About book Health At Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight (2008)
Great information. Even though some of it was a refresher for me, Dr. Bacon presents the science and research findings in a conversational, easy-to-understand manner. Main takeaway - a person's size/weight does not necessarily indicate health. The book was geared toward a weight loss audience, however, and I do wish it were directed a bit more broadly, to cover all people looking to develop a healthier body image. Even so, I definitely got something out of it. Particularly interesting was the discussion on type II diabetes; I learned that the weight gain we associate with eventual development of type II is actually more likely due to a genetic predisposition for insulin resistance. Bacon makes it clear that all people are different, that we are born with certain body characteristics that are simply out of our control and that we, as a society, should strive to be more accepting of size/weight diversity just as we are about height diversity, for example. Another maddening realization - the whole way we measure "overweight" and "obese" is politicized! In the early 90s, the BMI (body mass index) scale that many use to determine whether they are at a "healthy" weight was shifted, LOWERING the cut-off for overweight. It's almost as though we could, at this point, call weight/shape a social construct much like race. This is a fantastic, heartening book.The basic idea is pretty simple: weight in and of itself is not necessarily an indicator of health. There is very little evidence that simply losing weight actually makes anyone healthier, especially since dieting puts stress on the body's regulatory processes. Drastic weight loss methods like bariatric surgery don't appear to actually extend anyone's life expectancy, and by and large have mostly cosmetic results. They are often actively harmful.What Bacon and other Heath At Every Size practitioners advocate is a focus on physical health and an improved relationship with food, rather than a focus on dropping pounds. Learn to move your body because it feels good and it makes you stronger, rather than because you hope it will make you thinner. Pay attention to how what you eat makes you feel, in the long and short term, and eat accordingly. Eat in mindful ways, enjoying a variety of foods. Bacon includes a lot of great information and exercises on how to unpack one's relationship with food, and how to start shifting one's habits. I really think this is a beneficial book for everyone to read, since anxiety about weight is pretty much constant in our culture, no matter how thin you are. It's been a good reminder to me to focus on feeling better and being more active, rather than focusing on weight loss.
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I'm buying this. She wrote the book (literally) defining HAES, and it is a collection staple.
—ashink
