12 Steps to HAES
12 Steps to Health At Every Size {HAES}
By: Peggy Elam, Ph.D.
1. Stop weighing yourself. Shift your focus from weight & body fat to healthy
behaviors & fitness.
2. Fire the food & body police.
3. Stop critical self-talk. Would you speak to a friend or loved one the way you do to your body?
4. Increase positive talk. Talk to & treat yourself & your body the way you would a cherished friend, loved one, or child.
5. Clean out your closets. Give or throw away everything that doesn’t fit, is
uncomfortable, or that you haven’t worn in years. Fill your closets with beautiful,
comfortable clothing in your present size.
6. Eat well & mindfully. Enjoy your food. Let nothing be off-limits. There are no
forbidden foods. Don’t restrict what you eat in order to lose weight, as those
behaviours and attitudes have negative physical and emotional consequences.
Focus instead on eating & living well.
7. Be active. Find, create, or discover activities that you enjoy, and engage in them regularly.
8. Listen to your body. It is the means by which your subconscious communicates with you. No one can discern your body’s messages better than you can, although you may need to re-learn its language. Pay attention to “gut feelings.”
9. Respect your body. It is a manifestation of and a conduit for your soul. Ensure that others respect it, too.
10. Reconnect mind & body.Increase your body awareness through yoga, walking meditation, Tai Chi,Qi Gong, massage & bodywork, and/or movement therapy (such asFeldenkrais). Focus on what your body can do and how good it can feel.
11. Address any emotional eating independent of weight change.
12. Invest in and support yourself rather than the weight loss, pharmaceutical, healthcare, fashion, or beauty industries.
I love these steps because they are a concrete guide to treating yourself – your SELF and your body – well. It’s good advice no matter what size you wear and no matter what physical condition you are in. Because HAES is individual. It doesn’t judge according to “the ideal.” That’s why it is health at EVERY size.
Isn’t it great when things are simple like that?
"… A human activity having for its purpose the transmission of the highest and best feelings to which men have risen." (on the purpose of art).
Leo Tolstoy
"Motivation is what gets you started. Habit is what keeps you going."
Jim Rohn
"Enjoyment is not a goal; it is a feeling that accompanies important ongoing activity."
Paul Goodman
Cleaning our closets has a dual purpose. In feng shui terms it removes old stale energy, which symbolically will be reflected in one’s physical body.
Warning Comment
Yes, there are a lot of good mentally healthy attitudes here.
Warning Comment
I LOVE this entry! :o) !! I have never been happier in my life as I’ve been since I stopped worrying about how much I weigh or what size I wear! One thing that’s helped is being a part of the Wiccan/pagan community, because women in this group are generally more accepting of their bodies than “the average woman in society.” They might talk and think about eating HEALTHY but there is very little talk about losing weight or general body-dissatisfaction. And it is so much easier to be happy with one’s body when one gets to be around others who are happy with their bodies. :o) !! hugs, Nicky
Warning Comment
I really like this list. I intend to copy it, if you don’t mind, and read it regularly to remind myself what reality is… Thank you for posting it!
Warning Comment
I think the latest idea is that dieting doesn’t work. Just eat everything you want, but eat it very slowly and stop when you’re full up and empty the remains of your plate in the bin!
Warning Comment
Having been told yesterday that I have to restrict, and having decided that… I’m not in to restricting any more, I really like point No. 6.
Warning Comment
this is such an uplifting entry! very good attitude to have. i will have to print this out and put it somewhere i can read it every morning. take care,
Warning Comment
Yay for HAES! I found the idea by accident, but boy does it make sense. I think the second item in the list is key – not just mentally firing them but actually enforcing that boundary. I’ve started to sort of enjoy questioning people when they feel the need to comment on my food choices, particularly. A possible corollary to both 2 and 3 is to find resources – online or in your community – that reinforce the HAES message. There are a couple of blogs on my daily reading list for the HAES/body acceptance perspective they reinforce.
Warning Comment
I really like this. It is very similar to what I hear every week in WW. 🙂
Warning Comment