Health @ Every Size (HAES) is a fresh, new way of looking at the relationship between weight and health. Rather than believing that weight loss is the only way to achieve good health, this new paradigm takes a much broader look at health and wellness, with lifestyle and personal attributes being key to living a long productive life. HAES is about active living, good nutrition, postive self-care, and appreciation for the diversity of body size and shape found among the human race.

But isn't weight loss necessary for improving the health of overweight or obese individuals?

Not necessarily. Numerous studies have shown that regular physical activity and "cardiorespiratory fitness" levels are better predictors than body weight of living a long healthy life. In fact, one large study conducted at the Cooper Institute in Dallas, Texas, found that thin, unfit men were more than twice as likely to die an early death from heart disease than fat men who were aerobically fit. In other words, fitness may be more important than fatness in determining one's risk for dying too young from heart disease or other chronic diseases.

Ditto for women. Women who are physically active have a much lower risk for heart disease, diabetes, and breast cancer, regardless if they are fat or thin. Check out http://www.active.com/story.cfm?story_id=9249&sidebar=630&category=activewomen for more info on research done specifically on women that suggests fitness is more important than fatness in determining risk for an early death.

Weight loss can improve blood pressure and blood sugar levels in "obese" individuals, but most people are unable to maintain a significant weight loss for very long. Thus, an active lifestyle and/or a higher fitness level might be a more realistic goal for many people and may have just the same effect.

In addition, dietary changes can improve certain medical conditions, with or without a weight loss. A recent study that utilized the "DASH diet" (Dietary Approaches to Stopping Hypertension") to treat high blood pressure, found that significant drops in blood pressure could be attained by simply changing the types of foods the study participants ate, not the amount. The DASH diet calls for high intakes of whole grain foods, fruits and vegetables, skim-milk dairy products, and almonds. Most of the people on the DASH diet had significantly lower blood pressure levels despite the fact that their weight did not change.

But what if I want to lose weight?

There's nothing wrong with wanting to lose weight and the HAES movement is NOT saying that weight loss is wrong. It is simply suggesting that there are altnernative paths to health and wellness and that being thin is not a guarantee that you will be healthy OR happy.

Given the fact that millions of people are dieting at any given time and the majority of these people will gain back all of the weight that they lose, supporters of HAES are suggesting that these folks should not waste their time (and money) on one more diet. Instead, they should move toward acceptance and self-respect, and if needed, adopting an active lifestyle and making simple dietary changes that promote good health.

But doesn't "size-acceptance" mean giving up?

Nothing could be further from the truth! Many experts believe that taking good care of one's self, both physically and psychologically, only comes when a person reaches a higher level of self-acceptance.

G. Terence Wilson, a behavioral scientist at Rutgers University, stated, "acceptance is an active process of self-affirmation rather than passive resignation to an unhappy fate" (Behav Therapy, 27, 417-439, 1996).