Weight Inclusive Practice: Shifting the Focus from Weight to Social Justice

Gut feelings and lived experiences: a qualitative study of 'anti-diet' dietitians' and psychologists' motivations and experiences regarding the weight-neutral approach

This paper examines whether the motivations and experiences of 'anti-diet' dietitians and psychologists represent a paradigm shift in healthcare. We conducted four 2-hour, discipline-specific focus groups with a total of 16 female participants residing in Australia. Our reflexive thematic analysis generated four themes that we consider to be stages of a weight-neutral paradigm shift: (1) a recognition of a mismatch between one's weight-centred training and one's lived experience of diet culture, which subsequently informs (2) gut feelings that influence their decision to reject the weight-centric paradigm, thereby leading to (3) exploring the anti-diet knowledge base and then subsequently (4) promoting or advocating for the weight neutral paradigm. Our findings represent a four-stage paradigm shift in action; emphasising the significance of lived experience in the weight-neutral turn, as well as differences in symbolic power between health professionals. Future research should focus on potential ruptures or conflicts within the weight-neutral paradigm itself, and look more deeply into the experiences of other health professionals who are critical of the weight-centred approach.

Weight-Inclusive Approaches to Nutrition and Dietetics: A Needed Paradigm Shift

This Perspective article encourages the field of nutrition and dietetics to move away from a weight-centric paradigm that emphasizes weight loss and weight management as primary health outcomes. This approach can perpetuate weight stigma, which is associated with poorer health behaviors, poorer mental health, disordered eating, and even increased mortality risk. We propose an alternative approach-adopting a weight-inclusive paradigm-that focuses on providing care across the weight spectrum by centering health behaviors rather than weight. This approach allows individuals of all sizes to have equitable access to high-quality nutrition and dietetics care.

The Longitudinal Associations of Body Dissatisfaction with Health and Wellness Behaviors in Midlife and Older Women

Emerging research suggests that body dissatisfaction (BD) is prevalent among midlife and older women (i.e., upwards of 70%). Cross-sectionally, BD is associated with myriad poor health and wellness outcomes (e.g., depression, disordered eating, bad nutrition) in midlife/older women. However, relatively few studies have examined the longitudinal relations between BD and health outcomes in this population. This preliminary study investigated the longitudinal associations of BD with wellbeing and health-related quality of life (QOL) among midlife/older adult women over one year. Participants (n = 86, women aged 40-72 years, M = 51.49, SD = 7.34, 86% white) completed self-report measures of BD, psychosocial impairment, health behaviors, and QOL at baseline (T1) and 12-month follow-up (T2). A series of multiple linear regression models included T1 BD as the predictor variable of health outcomes at T2, covarying for T1 BMI and age in all models. BD was associated with greater negative emotions and psychosocial impairment, less physical activity enjoyment, and poorer physical, psychological, and social QOL one year later. Findings suggest that BD is associated with negative consequences for women across the lifespan (ƒ2 ranges = 0.06-0.60). Future research investigating BD as a unique, modifiable risk factor for health outcomes among diverse samples of midlife/older women is warranted. Targeting BD in interventions may improve health indices beyond eating disorders for this population.