Why A Weight Neutral Approach Is The Future Of Sustainable Health
Nutrition is an evolving field, with new scientific studies happening on a regular basis. You can find recommendations on what to eat (and what not to eat) in the news headlines or on social media with a simple search. The real key is knowing how to determine fact vs. fiction or pseudoscience so you can navigate the ever-evolving nutrition "landscape" without feeling overwhelmed.
Our registered dietitians are grounded in evidence-based practice and practice through a weight neutral nutritional philosophy that includes all the foods you love.
At the most fundamental level, food is fuel for the body, offering energy and nutrients necessary for daily functioning. But food is so much more than that! Food is cultural, fosters social connection, and can be used as a tool for celebration. Food can enhance so many experiences throughout our lives and should be appreciated for its ability to nourish us physically, emotionally, and mentally.
"Good health" requires you to tend to your physical health and your mental health! Restrictive dieting, counting calories, or tracking your weight on a scale can add unwanted stress, pressure, and guilt around food.
What would it look like if you fostered sustainable nutrition patterns that leave room for flexibility and freedom with food while honoring what feels good and "healthful" for your body?
We understand the pursuit of "health" is a lifelong journey. Learning nutrition principles that are sustainable and in alignment with other values in your life can be a life-altering shift. This is exactly what Experience Momentum’s Nutrition Philosophy is all about.
EM’s Nutrition Philosophy
Our nutritional philosophy focuses on nourishing your body with individualized nutrition solutions based on whole foods, supported by science, and sustainable for a lifetime.
“At Experience Momentum, our nutrition philosophy is rooted in taking evidence-based approaches to behavior change with food, is grounded in anti-diet and weight neutral principles, and centers the client in their journey with food and body,” says Holly (MS, RDN, CD).
Holly continues, “With this philosophy, we as dietitians are set up to empower our clients to foster freedom and flexibility with food as well as to develop tools and understanding about nutrition that works best for them and the goals they have for their lives.”
At EM, Registered Dietitian Nutritionists (RDNs) like Holly help our clients navigate the food industry and understand how to best approach their relationship with food so they can support their goals and feel better – without giving up Friday night margaritas or skipping that slice of cake at their kid’s birthday party.
The latest scientific studies, in combination with our clients' individualized goals, continue to inform our integrative approach to nutrition –which is why our nutrition philosophy is rooted in providing weight neutral solutions that adhere to the Health At Every Size (HAES®) principles.
What is Health At Every Size (HAES®)?
Health At Every Size (HAES®) is a framework for care that supports “size‐acceptance, to end weight discrimination, and to lessen the cultural obsession with weight loss and thinness.” HAES also promotes “balanced eating, life‐enhancing physical activity, and respect for the diversity of body shapes and sizes.” (The Health at Every Size® (HAES®) Approach, 2020)
The principles of HAES® include:
Weight inclusivity
Health enhancement
Eating for well-being
Respectful care
Life-enhancing movement.
ASDAH explains that the principles “promote safe and equitable access to healthcare for people regardless of size, health status, and health goals first and foremost.”
We’ve adopted HAES® principles within our nutrition philosophy because we are committed to being an inclusive and safe space for all people, regardless of body size, and because studies examining the impact of the HAES® approach demonstrate positive health and wellness-related outcomes.
HAES® “education interventions for students have been shown to significantly improve intuitive eating, reliance on hunger signals, reduced cognitive behavioral dieting, and body esteem compared with control and comparison interventions.” (Humphrey et al., 2015)
What Is Weight Inclusive Care?
How we think about, talk about, portray, and address weight and weight loss impacts how we view our individual health. With weight inclusive care, clinicians and providers don’t use a client’s weight to determine how healthy they are because research shows that weight is often (if not always) irrelevant to the care client’s receive.
Instead of focusing on weight, Body Mass Index (BMI), or clothing size, individuals and their providers should approach health through behavior change, mindset work and other steps that aren’t centered around weight loss.
Shifting To A Weight-inclusive Approach
To shift the narrative around weight and weight loss, it’s essential to consider what other approaches or methods can impact health besides analyzing and responding to body size and numbers on a scale. Studies show that people who pursue health-promoting behaviors –without focusing on weight or weight loss–can improve their health.
