HAES Dietitian

Health at Every Size, HAES®, Nutritionist Dietitian in the St. Louis Area, Missouri, and Illinois

Get Weight-Inclusive Nutrition Therapy with HAES® Dietitians in the St. Louis Area – Improve Your Relationship with Food and Body

What is HAES®?

It stands for Health at Every Size® and promotes a holistic approach to health and wellbeing that celebrates body diversity, rejects weight stigma, and emphasizes self-acceptance, self care and respect for individual autonomy.

HAES® began in the Civil Rights Movement in the 1960s when people started to have conversations about a biased healthcare system that mistreated fat people. In the late 1990s, the phrase HAES® caught on and when the Association for Size Diversity and Health (ASDAH) formed in the early 2000s, it created its founding principles based on the framework of decades of civil rights action. The principles were revised in 2013 and again in 2024 when the Health At Every Size® framework for care was created.

What does this mean for us? As dietitian nutritionists in the St. Louis area, we practice weight-inclusive nutrition therapy to provide the best care for every BODY.

What are the five principles of HAES®?

The new principles of HAES, recently revised and outlined in ASDAH are:

Healthcare is a human right for people of all sizes.
All individuals deserve equitable, respectful access to healthcare regardless of body size, shape, or weight.
Wellbeing, care, and healing are resources that are both collective and deeply personal.
Health is supported through individual experiences as well as social, environmental, and community systems.
Care is fully provided only when it is free from anti-fat bias and offered with people of all sizes in mind.
Respectful, effective care requires the active elimination of weight stigma and discrimination in healthcare settings.
Health is a sociopolitical construct that reflects the values and priorities of society.
Health outcomes are shaped by social determinants such as access to food, housing, safety, income, and systemic inequities—not body weight alone.
People of all sizes deserve access to adequate, nourishing, and culturally relevant food, as well as opportunities for movement that support well-being, dignity, and quality of life.
Eating and movement are guided by internal cues, personal preferences, and enjoyment rather than weight control or punishment.

Is HAES® backed by science?

The approach has indeed been supported by scientific evidence which is fantastic.

Research shows that weight stigma and discrimination contribute to negative health outcomes. ASDAH writes, “thin-centric healthcare is not benign” based on studies that show weight-stable fat patients are less at risk for cardio problems than those who fall into weight cycling and the yo-yo diet trap.

Furthermore, dieting and weight loss attempts have been shown to be associated with adverse mental and physical health outcomes including increased risk of disordered eating, psychological distress, and long term weight gain. Studies have proved that taking health at every size and intuitive eating approach promotes healthy eating habits, improved body image, reduces disordered eating, and long-term weight stability.

“FAT” is not a four-letter word. And we are not numbers on a scale (BMI or otherwise). The greatest factors influencing health and well-being are adopting great nutrition habits, eating behaviors, being active, and learning to manage stress, regardless of size.

Does HAES® promote weight control?

HAES® supports weight control through the lens of intuitive eating; however, if weight loss is secondary to implementing a more mindful way of eating and movement, that is welcome. It is not guaranteed, as that is not the goal.

What is a HAES® nutritionist?

A HAES® nutritionist/dietitian supports the above movement by implementing the principles discussed above. The HAES® approach is supported by The Academy for Eating Disorders; Binge Eating Disorders Association; Eating Disorders Coalition for Research, Policy & Action; International Association of Eating Disorder Professionals; and the National Eating Disorder Association.

At Branz, as expert eating disorder dietitians, we provide online and in-person nutrition counseling to help individuals feel more at peace with their relationship with food and body. We meet you where you are, and we can help you implement positive dietary and lifestyle changes to support wellness, energy, chronic disease management, and body image improvement.

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