This month, I am featuring the book Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight by Linda Bacon, PhD. First off, I just love it when people’s names go along with their profession and I think having the last name Bacon when you write about fatphobia and learning to adopt a healthy lifestyle is a pretty fantastic coincidence.
There are a lot of compelling reasons for picking up this book beyond the author’s fun last name. The Health at Every Size movement combined with Intuitive Eating principles is the approach I take with clients who struggle with body image issues and their relationship to food. Diet culture is fraught with problems for both mental and physical health.
Bacon does a great job of explaining the research and science behind why diets do not work long term. Shifting one’s goals from weight loss to body acceptance and improving health can go a long way to reducing shame and self-loathing. It can also increase the likelihood that you will stick with healthy behaviors like moving your body more and listen to the signals your body is sending you about what and how much to eat.
I will refrain from climbing up onto a soapbox myself because Bacon is so great at explaining the need for a paradigm shift. If you are skeptical about the Health at Every Size movement, that’s reasonable. The idea that you will be happier and healthier the thinner you are is so ingrained into our culture that questioning it seems blasphemous.
Following the principles in this book will help you develop a healthier relationship with food and your body. If you read the book and love it, you can also check out the follow-up book Body Respect: What Conventional Health Books Get Wrong, Leave Out, and Just Plain Fail to Understand about Weight, co-authored by dietician Lucy Aphramor.