What is Health At Every Size?
Health At Every Size® or (HAES®) is a social justice movement based on creating an inclusive and respectful community with the intention of supporting folx of all sizes to find compassionate ways to take care of themselves.
It includes:
Respect - celebrating body diversity and honouring differences in race, ethnicity, age, sexual orientation, gender, religion, class, di/ability and body size.
Critical awareness - challenging scientific assumptions about weight whilst also valuing lived experiences and body wisdom.
Compassionate self-care - promoting finding joy and pleasure in movement, eating and living in a way that’s attuned to the body and one’s own unique values.
HAES is also known as the non-diet or weight-inclusive approach to health and is an alternative to the weight centric approach (the idea that in order to be “healthy” we need to be a certain size / BMI). It acknowledges the harmful impacts of dieting for the purposes of intentional weight loss, as well as the consequences of weight stigma.
HAES is based on the assumption that ALL bodies are capable of achieving health and wellbeing independent of weight, provided that folks are not discriminated against and are given access to non-stigmatising healthcare. It encourages health promotion behaviours independent of body weight (weight is not a behaviour), race, gender, class and other forms of systemic oppression. This may look like focussing on gentle nutrition, life-enhancing movement, stress management, smoking cessation for the purpose of feeling good. You can check out What is weight stigma? and Why we need a weight inclusive approach to health care for a little bit more.
HAES® acknowledges that health means something different to everyone and exists on a continuum that varies with time and circumstance. It also highlights that health (or the pursuit of) is not a moral obligation neither an outcome nor an objective of living.
Many individuals have a misconception of what HAES® actually means and already have a preconceived belief. Many of these misconceptions are based on assuming that HAES® = Healthy At Every Size and “doesn’t care about health”. Conversely, HAES is pro-health and is grounded in the belief that we can pursue health (whatever that may look like to us) no matter our body size if we are given access to non-stigmatising care (however we are under no moral obligation to do so).
HAES® is guided by the following principles:
Weight Inclusivity: Accept and respect the inherent diversity of body shapes and sizes and reject the idealising or pathologising of specific weights (particularly fat bodies). Improving health is a process that begins by contemplating what it would take to make certain determinants of health available and accessible to different individuals (i.e. access to green spaces, foods banks), and not by pathologising any specific weight.
Health Enhancement: Support health policies that improve and equalise access to information and services, and personal practices that improve human well-being, including attention to individual physical, economic, social, spiritual, emotional and other needs.
Respectful Care: Acknowledge our biases, and work to end weight discrimination, weight stigma, and weight bias. Provide information and services from an understanding that socio-economic status, race, gender, sexual orientation, age, social determinants of health and other identities impact weight stigma, and support environments that address these inequities. HAES® honours the healing power of social connections and evolves in response to the experiences and needs of a diverse community.
Eating for Wellbeing: Promote flexible, individualised eating based on hunger, satiety, nutritional needs, and pleasure, rather than any externally regulated eating plan focused on weight control (such as tracking macros on MyFitnessPal).
Life-Enhancing Movement: Support physical activities that allow people of all sizes, abilities, and interests to engage in enjoyable movement, to the degree that they choose. HAES® encourages movement to celebrate what your body can do rather than punishing your body or to “burn off” calories (methods often used in dieting).
HAES® principles provide guidance to move away from a weight-centric practice. Pushing clients or patients to conform or shrink to a specified weight range will never be evidence-based, person-centred care or ‘do no harm’.
It is important to note that although it is not possible to work as a HAES® practitioner without using non-diet approaches, it is possible for practitioners using non-diet approaches to not identify as HAES® practitioners (not advisable IMO). Non-diet approaches (such as Intuitive Eating, mindful eating) are clinical practice frameworks that are in harmony with working in the HAES® paradigm, however, sneaky diet culture has co-opted many of these as a weight-loss method all under the guise of “health” (completely against the non-diet approach).
The HAES® approach, however, has a clear social justice objective that works towards promoting size-acceptance, ending weight discrimination and moving away from a cultural obsession with weight loss and thinness.
For more info on the HAES® approach:
ASDAH - Association for Size Diversity and Health
Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth about Your Weight by Linda Bacon.
Why we need a weight inclusive approach to health by Isa Robinson.
Weight Science: Evaluating the Evidence for a Paradigm Shift - Linda Bacon and Lucy Aphramor.
Unpacking Weight Science by Fiona Willer (newsletter).
Nutrition Matters Podcast: ep 111 “breaking down weight science”.
Food Psych Podcast by Christy Harrison.