“High body weight does not equate to poor health and mortality,” and “Research outcomes focused on weight and weight loss are often used as surrogate markers for improved health. As a result, many non-weight‐related factors (which are more difficult to measure and collect) that impact health are ignored.” (Mauldin et al., 2022)
Another study “compared risk of death by a number of healthy habits and by BMI. They found people who engaged in 2, 3, or 4 of the healthy habits had no significant difference in risk of death regardless of BMI status. So engaging in healthy habits has a greater effect on health than BMI.” (The Health at Every Size® (HAES®) Approach, 2020)
A review and analysis also confirm “actionable behaviors such as exercise and dietary quality should be recommended rather than weight loss as a means of prolonging life.” (Murray, 2015)
Therefore, weight should not be the default metric and prioritizing weight loss isn’t the answer. Weight inclusive care takes weight out of the equation (but not necessarily out of the conversation) and shifts the focus to alternative approaches that involve mindset, behavior, and emotional work surrounding food and nutrition.
Weight-neutral approaches focus on the following:
improving patients’ relationships with food
removing moral judgments around food
building awareness of hunger and fullness cues
emphasizing emotional and physical wellness over the pursuit of a lower weight or size,
advocating for the removal of the stigma experienced by persons with larger bodies. (Dugmore et al., 2019)
Supporting individuals in developing positive nutrition behaviors that fit in their lives and support living into their values.
“Promotion of interventions that emphasize a nonrestrictive pattern of eating, body acceptance, and health rather than weight loss should be prioritized.” (Dugmore et al., 2019) These interventions can include “eating in response to hunger and fullness cues, finding enjoyable forms of movement, and body size acceptance.” (Schaefer & Magnuson, 2014)
Shifting the focus to overall wellness rather than weight loss is key. But to make this shift, change needs to happen on multiple levels, including (Mauldin et al., 2022):
Clinicians need to address weight bias and provide bias-free care.
On an environmental level, we need to provide a safe, shame-free environment that reduces the focus on weight.
On a systemic level, we need to increase health access, autonomy, and social justice for all individuals along the entire weight spectrum.
How Weight Inclusive Care Combats Weight Bias
Unfortunately, weight bias is a huge problem in the healthcare and fitness industries. “Weight bias can negatively influence care in the way that practitioners make assumptions about health status based on body size.” (Mauldin et al., 2022)
“When clinicians promote weight loss, they not only contribute to societal weight stigma, they may unintentionally set their patients up for lifelong weight cycling patterns” (Tomiyama et al., 2018), which can “take a toll on mental health” (Boling, 2011) and is “linked to metabolic and cardiovascular disease risk factors.” (Montani et al., 2015)
Most providers believe that “fat people become fat” through neglect of their health and from laziness and are therefore non-compliant with health recommendations. (Phelan et al., 2015) ASDAH expands on this to say, “These beliefs lead to significant health care avoidance by fat people and they lead to poorer quality care when they do seek out health care.”
“Up to 69% of women with higher weight reported experiencing bias from health providers” (Puhl & Brownell, 2006). The study further states that, as a result of weight stigma, patients:
May avoid clinical care or medical treatment
Are less likely to seek recommended screening for some types of cancer (breast, cervical, colorectal)
May present with more advanced, difficult to treat conditions
May withdraw from full participation in the visit, affecting their ability to recall advice or instructions
At EM, we believe in health for every body and health at every size, neither of which has to do the numbers on a scale and everything to do with weight inclusive care and changing one’s behaviors and relationship with food.
How To Eat For Wellbeing & Cultivate A Better Relationship With Food
Food is such an integral part of our lives. It’s important to foster a positive and supportive relationship with food because it sets the stage for how one makes food decisions on a regular basis. By looking at behavior rather than weight, our goal is to promote healthy relationships with the food you eat and the body you inhabit.
Krista (MS, RD) said, “I was working with a client who had a really hard time eating and being around sweets and was intentionally limiting them. As we started to repair her relationship with food, she was finally able to bake cookies with her daughter again and enjoy their delicious creation together!”
Unfortunately, diet culture can perpetuate a negative and stressful relationship between food and the body. Instead of coming from a place of lack (through dieting or elimination), Experience Momentum’s expert team of RDNs and dietitians help you understand what foods you need to fuel your body so you can get the proper nutrition for your lifestyle.
“We see food as one of the tools folks can use to live into their values and maximize their lives, alongside other avenues like sleep, stress management, social connection, exercise, and more,” says Holly, RDN.
