Health At Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight
Product ID: 3655025
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Fat isn't the problem. Dieting is the problem. A society that rejects anyone whose body shape or size doesn't match an impossible ideal is the problem. A medical establishment that equates "thin" with "healthy" is the problem. The solution? Health at Every Size. Tune in to your body's expert guidance. Find the joy in movement. Eat what you want, when you want, choosing pleasurable foods that help you to feel good. You too can feel great in your body right now—and Health at Every Size will show you how. Health at Every Size has been scientifically proven to boost health and self-esteem. The program was evaluated in a government-funded academic study, its data published in well-respected scientific journals. Updated with the latest scientific research and even more powerful messages, Health at Every Size is not a diet book, and after reading it, you will be convinced the best way to win the war against fat is to give up the fight. Review: Finally the answers I've been seeking - I have struggled with my weight my entire life. I have dieted over the years, and after each "successful" weight loss, I have gained back twice as much as the original loss. I discovered the size-acceptance movement in the early '90s and embraced my weight, maintaining it for 10 years, until my doctor discovered sugar in my urine. What followed was a seven-year nightmare of doctors, endocronologists, orders to lose weight, prescriptions of drugs I didn't want to take and a reunion with body hatred and the battle of the bulge. I became obsessed and tortured by my struggle to keep the weight off that I had lost during this time. What started out as a quest for good health resulted in a diet roller coaster like none other I had ridden. I returned to therapy, met with a nutritionist, consulted my medical doctor, none of whom could give me answers as to why I couldn't lose weight. The harder I tried, the easier it was to gain. I panicked as my weight began to creep closer to the original starting point, which was the highest it had ever been, when the supposed health problems began. I began to become suspicious of the common prescription of diet and exercise. I read books and spent endless hours on the internet searching for answers. I created a Meetup group for support. It was through one of the members of that group that I was introduced to Linda Bacon's book "Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth about Your Weight." I finished the book in a couple of days. It was such a good read, and I related to everything she talked about. I soaked up all the information, including the all-important message of size acceptance, something I'd lived and forgotten. The transformation of a diet mentality to self-acceptance, though, began long before I completed the book. I could feel the peace from within, peace I had been seeking for nearly a decade. It isn't my fault. Nobody had every said that before. It had always been my fault. Failure was all I knew when it came to weight, body image, and dieting (despite great success in all other areas of my life). For the first time since the diabetes diagnosis, I feel an enormous freedom from guilt, shame, and failure. By the way, I controlled my sugar with a change in diet, and it came down after only losing 5 pounds. Back then I (and my doctor) attributed the normal sugar readings with the weight loss, not the change in foods I was eating. Now looking back, after reading this book, I realize it wasn't the weight loss that "cured" my diabetes (for which my doctors claim there is no cure) just as it wasn't the weight gain that caused my diabetes. One of the biggest (failed) motivators of losing weight and keeping it off was the diabetes. I no longer fear gaining weight, and ironically since changing my thinking, the gaining has ceased. For the first time in 7 years, I am maintaining my weight. And the most powerful observation is, by listening to my own body for cues as discussed in the book, I have been eating less, even during Thanksgiving. For the first time in my whole life, I did not stuff myself on Thanksgiving. And it wasn't because I was dieting or trying not to. It was a very natural feeling to stop before that point. I highly recommend this book to everyone who struggles with a healthy relationship with food, everyone who diets, everyone who has several sizes of clothes on hand, and everyone who wants to be healthy. Review: Be Prepared to Have Your Ideas about Health Challenged - This week, when we were in Las Vegas, I finished reading Dr. Linda Bacon's book Health At Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight. Bacon didn't coin the term Health at Every Size (HAES), as she points out in the book. It was a movement before her involvement. But she has written a book that spells it out in a very readable, understandable way. Health at Every Size starts with a discussion about the social and cultural myths surrounding weight. She talks about how at different times in the last century, women's magazines have had articles about how to GAIN weight, instead of how to lose it. Maybe the most important lesson in the book is how the weight loss industry, which includes government agencies, lies and manipulates statistics in order to make us believe that if we are fat, we are going to die. 1.) We're all going to die. Skinny does not equal immortal. (In case you were wondering.) 2.) The Center for Disease Control helped to design the `obesity crisis' with false statistics. 