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Body Respect: What Conventional Health Books Get Wrong, Leave Out, and Just Plain Fail to Understand about Weight
Mainstream health science has let you down.
Weight loss is not the key to health, diet and exercise are not effective weight-loss strategies and fatness is not a death sentence.
You've heard it there's a global health crisis, and, unless we make some changes, we're in trouble. That much is true—but the epidemic is NOT obesity. The real crisis lies in the toxic stigma placed on certain bodies and the impact of living with inequality—not the numbers on a scale. In a mad dash to shrink our bodies, many of us get so caught up in searching for the perfect diet, exercise program, or surgical technique that we lose sight of our original improved health and well-being. Popular methods for weight loss don't get us there and lead many people to feel like failures when they can't match unattainable body standards. It's time for a cease-fire in the war against obesity.
Dr. Linda Bacon and Dr. Lucy Aphramor's Body Respect debunks common myths about weight, including the misconceptions that BMI can accurately measure health, that fatness necessarily leads to disease, and that dieting will improve health. They also help make sense of how poverty and oppression—such as racism, homophobia, and classism—affect life opportunity, self-worth, and even influence metabolism.
Body insecurity is rampant, and it doesn't have to be. It's time to overcome our culture's shame and distress about weight, to get real about inequalities and health, and to show every body respect.
Weight loss is not the key to health, diet and exercise are not effective weight-loss strategies and fatness is not a death sentence.
You've heard it there's a global health crisis, and, unless we make some changes, we're in trouble. That much is true—but the epidemic is NOT obesity. The real crisis lies in the toxic stigma placed on certain bodies and the impact of living with inequality—not the numbers on a scale. In a mad dash to shrink our bodies, many of us get so caught up in searching for the perfect diet, exercise program, or surgical technique that we lose sight of our original improved health and well-being. Popular methods for weight loss don't get us there and lead many people to feel like failures when they can't match unattainable body standards. It's time for a cease-fire in the war against obesity.
Dr. Linda Bacon and Dr. Lucy Aphramor's Body Respect debunks common myths about weight, including the misconceptions that BMI can accurately measure health, that fatness necessarily leads to disease, and that dieting will improve health. They also help make sense of how poverty and oppression—such as racism, homophobia, and classism—affect life opportunity, self-worth, and even influence metabolism.
Body insecurity is rampant, and it doesn't have to be. It's time to overcome our culture's shame and distress about weight, to get real about inequalities and health, and to show every body respect.
232 pages, Paperback
First published September 2, 2014
357 people are currently reading
5920 people want to read
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Displaying 1 - 30 of 196 reviews
September 16, 2014
I read the book Body Respect and found myself highlighting every other page. I enjoyed it so much that I’m buying myself a copy to keep on my nightstand. I should buy several copies for work, home, traveling, and meeting new people so that I can place them in my environment strategically, like emergency exits and fire extinguishers.
I have gained 10 pounds since I stopped dieting two years ago. It feels like a million. I’m short, so I’m convinced it looks like a million, too. I sometimes feel so uncomfortable in my own skin, ugly and undesirable. I hate taking pictures of myself or meeting people on a good day. Now, the idea makes me short of breath.
Letting go of dieting often feels like the worst mistake I ever made until I read books like this one and am offered hope and validation. It’s enough to keep trying, even when I’d rather give up, and to remind me that I am more than the size of my clothing.
HAES does not claim that everyone is at a healthy weight. What it does do is ask for respect and help people shift their focus away from changing their size to enhancing their self-care behaviors–so they let weight fall where it may naturally. It also keeps the role of lifestyle as a risk factor for disease in perspective.
Body Respect
The Health at Every Size Manifesto
Refuse to fight in an unjust war. Join the new peace movement:
“Health at Every Size” (HAES). HAES acknowledges that well-being and healthy habits are more important than any number on the scale. Participating is simple:
1. Accept your size.
Love and appreciate the body you have. Self-acceptance empowers you to move on and make positive changes.