We are all individuals with various body types and genetic makeup, which means no body is the same, and no one nutrition plan fits all.
Our nutrition client, S.K., says, “I’ve learned not only what to eat but how to approach my relationship with food to support the goals I have. My RDN never tells me that I can’t or should not eat something, but instead invites me to a discussion to make those choices that feel the healthiest.”
Why Our Nutrition Philosophy Matters
Experience Momentum is an evidence-based clinic, and as research evolves and grows, so do we. As we’ve mentioned, strong evidence indicates a negative correlation with weight centric approaches to health and healthcare.
By adopting and implementing Health At Every Size (HAES®) principles and weight inclusive care, we are focused on shifting and nurturing our client’s behavior towards food so they can achieve their unique goals – without suffering from negative psychological impacts that stem from weight bias, diet culture, and weight-cycling fluctuations.
We’re Redefining What’s Possible
Our goal at Experience Momentum is to rewrite the narrative around weight and health. We want to help you learn how to fuel for life. Whether you’re looking to run a marathon or just walk your dog around the block, you can achieve your dreams without being told what to eat or how much you should weigh. Our goal is to empower you with nutritional education, support, and strategy so you can live the life you choose.
If you’re ready to elevate your nutrition and nourish your body in a way that feels good for you, check out nutritional services, request a Nutrition Discovery Call, or book an appointment with one of our dietitians today!
References:
Boling. (2011). On Learning to Teach Fat Feminism. Feminist Teacher, 21(2), 110. https://doi.org/10.5406/femteacher.21.2.0110
Dugmore, J. A., Winten, C. G., Niven, H. E., & Bauer, J. (2019). Effects of weight-neutral approaches compared with traditional weight-loss approaches on behavioral, physical, and psychological health outcomes: a systematic review and meta-analysis. Nutrition Reviews, 78(1), 39–55. https://doi.org/10.1093/nutrit/nuz020
Humphrey, L., Clifford, D., & Neyman Morris, M. (2015). Health at Every Size College Course Reduces Dieting Behaviors and Improves Intuitive Eating, Body Esteem, and Anti-Fat Attitudes. Journal of Nutrition Education and Behavior, 47(4), 354-60.e1. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jneb.2015.01.008
Mauldin, K., May, M., & Clifford, D. (2022). The consequences of a weight‐centric approach to healthcare: A case for a paradigm shift in how clinicians address body weight. Nutrition in Clinical Practice. https://doi.org/10.1002/ncp.10885
Montani, J.-P. ., Schutz, Y., & Dulloo, A. G. (2015). Dieting and weight cycling as risk factors for cardiometabolic diseases: who is really at risk? Obesity Reviews, 16(S1), 7–18. https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.12251
Murray, M. (2015). Effect of institutional volume on laparoscopic cholecystectomy outcomes: Systematic review and meta-analysis. World Journal of Meta-Analysis, 3(1), 26. https://doi.org/10.13105/wjma.v3.i1.26
Phelan, S. M., Burgess, D. J., Yeazel, M. W., Hellerstedt, W. L., Griffin, J. M., & van Ryn, M. (2015). Impact of weight bias and stigma on quality of care and outcomes for patients with obesity. Obesity Reviews : An Official Journal of the International Association for the Study of Obesity, 16(4), 319–326. https://doi.org/10.1111/obr.12266
Puhl, R. M., & Brownell, K. D. (2006). Confronting and Coping with Weight Stigma: An Investigation of Overweight and Obese Adults*. Obesity, 14(10), 1802–1815. https://doi.org/10.1038/oby.2006.208
Puhl, R. M., & Heuer, C. A. (2009). The Stigma of Obesity: A Review and Update. Obesity, 17(5), 941–964. https://doi.org/10.1038/oby.2008.636
Schaefer, J. T., & Magnuson, A. B. (2014). A Review of Interventions that Promote Eating by Internal Cues. Journal of the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics, 114(5), 734–760. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jand.2013.12.024
The Health at Every Size® (HAES®) Approach. (2020b). ASDAH. https://asdah.org/health-at-every-size-haes-approach/
Tomiyama, A. J., Carr, D., Granberg, E. M., Major, B., Robinson, E., Sutin, A. R., & Brewis, A. (2018). How and why weight stigma drives the obesity “epidemic” and harms health. BMC Medicine, 16(1). https://doi.org/10.1186/s12916-018-1116-5
