Health at Every Size

An article about my work, published by JF&CS ATL.

HAES helps people of all ages - particularly at-risk college students - to heal from poor body image and eating disorders. The onset most commonly happens between the ages of 12-25 years old, and diagnoses are on the rise among college students. Despite the misleading moniker, eating disorders are actually complex mental health issues that have no singular cause. Unique difficulties around the college transition make students vulnerable to developing an eating disorder or struggling with body image in some way; increased workloads and responsibilities, newfound independence coupled with a lack of familiar support systems, and academic and financial pressures can all manifest as difficulties with food. Anecdotal evidence suggests that for Jewish students, the stress caused by increased antisemitism on campus adds another layer of vulnerability. Rivkah Muller, APC, knows these difficulties all too well. In her role as our Be Well with Hillel clinician, Rivkah works with young adult clients both in-office and on campus, counseling clients through anything they bring to the therapy room, from general anxiety and depression to trauma healing. Rivkah regularly works with clients dealing with eating disorders or body image struggles. “Working from the HAES lens empowers clients to embrace body diversity and adopt a more holistic approach to health that focuses on overall well-being rather than weight,” she said. “My approach is rooted in those principles of Health at Every Size, and I work to reduce weight stigma, encourage health-enhancing behaviors, and help clients find joy in self-care practices that are sustainable and fulfilling. Without the HAES approach, clients might remain trapped in harmful weight-centric paradigms, which can undermine their self-esteem and prevent them from achieving a healthier, more balanced relationship with their bodies.”

What is HAES?

HAES is a movement that challenges cultural norms about health and size - norms that contribute to poor body image and eating disorders in people of all ages. (Eating disorders affect an estimated 28.8 million people in the US at some point in their lives.) The HAES principles encourage people to accept their natural size, embrace size diversity, and engage in intuitive eating and movement ─ all while trusting their body’s intuition. HAES founder Lindo Bacon, PhD, has written that HAES is about “taking care of your body without worrying about whether you're ‘too’ big or small… people might think they can tell who's fit and who's not by looking at them, but in fact, it's trickier than that. Saying everybody needs to be the same weight is like saying all people should be the same height." “It is unequivocally true that people can be healthy at every size and in many ways; weight is actually not related to a person’s health at all!” said Rivkah. “The “health risks” we typically associate with people in larger bodies are actually linked to weight cycling , which is when a person repeatedly loses and gains weight, often through dieting or some other attempts at weight control. The most recent research shows that around 95% of diets fail, with the person regaining any lost weight within five years.” To fully understand why the HAES approach is so important, we must see it in context of our culture, or to be more

specific: diet culture. A recent study published by the NIH defines diet culture as a “societal norm that ranks thin bodies as superior to other body types,” and goes on to report that diet culture “influences the development and maintenance of eating disorders.” The same study cites that eating disorders “have the second highest mortality rate of any psychiatric illnesses and are on the rise, with hospitalization rates doubling after the start of COVID-19.”

Hope with HAES

Despite the statistics, Rivkah remains hopeful. “I’ve seen this approach benefit my clients in their pursuit of accepting and loving their bodies, in their critical thinking of how they interact with the world, and in their unique definition of what healthy looks like for each of them,” she said. “It’s an honor to create the non- judgmental and safe space that allows them to explore and improve their relationship with food, movement, self- image, the struggles of college, and the transition to adulthood.”