it is a complex mixture of factors that includes genetics, history of trauma, medications, history of dieting, and more. [1]
Health at Every Size Considers All Factors of Health and Focuses on Behaviors
Because The Center for Every Body is for all bodies, one of the reasons we follow a Health at Every Size approach is because it incorporates all bodies into health. There are health promoting behaviors that we can all engage in no matter what the size or age of our body. If we add fruits and vegetables to our meals and snacks without eliminating the things we find tastiest, we will still reap the health benefits of the added nutrients regardless of how food affects our body size.
What’s so profound about the HAES approach is that our health encompasses plenty of aspects that are beyond our control! Health at Every Size recognizes the intersection of health with numerous factors that include access to (affordable) healthcare, food access, social and emotional support, income level/living in poverty, genetics, history of trauma (including experiencing racism and discrimination).
The Health at Every Size approach also considers what factors make up our body size; and only a small percentage of our body size has to do with our own personal diet and exercise choices. Not only do our bodies tend to settle at what’s called a “set point” (our body’s equilibrium and “sweet spot” where it naturally feels most comfortable) that can be affected and increase in the presence of dieting and food restriction.
Health at Every Size Has Misconceptions
A common misconception about the HAES approach is that it states all bodies are healthy at all sizes. However, this isn’t what the HAES approach says. What the HAES approach DOES say is – anybody can pursue health in whatever body they’re already in. In addition, it isn’t necessary for a body to change in size to see positive changes in health.
Can a thin person have cancer or diabetes and along with that have health struggles? Surely. Does this have anything to do with the size of their body? Not at all. The same can be applicable for people in larger bodies too. In fact, the evidence of the Health at Every Size approach shows positive change in measurable health markers such as blood lipids when following this approach to health. [2]
HAES Can be Hard to Swallow at First
When we’ve been made to believe that body size is such an important part of health and completely in our control, it can be hard to believe and understand The Health at Every Size paradigm at first. In a lot of ways it contradicts what we’ve always been told about body size and health. However, we now know the HAES approach is evidence based and supports health and healthcare equality for everybody and is essential to quality care.
If you have any further questions about what the health at every size approach is, please don’t hesitate to send me an email. I welcome any questions and can’t wait to work with you.
-Jackie Garn, MSSA, LISW-S
The Center For Every Body
