Health At Every Size (HAES) in Eating Disorder Recovery
In a world where health and weight have become overly enmeshed, used and interpreted as interchangeable terms, it’s vital to understand that health and weight are not the same thing.
While weight CAN be a factor in health, it is not the determining factor.
At The Holistic ED Recovery Center, we believe in Health At Every Size as a core guiding principle for our treatment approach, and help families adopt this philosophy to support long term recovery and wellness.
Health at Every Size (HAES) is an approach to health and wellness that promotes acceptance of diverse body sizes and emphasizes adopting healthy habits rather than focusing solely on weight control for health. It challenges the traditional paradigm that equates thinness with health and instead encourages individuals to prioritize behaviors that support overall well-being. Simply controlling weight (keeping it low) does not make a person healthy. In fact, many people will adopt unhealthy or extreme behaviors to maintain a lower weight than their natural SET POINT.
Key principles of Health at Every Size include:
Body Acceptance: HAES encourages individuals to accept and appreciate their bodies at any size, promoting self-esteem and body positivity.
Health Enhancement: Rather than solely focusing on weight loss as a marker of health, HAES emphasizes adopting health-promoting behaviors such as intuitive eating, joyful movement, stress management, and adequate sleep.
Respectful Care: HAES advocates for healthcare practices that prioritize respect, dignity, and individual autonomy, regardless of body size. This includes avoiding weight bias and stigma in medical settings.
Eating for Well-being: HAES promotes intuitive eating, which involves listening to the body's hunger and fullness cues and choosing foods that provide nourishment and pleasure without rigid dieting rules.
Joyful Movement: Instead of prescribing specific exercise regimens for weight loss, HAES encourages finding physical activities that bring joy and enhance overall well-being, regardless of fitness level or body size.
The HAES approach acknowledges that health is multifaceted and influenced by various factors beyond weight, including genetics, social determinants of health, access to healthcare, gender, age, stress, economics, and environmental factors. It aims to shift the focus of health interventions from weight-centered approaches to promoting holistic well-being and empowering individuals to make sustainable, health-enhancing choices.
Critics of the HAES approach argue that it may promote unhealthy behaviors or ignore the risks associated with obesity. However, proponents argue that HAES is about promoting health and well-being for all individuals, regardless of their size, and that weight-focused interventions often lead to negative outcomes such as disordered eating and weight cycling.
Overall, Health at Every Size advocates for a more inclusive and compassionate approach to health that recognizes the diversity of human bodies and prioritizes holistic well-being over weight-centric goals.
Health at Every Size (HAES) can be supportive of eating disorder recovery in several ways:
Focus on Health Behaviors: HAES shifts the focus from weight to health-promoting behaviors. For individuals recovering from eating disorders, this can help them shift away from the harmful cycle of restrictive eating and excessive exercise often associated with weight loss goals. Instead, HAES encourages adopting intuitive eating practices, listening to hunger and fullness cues, and choosing foods that nourish the body and mind.
Body Acceptance: HAES promotes body acceptance and self-compassion, regardless of body size or shape. For individuals recovering from eating disorders, cultivating a positive body image and accepting their natural body size can be crucial steps in the healing process, helping to counteract the body dissatisfaction and shame often associated with disordered eating.
Rejects Weight Stigma: HAES challenges weight stigma and discrimination, which can be particularly harmful to individuals recovering from eating disorders. By promoting respect and dignity for all bodies, HAES creates a more supportive and inclusive environment that reduces the shame and stigma often experienced by individuals in larger bodies.
Emphasizes Joyful Movement: HAES encourages finding physical activities that bring joy and enhance overall well-being, rather than focusing on exercise as a means of controlling weight or changing body size. For individuals recovering from eating disorders, this can help foster a healthier relationship with movement, free from the pressure to exercise excessively or compulsively.
Supports Individual Autonomy: HAES promotes individual autonomy and empowerment in making health-related decisions. For individuals recovering from eating disorders, this can be empowering as they reclaim control over their own bodies and health choices, rather than feeling pressured to conform to external standards or expectations.
Overall, HAES provides a compassionate and inclusive framework that supports individuals in their journey towards recovery from eating disorders by promoting holistic well-being, body acceptance, and self-care practices that prioritize health over weight. Ultimately, our wellbeing and physical health is influenced more by our consistent behaviors, not simply the number on the scale.