3.) The act of trying to obtain a `perfect' weight causes far more health problems than the act of trying to be as healthy as possible at your current weight, whatever that may be. The first part of this book, for me anyway, felt like a battle cry. The next part of the book talks about Health at Every Size and how to implement it into your life. I'll admit something here. I skipped ahead to section two. And I was confused. Because I was looking for menu plans and concrete steps to follow. I've read a lot of diet and `life style change' books, starting with Susan Powter and ending right here. They all have steps to follow. This book doesn't break HAES down that way, and at first I was confused. Because-well, how am I supposed to do this if you don't tell me how? Where are the charts? What about a training schedule or a list of HAES friendly snacks? Then I went back and read from the beginning. (This was one of those times that my penchant for reading books backwards didn't work out for me.) Turns out that HAES isn't a diet. I was a little slow integrating that information, because I actually knew that going in. It isn't a fitness plan. It isn't anything other than a validation, permission to treat yourself well right this minute. So Bacon's section two talks more about easing yourself out of what may well be a decades long addiction to dieting. It gives you permission to exercise because it's fun and feels good, or even as training, rather than as a punishment for the sin of being fat. To enjoy whatever food you want to eat-literally, whatever food-without putting a moral judgment on it. HAES breaks down like this: 1. Love yourself. Yourself today, not yourself 10 or 50 or 150 pounds from now. Your body is just your body, it is neutral morally. 2. Eat good food, eat what you want and enough of it, and stop when you're full. 3. Move because it feels good, it is good for your health (yes, even if you never lose a pound) and it's fun. Deceptively simple, right? Bacon does talk some about set points and how you may be keeping your body above its comfortable weight by eating past when you're full and avoiding exercise. I was impressed, however, that she didn't turn this into a weight loss book. Eating well and moving your body moderately will improve your fitness and your health-even if your body never gives up a single pound. If you're anything like me, you have so many years of `accepting' that your health and your weight are intricately tied, that turning that off is really difficult. It's one thing to say "I can be fat and still fit" and another to believe it deep down. Even in the face of evidence that it's true. Even knowing that feeling like you have to thin before you earn being fit is a response to cultural conditioning. You can buy this book on desertcart for about $10. You might be able to get it from your library. However you get it, prepare to have your ideas about your body, you culture and yourself be challenged.
| Best Sellers Rank | #76,717 in Books ( See Top 100 in Books ) #52 in Self-Help for Eating Disorders & Body Image Issues (Books) #221 in Weight Loss Diets (Books) |
| Customer Reviews | 4.6 out of 5 stars 1,942 Reviews |
J**O
Finally the answers I've been seeking
I have struggled with my weight my entire life. I have dieted over the years, and after each "successful" weight loss, I have gained back twice as much as the original loss. I discovered the size-acceptance movement in the early '90s and embraced my weight, maintaining it for 10 years, until my doctor discovered sugar in my urine. What followed was a seven-year nightmare of doctors, endocronologists, orders to lose weight, prescriptions of drugs I didn't want to take and a reunion with body hatred and the battle of the bulge. I became obsessed and tortured by my struggle to keep the weight off that I had lost during this time. What started out as a quest for good health resulted in a diet roller coaster like none other I had ridden. I returned to therapy, met with a nutritionist, consulted my medical doctor, none of whom could give me answers as to why I couldn't lose weight. The harder I tried, the easier it was to gain. I panicked as my weight began to creep closer to the original starting point, which was the highest it had ever been, when the supposed health problems began. I began to become suspicious of the common prescription of diet and exercise. I read books and spent endless hours on the internet searching for answers. I created a Meetup group for support. It was through one of the members of that group that I was introduced to Linda Bacon's book "Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth about Your Weight." I finished the book in a couple of days. It was such a good read, and I related to everything she talked about. I soaked up all the information, including the all-important message of size acceptance, something I'd lived and forgotten. The transformation of a diet mentality to self-acceptance, though, began long before I completed the book. I could feel the peace from within, peace I had been seeking for nearly a decade. It isn't my fault. Nobody had every said that before. It had always been my fault. Failure was all I knew when it came to weight, body image, and dieting (despite great success in all other areas of my life). For the first time since the diabetes diagnosis, I feel an enormous freedom from guilt, shame, and failure. By the way, I controlled my sugar with a change in diet, and it came down after only losing 5 pounds. Back then I (and my doctor) attributed the normal sugar readings with the weight loss, not the change in foods I was eating. Now looking back, after reading this book, I realize it wasn't the weight loss that "cured" my diabetes (for which my doctors claim there is no cure) just as it wasn't the weight gain that caused my diabetes. One of the biggest (failed) motivators of losing weight and keeping it off was the diabetes. I no longer fear gaining weight, and ironically since changing my thinking, the gaining has ceased. For the first time in 7 years, I am maintaining my weight. And the most powerful observation is, by listening to my own body for cues as discussed in the book, I have been eating less, even during Thanksgiving. For the first time in my whole life, I did not stuff myself on Thanksgiving. And it wasn't because I was dieting or trying not to. It was a very natural feeling to stop before that point. I highly recommend this book to everyone who struggles with a healthy relationship with food, everyone who diets, everyone who has several sizes of clothes on hand, and everyone who wants to be healthy.