2. Trust yourself.
We all have internal systems designed to keep us healthy—and at a healthy weight. Support your body in naturally finding its appropriate weight by honoring its signals of hunger, fullness, and appetite.
3. Adopt healthy lifestyle habits.
Develop and nurture connections with others and look for purpose and meaning in your life. Fulfilling your social, emotional, and spiritual needs restores food to its rightful place as a source of nourishment and pleasure.
Find the joy in moving your body and becoming more physically vital in your everyday life.
Eat when you’re hungry, stop when you’re full, and seek out pleasurable and satisfying foods.
Tailor your tastes so that you enjoy more nutritious foods, staying mindful that there is plenty of room for less nutritious choices in the context of an overall healthy diet and
lifestyle.
4. Embrace size diversity.
Humans come in a variety of sizes and shapes. Open to the beauty found across the spectrum and support others in recognizing their unique attractiveness.
It’s what I’ve been working at for years, but I still can’t seem to get it together. It amazes me that I can achieve so much in so many areas of my life but still completely and utter fail when it comes to my weight and my body.
We cannot emphasize enough the value in lightening up around the judgment you may feel about your body and your weight. The judgment evokes despair as you believe there is something wrong with you, meaning you are not entitled to the food that you want, and you need to deprive yourself as punishment or remedy for your “overweight.”
I have gained 10 pounds since I stopped dieting two years ago. It feels like a million. I’m short, so I’m convinced it looks like a million, too. I sometimes feel so uncomfortable in my own skin, ugly and undesirable. I hate taking pictures of myself or meeting people on a good day. Now, the idea makes me short of breath.
Letting go of dieting often feels like the worst mistake I ever made until I read books like this one and am offered hope and validation. It’s enough to keep trying, even when I’d rather give up, and to remind me that I am more than the size of my clothing.
It can be hard to accept your body and build a coherent sense of identity when you are bombarded with messages that you need to change, so remember to show yourself compassion. The more you differ–and permit yourself to differ–from the social ideal, the more alone you may feel, at least at first. Conforming to media-imposed beauty standards and socially imposed gender norms is a path of least resistance and may seem easier than challenging them. But is it really easier? In the long run, you will more likely find peace in your body and contentment by throwing over those outwardly determined values and setting up your own yardsticks for attractiveness and value.
May 22, 2017
This book, like Linda Bacon's phenomenal book Health At Every Size, explains why dieting (as in, attempts at weight loss) is pointless. Sustained weight loss just doesn't happen for most people, authors Linda Bacon and Lucy Aphramor argue. We did not evolve to lose weight and keep it off. Sure, a few people can do it. But most of us (*raises hand*) can't. Not won't. Can't.
The solution to your "weight problem," these ladies argue, is: Stop trying to lose weight. Whatever your weight is, practicing Health At Every Size (which means engaging in healthy behaviors without the goal of losing weight) will result in improved health.
If you've read Health At Every Size and are thinking Body Respect sounds like a rehash, it's not. Health At Every Size is a how-to on all things HAES (at an individual level). But Body Respect tackles a whole new frontier: health as a result of society, environment, and stigma. This second volume, much more than the first, is a call to action. Body Respect calls out the discrimination and hatred suffered by fat people and suggests, among other things, that perhaps the stress of being a fat person who lives in a very fatphobic culture is the reason for, or at least a strong contributor to, the illnesses we see in our fat people.
This is an extremely timely book. Right now, the government is waging a war against "obesity." Right now, pharmaceutical companies are being allowed to market poorly researched weight loss drugs that are addictive, cause hallucinations, and impair motor skills, among a host of other things--all so you can lose a little weight that you'll gain right back. And insurance companies are covering it! Every other commercial on the radio encourages you to consider bariatric surgery. Few people feel comfortable in their skin. Fat people feel unworthy of respect or have to fight to get it, while thin people live in fear of becoming fat.
