Love Your Body At Every Size, You Have the Power to Make or Break a Healthy Self Image
BOYT: Please share with us a bit about your inspiration to write Health at Every Size.
Linda: I know how painful it is to wake up every morning, to weigh yourself, and to translate the number into feeling ugly and worthless. I so empathize with people stuck in their body-hatred and fears around food. It’s become my life path to help others learn to celebrate all that they are and to appreciate their body’s ability to take good care of them. One of the most exciting things for me is to watch people go through the transition from fearing the weight effects of food to being able to celebrate food as self-care, a way to nourish themselves. There’s nothing quite like savoring a rich chocolate truffle (sans guilt), and I wish everyone could have that experience!
BOYT: For many the pressure to stay thin is shaped by society’s ideals of “thin” or what is attractive. Your book emphasizes that one can live without guilt of choosing pleasurable food and adopt a love for movement. How can one determine a healthy or ideal weight for their body?
Linda: The best way to determine your healthy weight is to forget about it! You named some of the important features of living well: choosing types and amounts of food that help you to feel good, finding activity you enjoy—and I would also add finding other sources of pleasure as another biggie. When people do this, their weight naturally settles in a place that is right for them.
BOYT: Do you find that when a person removes the pressure of being thin the weight actually comes off more easily? If so, what is this related to?
Linda: I’d like to reframe your question as it assumes that there is a way to lose weight easily. Research does not back up that assumption. However, the research does show that when you remove the pressure of being thin, people make better health choices—and they are more able to sustain them—regardless of whether it results in weight loss.
BOYT: Do you advocate any type of diet?
Linda: People use the word diet differently, so before I answer that question, it’s probably best to have a shared definition. If we define a diet as restricting what you eat for the purposes of weight control, the answer is no. Dieting is quite dangerous and counterproductive. It teaches you not to trust yourself. People are much more effective at making nourishing choices when they trust their body to tell them when to eat and when to stop eating—and much more effective at maintaining a healthy weight.
BOYT: What are the emotional consequences of striving for an “ideal” size? Is it actually psychologically harmful to create an ideal that isn’t realistic for one’s body?
Linda: It’s incredibly harmful and really wastes our potential. Most people feel bad about themselves because of the ways they don’t fit cultural beauty standards and it’s a horrible drain of our energy. Imagine if we could harness all the energy we currently put towards self-hatred and trying to change our bodies into trying to change the world.
BOYT: Lastly, if you can offer those struggling with their weight and looking to make a change one piece of advice, what would you say?
Linda: I want to start by reassuring people that freedom is possible. You can feel better about yourself. You can feel attractive, loved, accepted, and vital in the body you have right now. Consider checking out my book, Health at Every Size (www.HAESbook.com). I promise—it won’t ask you to give up on your dreams; it will help you to actually live them. It will give you the tools to live in a body you love, and to focus on things like feeling good and enjoying life—no matter what your weight. And the irony is that this lack of focus on weight management has proven to be the most successful way for people to get to the weight that’s right for them. (The book will show you the scientific evidence that supports these claims.)
About Linda Bacon
Linda Bacon earned her doctorate in physiology, specializing in weight regulation, from the University of California, Davis. She also holds graduate degrees in psychology, specializing in eating disorders and body image, and kinesiology, specializing in exercise metabolism, and has professional experience as a professor, researcher, psychotherapist, exercise physiologist, and consultant.
She is currently a nutrition professor in the Biology Department at City College of San Francisco and serves as an associate nutritionist at the University of California, Davis. Linda also has an active private consulting practice, advising health care professionals and institutions on strategies for implementing Health at Every Size. She is cited regularly in print, radio and television media.
Considered to be a leading expert on weight regulation, Linda has published her ground-breaking research in top scientific journals. Her book, Health at Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight, has received great acclaim and is in its second printing. She is also a popular and compelling public speaker.
With a rare dual perspective combining academic expertise and clinical experience, Linda is adept at providing a link between scientific research and practical application. This enables her to bring authority and compassion to her writing, speaking and teaching. Additionally, she is a healthy, fit and dynamic role model for the ideas she presents. Her personal difficulties with weight regulation and experience in overcoming them provide important perspective and inspiration for her work.
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