Teaching the “Health At Every Size” Paradigm Benefits Future Fitness and Health Professionals

The Health At Every Size (HAES) paradigm views obesity from the philosophy that dieting and weight obsessions are unhealthful and that societal obsession with thinness does not allow for diversity in body shapes. Traditional restrictive dieting has not resulted in sustained weight loss for most people, so HAES encourages adopting healthful lifestyle behaviors to improve health without necessarily losing weight. Members of the Weight Realities Division of the Society for Nutrition Education developed a PowerPoint presentation with accompanying pre- and posttests to clear up misconceptions and explain HAES to health professionals and health students who had worried that HAES sanctioned overeating and weight gain. Here, Brown examines students' understanding of HAES paradigm after they viewed the PowerPoint presentation.