Body Respect is a voice of reason crying out from a health-mad cacophony of bad science and industries that care about your money, not you.
The solution to your "weight problem," these ladies argue, is: Stop trying to lose weight. Whatever your weight is, practicing Health At Every Size (which means engaging in healthy behaviors without the goal of losing weight) will result in improved health.
If you've read Health At Every Size and are thinking Body Respect sounds like a rehash, it's not. Health At Every Size is a how-to on all things HAES (at an individual level). But Body Respect tackles a whole new frontier: health as a result of society, environment, and stigma. This second volume, much more than the first, is a call to action. Body Respect calls out the discrimination and hatred suffered by fat people and suggests, among other things, that perhaps the stress of being a fat person who lives in a very fatphobic culture is the reason for, or at least a strong contributor to, the illnesses we see in our fat people.
This is an extremely timely book. Right now, the government is waging a war against "obesity." Right now, pharmaceutical companies are being allowed to market poorly researched weight loss drugs that are addictive, cause hallucinations, and impair motor skills, among a host of other things--all so you can lose a little weight that you'll gain right back. And insurance companies are covering it! Every other commercial on the radio encourages you to consider bariatric surgery. Few people feel comfortable in their skin. Fat people feel unworthy of respect or have to fight to get it, while thin people live in fear of becoming fat.
Body Respect is a voice of reason crying out from a health-mad cacophony of bad science and industries that care about your money, not you.
May 3, 2019
Some people seem to fundamentally misunderstand what HAES is, I see this on social media all the time. It is about self-care, about moving away from negative self-criticism and unhelpful judgmental thoughts which fill eating and exercise behaviours with feelings of obligation and guilt, and about realising that everyone is worthy of respect and being treated as a human being - not just those who attain the socially accepted standards. It is not about "glorifying obesity" or whatever rubbish someone is saying it is. I thought it was an interesting read which made me think about my attitude to food and eating.
January 20, 2016
Lots of good advice here. Sometimes reading these types of books, I get cranky because I think they're going to tell me to stop reading or watching TV while I'm eating, and unless I'm with other people I hate just sitting there and eating. But it didn't so I was happy with that.
Of course for me I've been involved with fat acceptance for a long time, so some of it was familiar, but it's still good to be reminded, and I could definitely be doing better with my Health at Every Size practice. Everything's a journey.
Of course for me I've been involved with fat acceptance for a long time, so some of it was familiar, but it's still good to be reminded, and I could definitely be doing better with my Health at Every Size practice. Everything's a journey.
July 26, 2019
Some books make me angry. Others exasperate me. Occasionally I'll be so frustrated I'll throw one across the room. But this one managed something new: I got halfway through, and felt betrayed.
I read and enjoyed Linda Bacon's previous book, Health at Every Size (HAES), and was looking forward to hearing what she had to say about how the science surrounding weight intersected with questions of personal/political experience. And indeed, the chapters she wrote are excellent - and the only thing that saved this from being a 1-star "did not finish".
The first section is a whirlwind tour through the science of fat and weight loss. While not much was new to me as someone who's followed fat acceptance communities for years, the claims are heavily cited and chock full of fascinating tidbits. The second section is a discussion of the personal and political aspects that distinguish a HAES approach to understanding bodies. Again, claims are backed up with citations and discussed in a nuanced way.
Section three is where it all falls apart. It's clear these are the chapters Lucy Aphramor wrote - the voice changes entirely. Whereas the sections before used a first-person "we" speaking to an audience assumed to have a sophisticated vocabulary and an ability to grasp complex scientific concepts with minimal explanation, these chapters speak to the audience directly with a second-person "you" and oversimplify concepts to a level a college freshman would find patronizing.