S**S
Be Prepared to Have Your Ideas about Health Challenged
This week, when we were in Las Vegas, I finished reading Dr. Linda Bacon's book Health At Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight. Bacon didn't coin the term Health at Every Size (HAES), as she points out in the book. It was a movement before her involvement. But she has written a book that spells it out in a very readable, understandable way. Health at Every Size starts with a discussion about the social and cultural myths surrounding weight. She talks about how at different times in the last century, women's magazines have had articles about how to GAIN weight, instead of how to lose it. Maybe the most important lesson in the book is how the weight loss industry, which includes government agencies, lies and manipulates statistics in order to make us believe that if we are fat, we are going to die. 1.) We're all going to die. Skinny does not equal immortal. (In case you were wondering.) 2.) The Center for Disease Control helped to design the `obesity crisis' with false statistics. 3.) The act of trying to obtain a `perfect' weight causes far more health problems than the act of trying to be as healthy as possible at your current weight, whatever that may be. The first part of this book, for me anyway, felt like a battle cry. The next part of the book talks about Health at Every Size and how to implement it into your life. I'll admit something here. I skipped ahead to section two. And I was confused. Because I was looking for menu plans and concrete steps to follow. I've read a lot of diet and `life style change' books, starting with Susan Powter and ending right here. They all have steps to follow. This book doesn't break HAES down that way, and at first I was confused. Because-well, how am I supposed to do this if you don't tell me how? Where are the charts? What about a training schedule or a list of HAES friendly snacks? Then I went back and read from the beginning. (This was one of those times that my penchant for reading books backwards didn't work out for me.) Turns out that HAES isn't a diet. I was a little slow integrating that information, because I actually knew that going in. It isn't a fitness plan. It isn't anything other than a validation, permission to treat yourself well right this minute. So Bacon's section two talks more about easing yourself out of what may well be a decades long addiction to dieting. It gives you permission to exercise because it's fun and feels good, or even as training, rather than as a punishment for the sin of being fat. To enjoy whatever food you want to eat-literally, whatever food-without putting a moral judgment on it. HAES breaks down like this: 1. Love yourself. Yourself today, not yourself 10 or 50 or 150 pounds from now. Your body is just your body, it is neutral morally. 2. Eat good food, eat what you want and enough of it, and stop when you're full. 3. Move because it feels good, it is good for your health (yes, even if you never lose a pound) and it's fun. Deceptively simple, right? Bacon does talk some about set points and how you may be keeping your body above its comfortable weight by eating past when you're full and avoiding exercise. I was impressed, however, that she didn't turn this into a weight loss book. Eating well and moving your body moderately will improve your fitness and your health-even if your body never gives up a single pound. If you're anything like me, you have so many years of `accepting' that your health and your weight are intricately tied, that turning that off is really difficult. It's one thing to say "I can be fat and still fit" and another to believe it deep down. Even in the face of evidence that it's true. Even knowing that feeling like you have to thin before you earn being fit is a response to cultural conditioning. You can buy this book on Amazon for about $10. You might be able to get it from your library. However you get it, prepare to have your ideas about your body, you culture and yourself be challenged.
E**O
Finally, the truth about weight loss...
