Small Daily Shifts Toward Health at Every Size®

Jul 24

What Does Practicing HAES® Look Like Day to Day?

HAES® is less about following strict rules and more about changing your relationship with health, food, and your body. Here are some practical ways people may align with HAES® in everyday life.

1. Eat Regularly and Consistently

Skipping meals, “saving calories,” or ignoring hunger often leads to disordered eating symptoms in the long-term like food obsession, binge eating, significant cravings, and frequent emotional eating.

Instead, aim for regular meals and snacks throughout the day. This can look like setting a routine of breakfast, lunch, dinner with snacks in between as need be. Make sure there are 3-4 food groups with meals and 2-3 foods groups with snacks if possible. Pay attention to how you feel in terms of energy, mood, fullness and satisfaction as helpful cues to regulate eating rather than seeking external markers like calories to dictate how to eat. This can also mean eating for practical reasons too, as cue-based eating is not the ONLY guide for eating. Setting intentions for enjoyment and prioritizing time to eat are also meaningful steps towards creating a good relationship with food.

2. Stop Moralizing Food

Certain foods or eating behaviors are often labeled “good,” “bad,” “clean,” “junk” “super” or “cheating.” This can create unnecessary moral hierarchies with food that leads to guilt and shame around eating.

A HAES®-informed mindset recognizes that all foods have a function and can support a balanced eating pattern. Nutrition is complex and nuanced, what is considered healthful or nutritious for someone, might not be for another. Just as nutrition needs differ across the lifespan, what an adult needs does not equate to what a teenager needs. Food is not reduced to just the nutrients offered- macros and micros, but there is consideration that food carries culture significance, provides comfort and pleasure, hinges on access and resources, influences emotions, and often requires a level of convenience in the preparations in the modern world.

HAES® invites us to challenge black-and-white thinking about food. Rather than restricting food, consider what you can add to your diet to improve balance, ease with meal preparations, connect with culture, and take your preferences into account. Instead of labeling food as good or bad, consider practicing neutral language around eating choices.

3. Move Your Body in Ways You Don’t Hate

Movement becomes more sustainable when it isn’t punishment. Physical activity has tremendous impact on improving quality of life, however rigidity and lack of flexibility around it can turn something great into something that harms. When exercise is done with the sole purpose of weight loss, it takes all of the joy out of it. Moving our bodies have impact beyond just changing the body, it’s a way to get into flow, connect with others, build skills, improve sleep, better energy, regulate mood, foster confidence, and celebrate living. By placing all the focus on changing weight or size, we forget to notice the other amazing benefits that exists regardless if appearances change or not.

Consider what is play for you? What movement feels good and realistic?

Try to set an intention to separate movement from earning food. Avoid tracking calories burned or tracking weight frequently. Pay attention to shifts in energy, mood, strength, sleep, mobility, or stress reduction after movement so we are not taking them for granted. Not every workout needs to be intense to matter. It’s important to rest and take breaks regularly.

4. Curate Your Social Media Feed

Comparison is the thief of joy, and diet culture makes it a business. Many people don’t realize how much narrow health and esthetic standards negatively affects their mental health. Social media has created a different reality than what exists in real life. Repeated exposure to narrow standards can distort what we perceive as “normal.”

Some practical steps in creating a peace of mind is to unfollow accounts that promote guilt, fear, or unrealistic body standards. Follow HAES® creators who discuss nutrition with neutrality, movement without rigidity, and have a balanced perspective around what it means to be healthy and well. Diversity the body types you see online. Notice the beauty of all the different bodies that exist in your community and your day-to-day interactions.

5. Learn to Respect Your Body Before You Love It

Body positivity and liberation can feel inaccessible for many people. HAES® often focuses more on body respect than forcing body love.

Respect might look like:

feeding yourself adequately,
wearing comfortable clothes,
going to medical appointments,
resting,
setting boundaries,
or speaking to yourself with less cruelty.

You do not need to adore your body every day to care for it.

6. Notice Diet Culture Messages

Diet culture often disguises itself as “wellness,” “discipline,” or “healthy living.” Notice the big red flags when messages equate thinness with health or morality, glorifies extreme self-control, fearmongers about normal bodily changes throughout lifetime, or treat food solely as nutrients to bio-hack excluding considerations of culture, joy, and connection.

Practicing awareness is the first step to decide to shift away from these messages. It helps people make more intentional choices instead of reacting automatically to fear-based messaging.

Final Thoughts

Health at Every Size® is ultimately about expanding the conversation around health—not abandoning it.

It challenges the idea that weight alone determines health, wellness and worth. It encourages people to pursue health-supportive behaviors in ways that are compassionate, sustainable, and individualized rather than rooted in fear and shame. For many people, HAES® can feel relieving because it creates space to care for the body without constantly fighting it.

And for others, it may challenge long-held beliefs about health, control, and what wellness is “supposed” to look like. Either way, understanding the framework beyond internet soundbites allows for a much more nuanced conversation. All of us can take small, gradual steps towards making peace with food and healing our relationship with our bodies.

Head to Part-1 to learn more about what is Health at Every Size® and common misconceptions.

Disclaimer: the information provided is not intended as medical advice or to diagnose or treat a medical disease. It is strictly for informational purposes. Consult with your medical provider such as a dietitian before implementing any dietary changes, the information provided does not replace medical advice provided by your healthcare provider.

Created with AI assistance by Abby Hsiao, Dietitian

_______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________