Finding resources for HAES online is kind of a weird hit or miss game. Google HAES (even spelled out) and the results are usually a bunch of people responding to it, whether in the positive or negative. I recently ran across this list, though, and I want to repost it here. Not as a response, but as a this-is-what-it’s-about kind of thing.
12 Steps to Health At Every Size
By: Peggy Elam, Ph.D.
1. Stop weighing yourself. Shift your focus from weight & body fat to healthy
behaviors & fitness.
2. Fire the food & body police.
3. Stop critical self-talk. Would you speak to a friend or loved one the way you do to your body?
4. Increase positive talk. Talk to & treat yourself & your body the way you would a cherished friend, loved one, or child.
5. Clean out your closets. Give or throw away everything that doesn’t fit, is
uncomfortable, or that you haven’t worn in years. Fill your closets with beautiful,
comfortable clothing in your present size.
6. Eat well & mindfully. Enjoy your food. Let nothing be off-limits. There are no
forbidden foods. Don’t restrict what you eat in order to lose weight, as those
behaviours and attitudes have negative physical and emotional consequences.
Focus instead on eating & living well.
7. Be active. Find, create, or discover activities that you enjoy, and engage in them regularly.
8. Listen to your body.It is the means by which your subconscious communicates with you. Noone can discern your body’s messages better than you can, although youmay need to re-learn its language. Pay attention to “gut feelings.”
9. Respect your body. It is a manifestation of and a conduit for your soul. Ensure that others respect it, too.
10. Reconnect mind & body.Increase your body awareness through yoga, walking meditation, Tai Chi,Qi Gong, massage & bodywork, and/or movement therapy (such asFeldenkrais). Focus on what your body can do and how good it can feel.
11. Address any emotional eating independent of weight change.
12. Invest in and support yourself rather than the weight loss, pharmaceutical, healthcare, fashion, or beauty industries.
I love these steps because they are a concrete guide to treating yourself – your SELF and your body – well. It’s good advice no matter what size you wear and no matter what physical condition you are in. Because HAES is individual. It doesn’t judge according to “the ideal.” That’s why it is health at EVERY size.
Isn’t it great when things are simple like that?
10 Comments
5. Clean out your closets. Give or throw away everything that doesn’t fit, is
uncomfortable, or that you haven’t worn in years. Fill your closets with beautiful,
comfortable clothing in your present size.
This is the hardest lesson for me. I struggle to make sure that clothes I have are for the me of now- not the past or the future. The only thing that finally kept me motivated is to realize that my sisters in size without my advantages could use my clothes- so I give them all away to a free clothing closet at my church. I have over time found a network of people that I am comfortable giving them to directly.
It is better to have only a few things that fit well and flatter rather than a clotset full of ill fitting, uncomfortable mistakes.
#10 is something I really need to remember when I have a negative reation to the idea of body awareness – I forget sometimes that the solution to body hatred isn’t to pretend the body itself doesn’t exist. Also so much of the fat hatred disguised as concern for health is worded as a need for awareness that I’ve developed a knee-jerk aversion to the word, which isn’t fair.
I LOVE THIS!!!
Hey, I think I got this from the Fat Studies list, but I thought it was pretty good too, so I sent it to my mom: http://www.eatrightmontana.org/PDF/2007HealthyFamiliesMAY.pdf
…though I agree Peggy’s list is the fabulous.
I have a list I keep of HAES stuff, if you want to share.
M
Diva – I know what you mean. I STILL have clothes that just don’t fit right now. My one excuse is that I am hording them for the fabric.
Eden – I think you have raised a really important point. Body acceptance does not mean pretending the body doesn’t exist. One thing that has always bugged me is when people say things like, “You are so pretty even though you are fat,” as though being fat is this obstacle that must be overcome. These two things feel related.
Thanks, EW!
Withoutscene – I was trying to remember who had the list of HAES stuff! I’d love to share that resource. Thanks!
Thanks so much for posting this! I practice from this attitude, yet I am always looking for new ways to teach my patients that they don’t have to be any particular size to be healthy. I will be posting this at my office.
“Body acceptance does not mean pretending the body doesn’t exist.”
SO important.
The only thing I have a problem with is the “throwing out of clothes” thing. After finally doing what my orthomolecular doc said I should about weight training, I fit into a pair of pants this morning that I haven’t worn in 5 years. And they were well-made, and they still look good, and if I shopped at that store now the clothes would be trash (I’ve been reading about their slowly sinking stock in the papers).
So the way I look at it is I opt out of supporting the fashion industry by keeping — and storing well — as many clothes as I can that I know look and fit well, and shopping as INfrequently as I can. (Almost counterculture in a society built on shopping, I know.)
YMMV.
Yes, yes, YES! Thank you for this list. I’m printing it out and it’s going on my bulletin board here at home and at work. I may even go all guerilla and hang copies in the women’s restrooms at work.
I spent much of last night cleaning out my closet, and while I haven’t tossed or donated the clothes yet, I have gotten them out of my line of sight. I’m not letting a damn pair of pants make me feel bad about myself.
Nature Goddess – That is so awesome.
littlem – The point is that keeping these things in our closets allows us to not fill our closets with clothes that fit our bodies as they are. I think there are special circumstances where cltoehs ought to be kept and stored but we need to stop punishing ourselves with clothes that don’t fit.
Shoe – You are totally welcome and I LOVE the idea of guerilla leaflets appearing all over. *grin*
Respect your body. It is a manifestation of and a conduit for your soul. Ensure that others respect it, too. (Emphasis mine.)
Holy crap. That brought tears to my eyes. Why have I never thought that before?
Seriously, I have not had such a positive thought about my body since my children were born. (My body and I were on great terms during my pregnancy, despite all we went through together – or perhaps because of all we went through together, I suppose. Regardless, it was the first and only time in my life that I felt that friendly toward my own body.)