Empowerment and health at every size: A conversation on ethics

Many health professionals continue to recommend restrictive dieting and weight loss despite clear evidence that these approaches are not effective long-term and often lead to harmful weight cycling and disordered eating. The Health At Every Size (HAES) approach offers an alternative, evidence-based paradigm in which we recommend healthy behaviors and body acceptance in a weight-neutral fashion. Meanwhile, evidence emerging from multiple fields indicates that “carrot and stick” approaches are ineffective at facilitating lasting behavioral change. What is the intersection between HAES principles and a client-based, holistic approach to facilitating change? When we approach the project of health education taking as a “first principle” that our most important role as educators is to empower clients/patients in their own transformative journeys, individuals are able to adopt realistic and sustainable behavior and attitude changes that facilitate health and well-being. A HAES approach is the clear and ethical path for health educators once we adopt an evidence-based practice of empowerment rather than focusing on largely unsuccessful health education methods that are based on “compliance” and “adherence.” The presentation will address how we can and should empower clients to make changes that really matter for health and well-being by using a HAES approach.