Linda Bacon - Health At Every Size: The Surprising Truth About Your Weight

Table of Contents

Praise for Health at Every Size

Health at Every Size is a must-read for both the chronic and the occasional dieter, as well as for health care professionals who readily give advice about weight loss, but know little about the actual impact of dieting on metabolism, weight, and health. Bacon challenges the false promises of the weight-loss industry and translates the science underlying the health-at-every-size movement into practical, easily digestible truths. From the politics of fat and food, to the facts about the human bodys instinctive response to starvation, this timely resource helps readers understand how to heal their relationship to food and to their bodies, and to commit to good health instead of wasting time and energy dieting.

MARGO MAINE, PHD, FAED, psychologist, coauthor of several books, including The Body Myth: Adult Women and the Pressure to Be Perfect and Body Wars: Making Peace with Womens Bodies

Dr. Linda Bacon has done what very few other diet book authors have ever done: She has conducted legitimate academic research to show what happens in the real world with real people who try the HAES approach. And what happens should give us all hope. In the midst of all the hype, the fads, the panic, and the confusion, there emerges a quiet and simple way to make peace with ones body, improve health, and get on with life. It works, it lasts, and it is a way to put all the craziness to rest. Thank you, Dr. Bacon!

DEB BURGARD, PHD, psychologist, coauthor of Great Shape: The First Fitness Guide for Large Women, Founder of the BodyPositive.com

In our body-obsessed culture, Health at Every Size is a breath of fresh air. Linda Bacon reminds us of a core truth: Our bodies will naturally gravitate toward health if we could only hear what theyre saying above the cacophony of media and advertising.

ANNA LAPP, coauthor of Grub: Ideas for an Organic Kitchen and Hopes Edge: The Next Diet for a Small Planet

Outstanding! Dr. Bacon offers a compelling and comprehensive understanding of why we are the weight we are and how to maximize our physical and emotional well-being. Based on solid scientific research, Bacon provides us with new concepts that will forever change the way we think about hunger, nourishment, and weight regulation.

JUDITH MATZ AND ELLEN FRANKEL, psychotherapists, authors of The Diet Survivors Handbook: 60 Lessons in Eating, Acceptance and Self-Care and Beyond a Shadow of a Diet: The Therapists Guide to Treating Compulsive Eating

There are thousands of self-help books directed at plus-sized people, who make up two-thirds of humanity. Nearly every one of these books promises to trim away your body fat, and as a result improve your health and life satisfaction. Every one of these books is a sham. Health at Every Size differs from all the rest because it offers a new road to travel, one that will lead you to better health and a better life. This revolutionary book is based on a solid foundation of biomedical research. The book is true to the real science, not the press releases from diet promoters that pass for health news today. Readers will achieve a new understanding of how their bodies really work and how to work with your body and not against it to achieve better balance in life.

PAUL ERNSBERGER, PHD, researcher/professor, Case Western Reserve School of Medicine

Linda Bacons book is a major contribution to the health-at-every-size movement. Any person contemplating going on a diet to lose weight should read this book first. Every health professional who counsels people about weight control should absolutely read this book, read it again, and make sure [his or her] clients read it. Its a dogma-busting book that provides a sensible alternative to mainstream fairytales of easily attainable weight loss for all, and offers reassurance to all those who have struggled with their weight that the road to a fitter and healthier body is wide enough for everyone.

GLENN GAESSER, PHD, researcher/professor, Arizona State University, author of Big Fat Lies: The Truth About Your Weight and Your Health

Linda Bacon deftly exposes the $50 billion lie of the diet industry. In plain language, she describes the indisputable science behind why millions of Americans failed attempts to lose weight is hardly the result of personal failing, and how if wed just get out of the way, our bodies already know how to be healthy. Indeed, the nations collective obsession with the alleged obesity epidemic (another myth Bacon convincingly debunks) is only distracting us from facing the true menacean industrialized food system driven solely by profit motive. Anyone who has suffered through endless weight-loss programs should read this book and follow Bacons simple, commonsense guide to better health, improved self-esteem, and the enjoyment of real food as a source of nourishment.

MICHELE SIMON, JD, MPH, public health attorney, author of Appetite for Profit: How the Food Industry Undermines Our Health and How to Fight Back

At a time when there is tremendous medical and media pressure to be extremely thin, Linda Bacons new book Health at Every Size comes as a breath of fresh air. She insists that, for people of all sizes, the focus needs to be on health, not weight. It needs to be on acceptance and self-respect, not trying to change their bodies to fit societys hurtful standards. The section Respect Yourself, Body and Soul is especially valuable for women caught up in appearance issues. Rather than dieting and waiting to be thin, a clear set-up for failure, Dr. Bacon encourages women to let go of magical thinking and start living life fully now, in their present bodies. Trying to achieve respect and happiness through weight loss provides a hollow and tenuous victory, not the core satisfaction that you are really seeking, she says. Cultivate a value system that puts appearance in its place and honors bodies for more than their packaging. She assures readers that feeling good about themselves is motivating for making healthy changes, unlike punishing or shaming themselves. When you feel better about yourself, you make better choices.

FRANCES M. BERG, MS, nutritionist and professor, author of several books, including Women Afraid to Eat: Breaking Free in Todays Weight-Obsessed World and Underage and Overweight: Americas Childhood Obesity CrisisWhat Every Family Needs to Know, editor of the Healthy Weight Network

Free at last! Heres liberation from the tyranny of useless weight-loss regimens and the feelings of failure they provoke. Linda Bacon offers a welcome, practical alternative to obsessing about your weight and shapeeating and exercising according to your bodys built-in wisdom. She shows you how to enjoy sound health and unstoppable self-esteem whatever size your body may be. If youre ready to escape from self-loathing and discover the pleasures of self-affirmation, toss out those diet books and dump the bathroom scale. Treat yourself to this sane and friendly guide, scientifically proven to help you make peace with your body, improve your health, and nourish all of who you are.

LISA SARASOHN, bodywork and yoga therapist, author of The Womans Belly Book: Finding Your True Center for More Energy, Confidence, and Pleasure

Health at Every Size is essential reading for anyone who believes that health or happiness depends on weight. The truth will not only surprise you, but set you free.

PEGGY ELAM, PHD, psychologist, publisher, Pearlsong Press

A compassionate yet critical look at how the converging forces of science, economics, and culture drive the weight-loss industry and ultimately undermine the very goal an individual seeksphysical and emotional health. Written by a scientist who has been in the trenches as a dieter struggling through the weight-loss gauntlet. Heres a solution to help you off the dieting treadmill with your sanity intact.