February 10, 2023 — We are in the midst of a fundamental change in the understanding of obesity. Years of hand-wringing – with urgent calls to eat less and move more – promoted weight stigma more than it reduced obesity prevalence. To counter this, the trademarked Health at Every Size (HAES) movement rose up to call out the mistake […]
October 15, 2022 — In GQ recently, Will Peischel asked if the world is ready for extremely effective weight-loss drugs. Of course, the simple answer is yes and no. First of all, it’s clear enough that most people don’t really understand these drugs or the condition they treat. Peischel makes that clear right up front when he calls them […]
June 26, 2022 — Health at Every Size® is both an idea and a trademark. The trademark is owned by the Association for Size Diversity and Health. The idea is all about a view of health independent of a person’s weight. So folks who travel in the HAES® orbit take a dim view of the word obesity – even […]
October 20, 2020 — Do dietitians who align themselves with Health at Every Size (HAES, a registered trademark) have less weight bias? Does weight bias training help? New research presented at FNCE aimed to find out. The answers were a bit mixed, though. It all depends upon whether you look at explicit or implicit bias. If a dietitian was […]
October 18, 2020 — At FNCE yesterday, weight bias was very much on the minds of 1,401 participants. That’s how many nutrition professionals tuned into the hour-long session we moderated. Colleen Tewksbury, Kellene Isom, and Rebecca Pearl offered impressive insights on challenging weight bias. Clearly, weight bias is all around us. In fact, a new study finds that 57 […]
June 27, 2020 — Early in the pandemic, CDC identified a higher risk for severe symptoms with COVID-19 in people with severe obesity. This week, the agency broadened its guidance to include all individuals with a BMI of 30 or greater. This is the epidemiologic benchmark for obesity – severe or not. What’s more, it’s a benchmark that describes […]
May 23, 2020 — On Friday, the BMJ released the largest peer-reviewed prospective study of risk factors for severe symptoms or death with COVID-19 to date. Age over 50, being male, obesity, and other chronic diseases stand out as important risk factors. By now, this is a pattern that is quite familiar. But it does more than just make […]
April 6, 2020 — It’s an understandable reaction. In various ways, a few people tell us that we should not discuss the risk of bad outcomes in people with obesity and a coronavirus infection. “It can contribute to anti-fat attitudes at a time when many marginalised groups of people are already being thrown under the bus in discussions around […]
March 9, 2020 — Writing and reaching and talking with so many people as we do, we have the privilege to meet some really talented individuals. We recently met up with one such person, Melissa Joy Dobbins, in Budapest, of all places. Dobbins is a talented dietitian who has created one of the most successful podcasts about nutrition and […]
November 19, 2019 — Bias, beliefs, and moral convictions live alongside the human capacity to rationalize just about anything. Some people see obesity as a moral failure. They see obesity treatment as a moral hazard. Others regard it as a non-issue. Merely a symptom of moral panic. But despite – or perhaps because of – all these conflicting views, […]
