Excerpt from
Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth
About Your Weight
© 2010 by Linda Bacon.
May be freely distributed, provided that it remains in its entirety
and this copyright message appears. More info at
www.HAESbook.com
.
We need to remove the obstacles that get in the way of people of all sizes making healthy choices. Health policies that are promoted for their own sake, rather than as obesity prevention measures, are more likely to bring about desired results—and without the damaging consequences that come when done in the name of obesity prevention. All people deserve access to good food, useful nutrition information, and exercise opportunities. Everyone should feel welcome in the White House garden—which just won’t happen when it is promoted for the prevention of obesity.
There is an evidence-based, compassionate alternative to the war on obesity. It’s called Health at Every Size. It involves switching our focus from weight to the behaviors that make people healthy. Everyone can benefit from good health behaviors.
Excerpt from
Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth
About Your Weight
© 2010 by Linda Bacon.
May be freely distributed, provided that it remains in its entirety
and this copyright message appears. More info at
www.HAESbook.com
.
A MESSAGE FOR SCHOOL ADMINISTRATORS AND TEACHERS
Much concern has been expressed about children’s weight, spurring a variety of school-based interventions such as body mass index (BMI) screening, weight-related “report cards,” and campaigns emphasizing the dangers of carrying excess weight.
These anti-obesity campaigns are damaging and ineffective. Think about the impact of BMI report cards: the heavier kids get pathologized, bullied, and teased by their peers, and are put on diets and exercise programs that set them up for a lifetime of struggle, feelings of failure, and a greater risk for developing a life-threatening eating disorder. The thinner kids—who may have similar health habits or be maintaining their low weights through damaging diets or obsessive exercise—get ignored. Meanwhile, every child across the weight spectrum is saddled with a fear of fat and a bias against fat people.
It’s tough enough for kids to enjoy their bodies. Few are at peace in their bodies, whether they’re fat or fear becoming fat. Every time we make fat the problem, these are side effects, however unintended they may be.
Eating well and being regularly active are valuable for kids of all sizes. Good health habits can be promoted for their own sake, rather than as obesity prevention measures.
Here are a few ideas you can implement in your school:
• Take the focus off weight and put it on health and self-esteem. Dump weight-based programs like BMI screening.
• Teach children that their bodies deserve love and respect no matter how much they weigh.
• Implement media literacy programs that challenge the current thin ideal in the media. Discuss body size as a diversity issue as you would race or gender.
Excerpt from
Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth
About Your Weight
© 2010 by Linda Bacon.
May be freely distributed, provided that it remains in its entirety
and this copyright message appears. More info at
www.HAESbook.com
.
• Avoid words like “overweight” and “obese,” which promote judgment and stigma.
• Create an environment that supports enjoyable physical activity, honoring that different body types are suited to different types of movement. A fat child may have more difficulty running than a thin child, for example, but may excel at swimming.
• Encourage kids to honor their body signals of hunger, fullness, and appetite. Discourage dieting; all diets undermine the dieters’ ability to trust their own capacity to meet their own needs. It also sets the dieter up for feelings of failure and inadequacy.
• Display artwork and images in your classroom that celebrate children of varying sizes.
• Enforce zero-tolerance policies regarding weight-based victimization and bullying. Be available and approachable to students who are victims of such bullying.
• You are a role model for students. Challenge your own size bias and incorporate healthy habits and attitudes into your own life.
It’s hard to challenge the common dogma that stigmatizes weight and promotes dieting as a virtue. But there is substantial evidence that these ideas have backfired, causing more problems than they solve. Educate yourself about the new paradigm in health promotion, which has proven to be much more successful than fighting obesity. It’s called Health at Every Size.
More details can be found in the book,
Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth about Your Weight
(
www.HAESbook.com
). Visit the HAES Community Resources (
www.HAESCommunity.Org
) to get connected with the community and discover school-based programs that incorporate Health at Every Size.
Excerpt from
Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth
About Your Weight
© 2010 by Linda Bacon.
May be freely distributed, provided that it remains in its entirety
and this copyright message appears. More info at
www.HAESbook.com
.
A MESSAGE FOR FITNESS PROFESSIONALS
No doubt you got into the fitness field because you’re enthusiastic about good health and want to support and inspire others. However, you may be surprised to learn that some of the most basic assumptions you hold about weight and health aren’t supported by scientific evidence. Despite your best intentions, the work you are doing may actually
harm
your clients.