There is almost nothing new in section three, and hardly anything is cited. It's the same common knowledge (pseudo)science that you'll find in any diet or nutrition self-help book - it just happens to say "you'll feel better" instead of "you'll lose weight." Eating disorders are explained as primarily a self-esteem issue, with genetics mentioned only in an afterthought (even though they may account for 50% or more of the variability in occurrence). It's as though chapters 6-9 are a separate article on basic self care in a HAES context, shoved in the middle of an otherwise quite good book. The two don't seem to connect to each other at all, despite constantly cross-referencing each other.
My advice: If you must read this book, skip chapters 6-9. Go check out the Fat Nutritionist's blog instead - she addresses the issues I was hoping to see covered here.
I read and enjoyed Linda Bacon's previous book, Health at Every Size (HAES), and was looking forward to hearing what she had to say about how the science surrounding weight intersected with questions of personal/political experience. And indeed, the chapters she wrote are excellent - and the only thing that saved this from being a 1-star "did not finish".
The first section is a whirlwind tour through the science of fat and weight loss. While not much was new to me as someone who's followed fat acceptance communities for years, the claims are heavily cited and chock full of fascinating tidbits. The second section is a discussion of the personal and political aspects that distinguish a HAES approach to understanding bodies. Again, claims are backed up with citations and discussed in a nuanced way.
Section three is where it all falls apart. It's clear these are the chapters Lucy Aphramor wrote - the voice changes entirely. Whereas the sections before used a first-person "we" speaking to an audience assumed to have a sophisticated vocabulary and an ability to grasp complex scientific concepts with minimal explanation, these chapters speak to the audience directly with a second-person "you" and oversimplify concepts to a level a college freshman would find patronizing.
There is almost nothing new in section three, and hardly anything is cited. It's the same common knowledge (pseudo)science that you'll find in any diet or nutrition self-help book - it just happens to say "you'll feel better" instead of "you'll lose weight." Eating disorders are explained as primarily a self-esteem issue, with genetics mentioned only in an afterthought (even though they may account for 50% or more of the variability in occurrence). It's as though chapters 6-9 are a separate article on basic self care in a HAES context, shoved in the middle of an otherwise quite good book. The two don't seem to connect to each other at all, despite constantly cross-referencing each other.
My advice: If you must read this book, skip chapters 6-9. Go check out the Fat Nutritionist's blog instead - she addresses the issues I was hoping to see covered here.
December 22, 2020
I have read Health at Every Size and am extremely on board with the HAES movement, but this book just seemed like it was written very hastily without a clear sense of a target audience, and that made it hard to read it. Have you ever had a conversation with someone you agree with, but they keep talking to you as if they're arguing with you and you're trying to tell them "No, I agree with you, you don't have to have an argument with me about this" but they won't listen? That's kinda what it felt like reading this, and in some cases it was such a hard push that it made me even question whether I really did agree with them. Overall I would say this material has been addressed better, elsewhere; it's been a long time since I read the original HAES book but my memory of it is that it was better.
Read
May 1, 2016"Remember, weight is not a measure of someone's worth."
I absolutely love this book. I originally started reading this alongside one of my clients as we work through some body image related content. It has given me a new perspective on the way I view weight in our society. Not only is this extremely helpful for my work with clients, but also for myself, personally, in helping change the way I relate to food and my self-esteem. I highly recommend.
I absolutely love this book. I originally started reading this alongside one of my clients as we work through some body image related content. It has given me a new perspective on the way I view weight in our society. Not only is this extremely helpful for my work with clients, but also for myself, personally, in helping change the way I relate to food and my self-esteem. I highly recommend.
January 29, 2015
Health at Every Size as social justice. So good. Just read chapter 1, "Facts and Fiction about Fatness." Actually, you could just read the section within chapter 1 called "Myth #1: Fatness Leads to Decreased Longevity" to see how even the CDC cannot separate facts from weight bias. It's pretty outrageous fear-mongering.
March 10, 2018
Can’t recommend this book enough. Turns everything we think we know about health/weight on its head. Fascinating and really important read. Plus, the theme of self-compassion was woven nicely through the book. More thought provoking and encouraging than any wellness book I’ve read in years.
