Health at Every Size Concepts Summarized

Our Mission, Our Vision & Overview

Vision
HUGS is an initiative that is Health focused, centered on Understanding lifestyle behaviors, Group supported, and Self esteem building. HUGS seeks to challenge the myths of the diet industry by shifting the attitudes and beliefs of the public consciousness from the preoccupation with weight, size and false self-image to a consciousness of individual empowerment and self-acceptance, and an appreciation of healthier living. HUGS supports the freedom to embrace individual differences, and the freedom to fulfill personal potential.

Mission
To deliver the freedom message of Health At Every Size - the freedom to make choices, the freedom to listen to your own body, the freedom to live courageously - by establishing a worldwide network of facilitators to offer our programs and products, in various modalities, in an environment of support, acceptance and anonymity.

HUGS Overview

HUGS endorses the tenets of Health At Every Size: size- and self-acceptance, health enhancement, the pleasure of eating well, the joy of movement, and an end to weight bias. Understanding that the traditional ways of dealing with weight through a diet mentality and food restriction have not worked and are causing much harm, this new way of thinking focuses on total health and well-being, rather than weight. It is a health-centered, compassionate approach that leaves restrictive thinking behind and promotes health in body, mind and spirit for people of every size.

"HUGS counters the pervasive culture of slimness in our society. It helps you recognize that the desirability of a perfectly proportioned, ultra-slim body is an unnatural goal that has been forced on all of us by multimedia advertising. We are conditioned to believe that we must conform and that the illusionary perfection of slimness can be ours if we follow the perfect diet, eat the right way, and allow the pursuit of this false ideal to overtake and control our daily lives. The HUGS program helps people realize that individual differences are important. HUGS will show you how to be the best that you can be, physically and emotionally." Linda Omichinski RD, Founder, HUGS

Additional Resources:

Find out if HUGS is for you: http://www.hugs.com/01participant/Ishugsforyou.html

Learn more about HUGS programs: http://www.hugs.com/01participant/programs.htm

Find HUGS resources you can buy online: http://www.hugs.com/01participant/buyonline.htm
Roots

HUGS International Inc. was started in 1987 by registered dietitian, Linda Omichinski. Searching for a more effective way to assist clients in her private and consulting practice, Linda developed a group counseling format on the empowerment model that emphasized eating for energy, physical activity for fun and self acceptance of genetic size and shape variations. Linda is author of three books: You Count, Calories Don't (1992) a best seller is widely acclaimed as a practical diet free lifestyles guide; Tailoring Your Tastes (1997) a concept cookbook where original recipes are modified gradually to healthier states of fat, fiber, and sugar; Staying Off the Diet Roller Coaster (2000) a support resource for a diet free lifestyle with examples and case histories of changed lives. Linda has developed programs for adults and teens to live a diet free lifestyle, and workshops to embrace midlife changes and taste training. These programs, marketed through HUGS International, are available through a network of licensed facilitators in six countries. HUGS.com serves as a center for information and resources about non dieting and receives thousands of internet visitors each week.

 Milestones

  • Linda Bacon, "Size Acceptance & Intuitive Eating Improve Health For Obese, Female Chronic Dieters", Published by the American Dietetic Association, June 2006.
    Study of 78 women shows that non-dieters are more successful at improving their health than dieters. To view the article, visit Size Acceptance Study.
  • Monika Woolsey, "To Diet or Not to Diet" , Today's Dietitian, January, 2001. Details
  • Linda Omichinski, "Freedom From Counting for People With Diabetes", On The Cutting Edge (Diabetes Care and Education), Dietetic Practice Group of the American Dietetic Association, volume 22, number 2, spring 2001. Details
  • Jeffrey A. Keenan, MD and Linda M. Omichinksi, RD., "Polycystic Ovary Syndrome: An Open Door For Dietetics Professionals", ADA Conference, Denver, CO October, 2000. Details

  • Ann Douglas "Nondiet activist measures success in lives changed not pounds lost", Radiance Magazine, issue 54, Spring 1998. Details
  • Linda Omichinski "Freedom from counting for people with diabetes, Part 2", Healthy Weight Journal, March/April/98. Details

  • Linda Omichinski "Freedom from counting for people with diabetes, Part 1", Healthy Weight Journal", Jan/Feb/98. Details

  • New Zealand Tour April '97. Details
  • Linda Omichinski, "Teens and Diets: No Weigh", Healthy Weight Journal, Volume 10, No 3, May/June 1996. Details
  • Linda Omichinski "New frontiers in nondiet counseling:Empowered clients make healthier choices", Healthy Weight Journal, January/February/95). Details

  • Book Review, "You Count Calories Don't"-First Edition, Journal of Nutrition Education, Volume 26, Number 3, 1994. Details

  • Book Review, "You Count Calories Don't"-First Edition Canadian Home Economics Journal, Winter 1994, Volume 44, No 1, 1994. Details
  • Linda Omichinski, "Paradigm shift from weight loss to healthy living", Healthy Weight Journal, May/June/93. Details

  • Janice Turner, "It's how you feel that's important, not what you eat",Toronto Star, May 11, 1993. Details

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