Consider the calorie balance equation. You and your clients likely believe that if they just increase the amount of calories expended relative to the amount taken in, they should lose weight, right? Exercise should be the ultimate panacea in the weight war since it burns calories in the moment while also building muscle, an ongoing calorie-burning furnace.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t work that way. We can’t control the calorie balance equation to the extent we’ve long believed. It’s easy in the short term, which is why short-term weight loss typically occurs. But over the long-term the body has compensatory mechanisms that undermine its ability to maintain weight loss. Long-term studies show that few people maintain significant weight or fat loss by increasing their physical activity,
even when exercise habits are maintained
.
Another common misconception is that thin=fit. But did you know that it’s possible to be both fat and fit? And that research consistently shows that fitness is a much better indicator of health than weight? Not only are there are plenty of metabolically healthy fat people, but when you take fitness into account, many of the health risks associated with weight disappear or, at the very least, are significantly reduced.
I know it may be hard to believe these contentions given the current bias in the field. But when you consider that supporting people
Excerpt from
Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth
About Your Weight
© 2010 by Linda Bacon.
May be freely distributed, provided that it remains in its entirety
and this copyright message appears. More info at
www.HAESbook.com
.
in their weight-loss goals is not just misguided, it’s downright damaging, it becomes critical that you consider these challenges seriously. After all, you want to help people, not hurt them, right?
The reality is that few of us are at peace with our bodies, whether because we’re fat or because we fear becoming fat. Repeated cycles of weight loss and regain, unhealthy weight loss behaviors, poor body image, eating disorders, stress, stigmatization, and discrimination are all collateral damage in the war against fat. Every time you make fat the problem, these are the side effects, however unintended they may be.
It doesn’t have to be that way. Here’s an easy prescription to do good:
• Support your clients in focusing on health and well-being, not weight. Help them understand that the problem is in cultural attitudes about weight, not their body.
• Support your clients in handling the unique challenges they may have with their bodies. Show compassion for the difficulties that arise from living in a culturally stigmatized body.
• Provide a friendly, non-judgmental environment that acknowledges and celebrates body diversity.
• Help your clients develop
sustainable
behavioral changes that easily fit into their busy lives.
For more information, check out
Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight
(
www.HAESbook.com
).
Excerpt from
Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth
About Your Weight
© 2010 by Linda Bacon.
May be freely distributed, provided that it remains in its entirety
and this copyright message appears. More info at
www.HAESbook.com
.
A MESSAGE FOR PEOPLE COMMITTED TO FOOD JUSTICE AND SUSTAINABLE AGRICULTURE
You care about sustainability and you’re committed to making a difference. Obesity, viewed as a visible result of a food system gone wrong, is an easy rallying call.
But here’s the rub. No matter how often and authoritatively you trumpet fears about obesity, scientific research shows that common assumptions just don’t hold up to the evidence. Despite assumptions to the contrary, research shows that the fat and thin are not eating remarkably differently. The fact that some people are heavier is largely a reflection of their particular biological response to current lifestyle habits and environmental conditions. Research also shows that lifestyle changes are much more effective at health improvement than weight loss, even in those rare cases where weight loss is maintained. What we do is much more important than what we weigh.
Trumpeting obesity concerns is not just misguided, but downright damaging. It leads to repeated cycles of weight loss and regain, to food and body preoccupation, self-hatred, eating disorders, weight discrimination, and poor health. Few of us are at peace with our bodies, whether because we’re fat or because we fear becoming fat. Every time you make fat the problem, these are side effects, however unintended they may be.
By encouraging good food policy on its own merits, you can address real health concerns, giving both fat and thin people the support they deserve, and avoiding stigmatizing people and worsening the problem.
There is relatively little size diversity among people participating in the food justice movement. This has less to do with the idea that heavier people don’t share a commitment to good food, and more to
Excerpt from
Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth
About Your Weight
© 2010 by Linda Bacon.
May be freely distributed, provided that it remains in its entirety
and this copyright message appears. More info at
www.HAESbook.com
.
do with the community stigmatization. Given that the majority of the U.S. population now fits into the stigmatized categories, anti-obesity campaigns alienate a huge pool of potential supporters and sabotage the cause.
Foodies, I plead with you: Lay off the fat people. Science and reason do not support the value of a weight focus. Switch the emphasis to advocating for good food directly. Stop the demonization and instead invite fat people to join you at the table, celebrating the diversity they bring. Help people of all sizes feel welcome in the White House organic garden. You can make a powerful argument for good food based on social justice, environmental stewardship, animal welfare, or a host of other reasons—you don’t need to do it on the backs of fat people.