March 30, 2023
My skepticism makes me feel that this book was too idealistic. But overall I felt that the message, an important one, was clearly explained and reasoned. And therefore I’d highly recommend
September 26, 2019
I have mixed feelings about this book, which I picked up on the recommendation of someone in my community. I was hoping to find more information about intuitive eating, but this book seems to be more of an all-encompassing overview of a previous book written by one of the authors, Health At Every Size.
Let's get this straight: I do agree with the body positivity aspects of this book. I hate diet culture, and I hate what it's done to people I know. I am so tired of fixating on how many calories this or that has, and the cycle of guilty binging and "noble" deprivation. I don't believe that any food is "bad." Food is what it is, it's fuel. Some of it is energy-dense, some nutritionally-dense, and I think there's a place for both of those. Furthermore, I assert that no one is "bad" for eating anything, whether it is a lot or a little. I absolutely agree that there is a wider range of body types that sorely lack representation in media. Lastly, I endorse that stress caused by racism, sexism, poverty, etc. is definitely real, and has real health detriments to those who are struggling against these forces.
That being said, something about the way the arguments for listening to the authors' point of view were made just didn't jive well with me. At one point, as I was checking the sources in the back of the book, sometimes, the authors just cited their own previous works (though, admittedly, the chapter is called "personally speaking", so...). Is there really no one else out there who's making these statements and investigating these issues besides the authors? To me, that seems suspect.
While I appreciated that there were citations made to other papers, I just felt like the arguments were not strongly made against the status quo. Maybe what I was looking for was a longer, more in-depth debunking of diet culture and America's obsession with the health of fat people, like the sort of thing one would read in an exposé sort of work. Instead, it felt like I got one or two crumbs of something, and then repeated references to "as we showed earlier," etc., and it wasn't enough.
Things that challenged me or made me think: the assertion that science is not "value-free," and that Calories In, Calories Out isn't necessarily accurate (e.g. calorie counting as an intentional weight loss tactic). The argument that two people could eat the same exact food but each person could possibly absorb a different amount of energy from that food has me wondering how much we've studied this aspect, as well as those who process that energy differently (one person turning the energy into heat, the other into fat stores, as part of one example). Re: the "science is not value-free" argument, I could feel my hackles rising, because fringe actors/movements will often encourage skepticism of the status quo as a persuasion tactic (read: Fox News, anti-vaxxers, MLM people, etc.), so I was wondering what I was getting into. At times, it felt unclear to me why science is being used as the authors' defense, when they just finished making the statement that science isn't value-free (i.e. instilling some doubt as to the nature of science, yet the reader should accept the authors' arguments because they are scientific - a sort of appeal to authority).
Regardless, even if all of the opening arguments in the first few chapters were bunk (and I'm not necessarily saying they are, but I would like some more substance), I'd still say that this book isn't necessarily harmful, because at its heart, it encourages people to practice self-love and be gentle to themselves. Stop dieting. I truly believe that it is bad for people. Move your body because it's a social opportunity, it's fun, or it gets you out of the house, not because it's "to burn calories." Think about what life could mean if you didn't spend so much of it at war with your own body. Think about all of the things you could accomplish with that internal energy back. I'm all about that.
In conclusion, I felt so-so about parts of this book, but I loved the central advice of it. I think this book is a good kick-off point for further research to those who are contemplating alternative methods to achieving a healthier (not perfect, but more wholesome and good for you!) lifestyle.
Let's get this straight: I do agree with the body positivity aspects of this book. I hate diet culture, and I hate what it's done to people I know. I am so tired of fixating on how many calories this or that has, and the cycle of guilty binging and "noble" deprivation. I don't believe that any food is "bad." Food is what it is, it's fuel. Some of it is energy-dense, some nutritionally-dense, and I think there's a place for both of those. Furthermore, I assert that no one is "bad" for eating anything, whether it is a lot or a little. I absolutely agree that there is a wider range of body types that sorely lack representation in media. Lastly, I endorse that stress caused by racism, sexism, poverty, etc. is definitely real, and has real health detriments to those who are struggling against these forces.
