Health at Every Size

Analogy, Metaphor & Stories for Healing

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OTHER PROFESSIONALS AROUND TOWN:

Chiropractors Dietitians Massage Therapists Medical Doctors Mental Health Therapists Movement Instructors Naturopathic Doctors Psychiatrists & Psychiatric Mental Health Nurse Practitioners

 

The 5 Core Principles from the Association for Size Diversity and Health (ASDAH):

1. Weight Inclusivity

“Accept and respect the inherent diversity of body shapes and sizes and reject the idealizing or pathologizing of specific weights” (ASDAH).  Just like the color of our skin, the texture of our hair, or the size of our feet, our body size and type are, to a large extent, genetically determined. “Uniformity is not nature’s way; diversity is nature’s way” ~ Vandana Shiva.

 

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” (ASDAH). Social determinants of health are the primary cause of health inequities. Examples include:

• safe and affordable access to healthcare
• legislative policies that indirectly affect health (ex: minimum wage, reproductive rights, civil liberties, the environment, etc.)
• socioeconomic status that allows time enough to attend to the daily tasks related to health such as time and money for doctor visits, exercising, grocery shopping, cooking, and relaxing
• the education and literacy level of the communities we live in
• social justice frameworks, including attention to diversity and intersectionality

 

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” (ASDAH).  It benefits all of us, across the weight spectrum, to advocate for an end to size discrimination.

 

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” (ASDAH). The 10 Intuitive Eating principles (Tribole & Resch; I recommend the 4th edition printed in 2020) can help with this:

1. Reject the Diet Mentality. “Throw out the diet books and magazine articles that offer you false hope of losing weight quickly, easily, and permanently. Get angry at the lies that have led you to feel as if you were a failure every time a new diet stopped working and you gained back all of the weight” (Tribole & Resch, 2017, pg. 13).
2. Honor Your Hunger. “Keep your body biologically fed with adequate energy and carbohydrates. Otherwise you can trigger a primal drive to overeat. Once you reach the moment of excessive hunger, all intentions of moderate, conscious eating are fleeting and irrelevant” (Tribole & Resch, 2017, p. 33).
3. Make Peace with Food. “If you tell yourself that you can’t or shouldn’t have a particular food, it can lead to intense feelings of deprivation that build into uncontrollable cravings and, often, bingeing” (Tribole & Resch, 2017, p. 61).
4. Challenge the Food Police. “The Food Police monitor the unreasonable rules that dieting has created. The police station is housed deep in your psyche, and its loudspeaker shouts negative barbs, hopeless phrases, and guilt-provoking indictments” (Tribole & Resch, 2017, p. 81).
5. Feel Your Fullness. “Listen for the body signals that tell you that you are no longer hungry. Observe the signs that show that you’re comfortably full. Pause in the middle of eating and ask yourself how the food tastes, and what your current fullness level is” (Tribole & Resch, 2017, p. 110).
6. Discover the Satisfaction Factor. “When you eat what you really want, in an environment that is inviting and conducive, the pleasure you derive will be a powerful force in helping you feel satisfied and content” (Tribole & Resch, 2017, p. 131).
7. Cope with Your Feelings without Using Food. Learn to work with your emotions as allies rather than enemies.
8. Respect Your Body. “Accept your genetic blueprint” (Tribole & Resch, 2017, p. 179).
9. Exercise: Feel the Difference. “Shift your focus to how it feels to move your body, rather than the calorie burning effect of exercise” (Tribole & Resch, 2017, p. 199).
10. Honor Your Health: Gentle Nutrition. “Make food choices that honor your health and taste buds while making you feel well” (Tribole & Resch, 2017, p. 225).

 

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” (ASDAH). Research shows that those who exercise regularly are able to do so by shifting focus from extrinsic to intrinsic motivation.

Extrinsic motivation

• Motivation comes from external rewards
• Rewards are rarely immediate
  • Weight loss
  • Increased muscle tone
  • Money / gifts

Intrinsic motivation

• Motivation comes from internal rewards
• Rewards are often experienced right away
  • Mood enhancement
  • Decreased stress
  • Enjoyment
  • Sleep better

 

Books to Check Out:

for Clinicians:

– “Biting the Hand that Starves You” by Ali Borden, David Epston, and Richard Linn Maisel
– “Beyond a Shadow of a Diet” by Judith Matz and Ellen Frankel

for Clients:

– “The Diet Survivor’s Handbook” by Judith Matz and Ellen Frankel
– “Life without ED” by Jenni Shaeffer- “Intuitive Eating” (4th edition) by Evelyn Tribole and Elyse Resch
– “Body Respect” by Linda Bacon
– “Anti-Diet” by Christy Harrison (who also has a podcast called Food Psych)
– “The Body is Not an Apology” by Sonya Renee Taylor
– “Sick Enough” by Jennifer Gaudiani
– “Decoding Anorexia” by Carrie Arnold
– “Eating in the Light of the Moon” by Anita Johnson
– “Sensing the Self: Women’s Recovery from Bulimia” by Sheila Reindl
– “Beautiful You” by Rosie Molinary
– “Yoga and Eating Disorders” edited by Carolyin Costin and Joe Kelly
– “Yoga and Body Image” edited by Melodie Klein
– “Talking to Eating Disorders” (for loved ones of someone who has one) by Jeanne Heaton