Health For Every Body

As a nation, we have spent DECADES pushing information about how to be healthy - according to the government and the special interest groups and lobbyist which fund our government - which has, unsurprisingly, lead to America being the sickest modern nation in the world.  

Simultaneously, we have spent millions of dollars advocating for and educating about "healthy" food choices, physical activity, and the "dangers" of having "extra" fat.  All the while, health outcomes have continued to worsen.  Clearly, information is not the issue.  

Maybe it's time to acknowledge what the data says: 

healthy lifestyle choices equate to better health outcomes regardless of weight.

The way the medical system, health industry, and media have equated "health" with thinness has backfired horribly.

Lifestyle related diseases - such as cardiovascular disease, diabetes, and cancers - are the leading causes of death in the U.S.   The rates of these diseases also continue to rise despite the widespread campaigns to educate Americans on their dangers.  

Lack of information is not the issue.  

Almost all information shared about how to prevent these, and other lifestyle related diseases, advocates for weight loss in order to reduce disease prevalence.   Weight and weight loss are extremely complex issues that are commonly associated with equally complicated matters such as dieting, restriction, clothing size, appearance, and societal acceptance.  

The pressure that the health care, fitness, and wellness industries put on people to visually fit a certain "healthy" look and to not have "extra" fat is immense and has NOT lead to the population weighing less - in fact the opposite is true; Americans continue to weigh more and more every year.

Lack of encouragement to be thin is not the issue.

None of these things - information, education, and encouragement to lose weight - have helped to stem the growing and overwhelming tide of deadly and disabling diseases related to lifestyle choices.  Because it's such a complex issue involving factors like environmental toxins, food additives, gut microbiome, genetics, epigenetics, chronic stress and so much more, the tremendous focus on weight and the crushing pressure to weigh less, even for "health" purposes, has had the opposite of the desired effect; it's contributed to poor and worsening health outcomes.  

These days, diet culture and health culture are intricately intertwined.

"A cousin of diet culture is healthism, which is this idea that we have to be healthy. There is a moral imperative. There's a lot of judgment that comes with it, and that weight stigma has actually been determined to have a greater impact on the health problem that fat people experience than their weight itself." 

-psychologist Sand Chang in this NPR article

Over $30 billion dollars are spent on diet products annually and an estimated 45 million Americans diet every year with the goal of losing weight - none of which has led to better health outcomes for our population.  The general health of Americans (and most industrialized nations) continues to decline, and with it over-all quality of life. 

Lifestyle related diseases are related to just that: lifestyle choices, factors, and behaviors - regardless of weight.  One lifestyle issue of epidemic proportions that leads to poor health outcomes in every sphere of health and wellness is chronic stress.  Diet culture, pressure to look and be "healthy," the immense expectations to lose weight, and healthism all contribute greatly to stress and it's negative effects on health.

It's time to take the focus off of weight.

It's time to focus on educating, supporting, and encouraging healthy lifestyle behaviors to improve health outcomes minus any and all focus on weight.

Focusing on weight has NOT worked, helped, or improved disease rates.  

In fact, it has had the opposite effect!

As a result of modifying behavior to adopt a more proactive, health-promoting lifestyle, might a person experience weight loss? 

Sure.  But the data shows that when weight loss is the focus and goal, long-term outcomes do not improve for the majority of people who participate in intentional weight loss.

Can there be negative effects on the body due to an excess of fat? 

Sure, pressure on body parts and organs, weight carried by joints, and an increase in inflammation (among other things) can be experienced even when a person actively participates in a positive, health-promoting lifestyle.  No one is arguing that a large amount of excess fat can have a negative impact - the argument is that focusing on weight loss doesn't actually help improve health, wellness, or related outcomes.

What helps improve short and long-term health outcomes is focusing on health-promoting lifestyle modifications, regardless of weight and weight outcomes.

Why do we need a Health At Every Size®

or Health For Every Body approach to health?

Evolutionary and biological systems drive weight set points (and all that entails) which combine with numerous other factors to create a reality where bodies easily gain and hold onto extra fat.  These systems also produce situations where bodies fight tooth and nail against reductions in fat storage. Factors such as the gut microbiome, epigenetics, chronic stress, genetics, and modern environmental influences like food additives, medications, toxins, plastics, and agricultural chemicals, combine with socio-economic issues, "healthism", and deep-rooted biases about fat to produce a system where humans have less control over their bodies than they once did. 

This has lead to a billion dollar+ health, wellness, and diet industry aimed at manipulating bodies to achieve a societally-determined look and weight status. And those billions have not resulted in the outcome promised.

All the billions of dollars that have been spent on weight loss programs, books, foods, education (including government programs, regulations, and mandates), and on the many medical warnings about having more fat on your body have not resulted in people having less fat on their body. In fact, the opposite result has happened. While organizations, the government, and society have been so focused on demonizing and stigmatizing weight and bodies, our general health and wellbeing has continued to decline. 

Trying to educated, coerce, and pressure people to weigh less in a society built to biologically encourage bodies to hang on to weight with little regard to health other than the cursory doctrine that extra fat equates to disease has not helped. 

We are sicker, sadder, and living in larger bodies than ever before. It's time for a different approach. This is why an adoption and application of a Health At Every Size / Health For Every Body philosophy is so valuable.

According to an article from Colorado State University's Kendal Reagan Nutrition Center, "HAES is a tool that gives freedom to the client to not equate their health and worth with their weight, which allows them to more positively focus on health-promoting behaviors. Proponents understand that there are factors that influence weight beyond just diet and exercise, and that every body responds to changes differently."

Common misconceptions about HAES®:

(First three are found on the ASDAH website)

Myth #1: HAES® = All fat people are healthy.

"Healthy" and "Unhealthy" people come in all shapes and sizes. HAES principles are about approaching health without a weight focus.

Myth #2: HAES® is against weight-loss.

HAES is weight neutral and holds the truth that weight is not an accurate measure of health. The main focus is on healthy behaviors and acknowledges doing so improves health and wellbeing regardless of weight.

Myth #3: HAES® encourages obesity.

HAES believes nutrition and exercise are foundational health promoting behaviors. HAES, from a data-backed perspective, discourages dieting for weight loss.

Myth #4: Science says weight-loss is the cause of health improvement.

"There are many studies available showing a connection between weight and health. However, these studies show a correlation and not causation, and there are many limitations to weight loss research."

• Most studies only show the short term effects of weight loss.

• Because of the complexities of nutrition research with human subjects, it’s difficult to assume weight loss is the cause of health outcomes. During these studies, participants could be improving their diet quality and often increasing exercise, which have health benefits of their own independent from weight loss. Therefore, it is hard to tell what caused the health benefits— the health-promoting behaviors or the weight loss itself."

To learn a bit more, check out a Padlet presentation I made on this topic: 

https://padlet.com/spunkysprout/health-for-every-body-vt04qwfb9mdktrlf