That being said, something about the way the arguments for listening to the authors' point of view were made just didn't jive well with me. At one point, as I was checking the sources in the back of the book, sometimes, the authors just cited their own previous works (though, admittedly, the chapter is called "personally speaking", so...). Is there really no one else out there who's making these statements and investigating these issues besides the authors? To me, that seems suspect.
While I appreciated that there were citations made to other papers, I just felt like the arguments were not strongly made against the status quo. Maybe what I was looking for was a longer, more in-depth debunking of diet culture and America's obsession with the health of fat people, like the sort of thing one would read in an exposé sort of work. Instead, it felt like I got one or two crumbs of something, and then repeated references to "as we showed earlier," etc., and it wasn't enough.
Things that challenged me or made me think: the assertion that science is not "value-free," and that Calories In, Calories Out isn't necessarily accurate (e.g. calorie counting as an intentional weight loss tactic). The argument that two people could eat the same exact food but each person could possibly absorb a different amount of energy from that food has me wondering how much we've studied this aspect, as well as those who process that energy differently (one person turning the energy into heat, the other into fat stores, as part of one example). Re: the "science is not value-free" argument, I could feel my hackles rising, because fringe actors/movements will often encourage skepticism of the status quo as a persuasion tactic (read: Fox News, anti-vaxxers, MLM people, etc.), so I was wondering what I was getting into. At times, it felt unclear to me why science is being used as the authors' defense, when they just finished making the statement that science isn't value-free (i.e. instilling some doubt as to the nature of science, yet the reader should accept the authors' arguments because they are scientific - a sort of appeal to authority).
Regardless, even if all of the opening arguments in the first few chapters were bunk (and I'm not necessarily saying they are, but I would like some more substance), I'd still say that this book isn't necessarily harmful, because at its heart, it encourages people to practice self-love and be gentle to themselves. Stop dieting. I truly believe that it is bad for people. Move your body because it's a social opportunity, it's fun, or it gets you out of the house, not because it's "to burn calories." Think about what life could mean if you didn't spend so much of it at war with your own body. Think about all of the things you could accomplish with that internal energy back. I'm all about that.
In conclusion, I felt so-so about parts of this book, but I loved the central advice of it. I think this book is a good kick-off point for further research to those who are contemplating alternative methods to achieving a healthier (not perfect, but more wholesome and good for you!) lifestyle.
June 3, 2021
Really enjoyed this for class, great to read to learn about health at every size and concepts regarding weight stigma!
August 8, 2019
I would give this book 5 stars for the basic premise that dieting doesn't work and people should work on accepting their body and trying to be as healthy as possible in that body. Linda Bacon's previous book Health at Every Size is ground-breaking. The book itself is good but not great due to the unevenness of the chapters. I suspect it is because there are two authors. At times, I had trouble with the strident tone regarding social injustice. While my sympathies lean this way, I wasn't sure it belonged in a self-help book. But I do applaud the authors for striking against the prevailing wisdom. After you've read this, you can't help but be frustrated with all the diet ads, but even worse all the reports about medical approaches to obesity. Another book with a similar theme is Intuitive Eating. My world view was profoundly moved by this one and I found the tone much more gentle.
March 11, 2018
I felt validated by this book, and mislead by it. Some of the advice or theories, that people treat their bodies better if they like them, and worse if they hate them, are so obviously sound and sensible, it is eye opening. Others, such as that overweight people don't eat more than non-overweight people are less convincing - it is not what people say when they have lost weight. Also the evidence given for that was a study so unscientific and affected by, what is it called, the observer paradox? that it made me wonder how the authors expect anyone to respect their book when it includes such studies.
March 10, 2021
It's hard to rate this, I am not truly the intended audience (I am thin) and it was difficult to try to read most arguments 'backwards'. The principles of HAES apply to any body type, of course, but the book is written with the assumption that most readers are fat.
