Why Health At Every Size Matters More Than Ever in the Age of GLP-1s
As a dietitian who specializes in eating disorders and practices from a weight-neutral lens, I've watched the GLP-1 conversation take over every corner of wellness culture.
Ozempic, Wegovy, Zepbound — these medications are being marketed as the long-awaited answer to a problem that Health At Every Size (HAES) practitioners have been questioning for decades: the assumption that a smaller body is inherently a healthier, more virtuous, or more worthy one.
I want to be clear:
GLP-1 medications can be genuinely useful tools for some people, particularly for managing type 2 diabetes or other specific health conditions.
This isn't about villainizing medication.
It's about noticing what's happening around it.
The old diet culture messaging never left — it just got a prescription.
⚖️ A New Tool, the Same Old Message
For as long as I can remember, the diet and wellness industries have sold us detoxes, cleanses, and "lifestyle changes"—diets in disguise—alongside plenty of outright diets as well.
Now those same cultural forces have simply attached themselves to a new tool.
The underlying belief hasn't shifted:
that weight loss is the goal,
that thinner is better,
and that bodies are problems to be solved.
GLP-1s have given diet culture a scientific-sounding rebrand, but the psychological pressure on people in larger bodies remains just as intense — arguably more so, because now there's an implication that if you're not on the medication or "succeeding" with it, you're simply not trying hard enough.
This is exactly when HAES becomes essential, not obsolete.
🌿 Why HAES Still Matters
HAES was never about being anti-medication or anti-science.
It's about decoupling health from weight, and dignity from body size.
In a moment when GLP-1s are reinforcing the idea that thinness equals health equals worth, HAES offers a necessary counterweight.
It reminds us that health is multidimensional — sleep, movement that feels good, nourishment without restriction, mental health, social connection, access to care — and that no medication, on its own, addresses all of that.
Eating Disorder Recovery and GLP-1s
For my clients with eating disorder histories, the GLP-1 boom has been especially fraught.
Many report intense pressure from family, doctors, and social media to consider these drugs, even when their relationship with food and their body is already fragile.
Appetite suppression can look a lot like restriction.
Rapid weight loss can be genuinely destabilizing for someone in ED recovery, regardless of intent.
Supporting Informed, Weight-Neutral Decisions
My role isn't to tell anyone whether or not to take a GLP-1.
It's to make sure the decision is theirs — informed, unpressured, and not driven by shame.
Weight neutrality doesn't mean pretending these medications don't exist.
It means holding space for people to make choices about their own bodies without diet culture, disguised as medicine, making that choice for them.
Need Support?
If you or anyone you know is in recovery from disordered eating and considering a GLP-1 medication, let's talk.
Send me an email to schedule a free 15-minute consultation to discuss my approach.