Research and Resources

The Evidence Base

Whether you are a doctor, health professional or curious to understand the evidence base behind the Non-Diet Approach and Intuitive Eating, the below links are a great start!

Health Not Diets – The Non-Diet Approach for dietitians, psychologists and the public; training for dietitians and psychologists; registry of Non-Diet Approach dietitians

Weight Science – Evidence for a paradigm shift – challenging all the assumptions around weight loss, obesity and health

The Obesity Paradox – Scientists now think that being overweight can protect your health

Why diets are not the answer – the overwhelming majority of dieters regain the weight within 5 years, with 1/3 to 2/3 regaining more weight 

Obesity Stigma: Important Considerations for Public Health – despite decades of science documenting weight stigma, its public health implications are widely ignored. Continuing to focus on obesity as the problem only adds to weight stigma.

Health-related shame: an affective determinant of health?

Health At Every Size – learn about the HAES movement and explore a wealth of resources and
HAES fact sheet

The Metabolic Power of Pleasure – why pleasure from food is so important

Dieting leads to weight gain

Adaptive thermogenesis in humans – why weight is regained

Intuitive eating is inversely associated with body weight status in the general population-based NutriNet-Santé study

The Weight of the Evidence: It’s time to stop telling fat people to become thin

Healthy Lifestyle Habits decrease mortality independent of body weight

The Minnesota Starvation Experiment – evidence that restricting calories damages both physical and psychological health and that it is the human condition to obsess over food when you’re not eating enough

Also check out these fabulous books!

Beyond a Shadow of a Diet by Judith Matz LCSW and Ellen Frankel LCSW (written for therapists and a brilliant resource for all health professionals, especially dietitians)

These are all great reads for anyone who struggles with their eating or body size…

Intuitive Eating 4th Edition by Evelyn Tribole, MS, RD and Elyse Resch, MS, RDN, CEDRD, Fiaedp, FADA

The Body is Not an Apology by Sonya Renee Taylor

What We Don’t Talk About When We Talk About Fat by Aubrey Gordon

Body of Truth: How Science, History & Culture Drive our Obsession with Weight – and What We Can Do about it, by Harriet Brown

Eating in the Light of the Moon by Dr Anita Johnston

Bodies & Fat is a Feminist Issue by Susie Orbach, a British psychotherapist, psychoanalyst and acclaimed writer

Embody – learning to love your unique body by Connie Sobczak

Big Fat Lies: The Truth About Your Weight and Your Health by Glenn A. Gaesser

Page in progress, more to come!