I've been overweight my entire life and have dealt with the stigma that goes along with that. After years of unsuccessful dieting, I began to notice some trends with my body which made me realize that something was off with all the info and advice that I had been receiving. I recently watched "Food Inc" which got me thinking about processed foods and I began doing a lot of research on the subject. That research led me to "Health at Every Size" and I can honestly say that this book has changed my life! My issues with food and dieting were finally explained in a way that made sense. You see, while I have always been heavy, I've never been in poor health. Every time I'd have a check-up, all my stats (blood pressure, sugar levels, cholesterol) would be normal and even optimal. And every time, my doctors would always say that while those numbers were good, they would never last and that my health would deteriorate b/c of my weight. Ten years of hearing this and being consistantly put down by the medical community, and my health still has not deteriorated (you'd think it would due to the stress of all that). I even had a doctor tell me that bariatric surgery was my best option even though I wasn't heavy enough to qualify for that. This shows how out of touch the medical community is regarding weight and how detrimental that is to society. This book explains everything and backs it with hard science, not just assumptions. Reading this book helped me to finally accept myself, and to view food as a pleasurable part of life, not as the enemy. And after all that, I actually lost some weight - go figure! But as the book stresses, that wasn't the point - the point is maintaining good health and self-acceptance. Please, if you've ever hated you body or felt bad about yourself, please please read this book! Give up the fight and start living your life!
K**E
Learned a lot
This was a really interesting read. Like all books that go against mainstream science it made me mad. Mostly because I hate seeing how many of our medical professionals are in the pockets of corporations or other big conglomerates. I enjoyed the expertise the author brought to this. She has a lot of impressive credentials and I enjoyed hearing what her experience and research has found. I thought she had a lot of data and cited sooooo many sources. It did make me change a lot of my viewpoints on things which was difficult for me as it goes against a lot of my deep held beliefs. I took some practical lessons and next steps from this book that I’ve started to put into practice. This has changed my viewpoint on a lot of things and I’m trying to change my perception as well. I’m glad my therapist recommended this book as I felt it was an important read for me.
R**.
Excellent book that's unintentionally and scientifically causing selflove!
Amy Pence-Brown - Writer, Artist, Body Image Activist recommended your book to me when I asked a question about embracing my weight while being healthy and dealing with doctors judging. I had no idea what I was in for when I ordered it but I am so glad that I did! I can't tell you how much it is helping me love myself physically/mentally and I'm only about to start chapter 4. I love your writing style and how your book is FULL of actual research and how you explain it in a way that makes sense. For example when you discuss how exercising/movement won't necessarily help keep weight off or down but it will improve your health I was inspired to move. How you say we shouldn't treat being active in our bodies as punishment but as fun makes me enjoy walking around and just dancing or playing. Please forgive the lousy writing. I just wanted to thank you so much. I'm learning from your book that stress is harmful and causes cortisol, etc. so in addition to therapy and medication I have an intelligent yet friendly voice telling me I'm worth more than that self-loathing and stress over weight. I wish that I could properly convey to you just how much I love your book but my writing isn't quite there yet. Thank you so much.
M**N
I'm Fat. So what? I'm healthy!
I'm 26. I'm about 280 lbs and 5'6". I've been heavier. I've been lighter. I've dieted. My most recent diet was weight watchers. Before that, it was usually my version of other popular diets out there. Thankfully, in a way, I'm the kind of person who hates to be told what to do, especially when it comes to what she eats. So I didn't diet as much as some chronic yo-yo dieters, but I've "dieted" a bit. I even lost 50 pounds a couple years ago. Gained back 60 pounds once I hit a plateau. That diet was just "eating healthy" and "getting fit", but I was cutting out some of my favorite stuff. So it was a diet. And it was obnoxious. When it comes to dieting, something never really felt right to me. I have good blood pressure. I have good blood sugar. I have a great heart rate. I have excellent cholesterol. Every sort of chemical blood test they run on me comes out completely normal. So, why do I have to lose weight if it's not affecting any of those? The only reason why I ever wanted to lose weight was to look better, be treated better, and buy cheaper clothes. And to feel better about myself. This book teaches me that I can feel good about myself. Because it's about the health, not about the weight of a person. Health is what matters most. Weight does not equate to health. If I take care of myself, regardless of my size, I will be all the healthier and happier. Which to someone who has suffered depression most of her life, a lot of it from her weight, it'll be incredibly helpful. I'm happily recommending this to all my friends and will recommend it to my customers as well (since I work as a cashier at a grocery store, I talk to people on occasion about weight loss and what not).