Either way, a great book to read if you want to challenge assumptions you will have grown used to and absorbed over the years simply from existing in our time & culture.
I am not necessarily a hundred percent convinced of the ideas in this book, mostly because I do not have the knowledge (and time) to dive into the research and figure out whether or not it's all sound.
Either way, a great book to read if you want to challenge assumptions you will have grown used to and absorbed over the years simply from existing in our time & culture.
I am not necessarily a hundred percent convinced of the ideas in this book, mostly because I do not have the knowledge (and time) to dive into the research and figure out whether or not it's all sound.
November 1, 2021
Had so much potential. The first half is certainly radical in a great way; focuses on the social determinants of health and the biology of why intentional weight loss worsens our health. But then the second half is sooooo wellness diet/healthism bullshit… there are chapters on optimal nutrition, exercise, and even EMOTIONAL EATING!!!!!!! Bad bad bad and potentially very triggering!!! Proceed with caution…
I am pretty disappointed. Also curious to know if the authors have new views on these topics in 2021? The edition I read was 2014 so maybe that’s why it sucked
I am pretty disappointed. Also curious to know if the authors have new views on these topics in 2021? The edition I read was 2014 so maybe that’s why it sucked
November 2, 2019
really good place to start with HAES. All providers should read something similar, have at least a basic understanding of the ideas, and be prepared to accept it as a part of some of their patients’ worldviews that they’re responsible for trying to find treatment options in harmony with, whether or not the provider herself buys in
May 25, 2020
Very accessible read on the Health at Every Size Movement. I enjoyed it. The biggest difference from the Health at Every Size Book by Linda Bacon is a more politicized nature, and a discussion of social determinants regarding health. There was certainly a lot of overlap but I didn't mind.
April 5, 2022
Shows the problem with diet culture and debunks the idea that weight loss will fix everything. Part science and myth busting, part self-help to get you into the health at every size movement (also called intuitive eating).
September 18, 2019
Good follow up to HAES with updated research. Some of the suggestions fell a bit flat (park farther away to get more steps in, etc) but overall a good basic resource for HAES and initiative eating.
September 9, 2020
Absolute must read for anyone interesting in health and weight. A mixture of science, social justice, and compassionate practices.
March 1, 2021
Body Respect reminds us that what we need most from ourselves, from society, and from our health providers is just that: respect. However, for many respect comes contingent on weight and body size. Fat phobia and weight stigma are incredibly harmful, yet very prevalent in health care (and of course society as a whole). The authors explain how that is harmful, give an over view of Health At Every Size, and emphasize the importance of trusting, loving, nourishing, and respect our bodies- regardless of the number on the scale.
February 13, 2025
This book has a valuable message about the impact of stress, trauma, race, opression, and social status on our health. As the authors explain, our society is too busy blaming what we weigh and the arbitrary BMI on our health.
I found a little lack in speaking to the impact of hustle culture on our health. Maybe that’s for another book.
Lindo’s words outside this book that reek with prejudice and discrimination bother me.
I found a little lack in speaking to the impact of hustle culture on our health. Maybe that’s for another book.
Lindo’s words outside this book that reek with prejudice and discrimination bother me.
January 2, 2023
First audiobook of the year. A good listen about foundations of Health at Every Size and how that connects with intuitive eating. A good bulwark against destructive and self hating “healthy” New Year’s resolutions.
February 8, 2021
An essential anti-diet read, life changing.
November 12, 2021
Very readable/accessible, but pretty basic. I think a good beginner read but not much new for those who've been reading/learning about HAES and Intuitive Eating for a while.
April 30, 2023
Very helpful.
November 29, 2021
this book was healing to my soul 😌
December 14, 2020
Interesting content but found it a bit dry at times. Would appeal to people interested in the science untangling weight loss = health. I may try reading it again as it was easy to get through.
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