Health at Every Size

Health at Every Size (HAES) is a movement that has been around since the 1960’s, but is starting to gain more popularity in the past few years. 

HAES is set to promote health equality, in which “everybody deserves to pursue health, and access to healthcare”. The principles of HAES per the Association for Size Diversity And Health (ASDAH): 

The Health At Every Size® Principles^[1] are:

1. Weight Inclusivity: Accept and respect the inherent diversity of body shapes and sizes and reject the idealizing or pathologizing of specific weights. 
2. Health Enhancement: Support health policies that improve and equalize 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. 
3. 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, and other identities impact weight stigma, and support environments that address these inequities.
4. Eating for Well-being: Promote flexible, individualized eating based on hunger, satiety, nutritional needs, and pleasure, rather than any externally regulated eating plan focused on weight control.
5. 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.

The biggest myths around this movement is that it promotes obesity or encourages people to stop caring for their health. It’s not that every body IS healthy at any size… it’s that every body deserves the respect and honor to pursue health regardless of body size or shape. Here’s a fact sheet that covers more myths around HAES shared by ASDAH.