Y**K
Challenge your mindset to be kind to yourself
This book should be taken with a grain of salt. Obviously there are people who are exceptions to the rules, there are people on every end of extremes, and then there’s genetics, social, and familial influences. As someone who has had an eating disorder for over a decade and has been so cruel to my self mentally and physically this book saved the relationship I have with myself and my health. Have an open mind when the author tells you to detangle the exaggerated relationship between weight and health. Our weight and BMI are simply an outdated way of trying to determine health. This book was so freeing, but you have to allow it to. Your relationship with food and weight and dieting are your own, but how you treat and nurture that relationship can be so radically different if you choose to do so. Even if you are only a tiny bit more kind to yourself on your journey to health (not thinness), a tiny bit more healthy, enjoy exercise just a bit more, or are kinder to people who struggle being overweight or classified as overweight then I think this book did it’s job. We are our own biggest critics and society isn’t very nice either. It’s time we take a step back and question why we can’t be healthy at any size. (Again with a grain of salt) :) be kind to yourself and enjoy life and all the movement and food it has to offer.
L**N
Groundbreaking research but fatphobic language
I had heard about this book for years and wanted to read it. After deciding to write some articles on fatphobia in a local newspaper online column, I thought it was high time I read the book to gain more scientific knowledge on the health-at-every-size concept. I found the start of the book great to read to learn the science behind the fact that we can't intentionally lose weight long-term. I was hoping the author would go into that more, but almost straight away, they described the "perfect" diet or way of eating to "maintain a healthy weight." What? What ensued was a series of explanations that made me feel terrible for being fat and for my "less-than-perfect" eating habits. As someone who has had both anorexia and orthorexia, I can get quite pedantic about what I eat. It didn't serve me well. I couldn't read any further than about 65% of the book. Since then, I've tried to find out if I'm the only one who has felt troubled by reading this book. I felt it didn't convey the true message of health at every size and seemed to perpetuate fatphobia and disordered eating mindsets. I've found I'm not the only one who feels this way. I've since purchased "Anti-diet" by Christy Harrison. I'm loving it so far. That said, I have chosen to give the book 3 stars as it holds groundbreaking research and scientific ideas that have changed the landscape of diet culture and fatphobia the world over. It has helped many people and opened the door to a new way of thinking. I have heard that the author has written subsequent books that are more modern and less fatphobic, but I'm honestly too scared to read them. For those who have never heard of the health-at-every-size movement and who don't have eating issues, this book would probably be a good introduction.
C**E
What an amazing lecture!
I broke many myths about health and weight. It gave me the information I was missing to guide my patients into body acceptance and embrace diversity. Forever thankful.
F**E
Important
Very important information and message that all should know.
C**N
Nuevo paradigma muy necesario
Este libro ofrece estudios y pruebas de lo que tenemos que saber cuando queremos controlar nuestro peso a costa de controlar nuestra dieta. Muy interesante
J**D
Diets make you fat
The premise of this book is 'Diets don't work, eat only when you are hungry, eat slowly so your body will tell you when it is full, eat a lot of fibre (fruit), go for a walk everyday and don't eat too much sugar and junk food because you'll end up with Diabetes'. It goes into more detail than that, so it's really worth reading and there is quite a lot of scary stuff in there. It has certainly helped me ditch the scales, the diet books and the gym membership, to start eating properly and respect my body for the first time in my life. It's recommended by the Health At Every Size website (www.healthateverysize.org.uk) along with other similar titles. I would also recommend www.neverdietagain.co.uk which has seminars and workshops that help, though they are mostly aimed at women. I would suggest you buy it on Kindle as it's five times cheaper (or if you have a tablet or smartphone, you can register these as a kindle and read it on that).
H**A
Um novo ponto de vista
Acho importantíssimo as pessoas se darem conta de que é possível ser saudável sendo gordo, magro, alto, baixo. Não estamos falando de pessoas com anorexia nem com obesidade mórbida. Mas, de pessoas normais. Este livro ajuda a entender que é importante ouvir a si mesma.
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