HAES is dying, and Carnivores are scared of sugar
Published 9.16.2025: I'm going to interrupt my recapping of the Plant Based Anti-Cancer summit to discuss two topics, which by the time this is published will be ancient history. And yet, I feel like I want to opine about it, and so I will.
I have announced the death of the Health at Every Size (HAES, pronounced hays) previously. And that piece said it all pretty much. So why revisit it? Because a skinny dietitian from Canada who was a big HAES supporter basically announced that she no longer believes it on her YouTube channel. I'm not going to link to it, but if you go YouTube and search for Abbey Sharp and rebrand, you will find it— along with a LOT of reactions to it.
I stopped watching Abbey Sharp's content years ago when she drank the HAES Kool-Aid. I never thought HAES was science based, and couldn't tolerate a medical professional who tried to insist that it was. Excess weight matters to health, period. Certainly everyone should be treated with respect, but denying reality helps no one.
Sharp is attempting to rebrand herself, because HAES nonsense is no longer getting the views. I think the new weight loss drugs (glucagon-like peptide 1 or GLP-1) are part of the what killed HAES. Because many people got prescribed them, first for diabetes and then for the "disease" of obesity, and discovered that their health improved when they lost weight. Even if they were still fat, and many were. For many people for whom the drugs work, they tend to quiet the "food noise"— which I will admit I have no experience with.
I think that HAES also suffered because the researcher who created HAES and gave it the backing of a professional, was unceremoniously dumped. The movement never recovered from that loss. And her reputation amongst fat people (in and out of HAES) took a hit. Bacon is no longer seen as an expert, but rather as a researcher with a dodgy past. I don't know if the woman who took Bacon down intended it (my guess is that she did) but down did she take Bacon.
I have announced the death of the Health at Every Size (HAES, pronounced hays) previously. And that piece said it all pretty much. So why revisit it? Because a skinny dietitian from Canada who was a big HAES supporter basically announced that she no longer believes it on her YouTube channel. I'm not going to link to it, but if you go YouTube and search for Abbey Sharp and rebrand, you will find it— along with a LOT of reactions to it.
I stopped watching Abbey Sharp's content years ago when she drank the HAES Kool-Aid. I never thought HAES was science based, and couldn't tolerate a medical professional who tried to insist that it was. Excess weight matters to health, period. Certainly everyone should be treated with respect, but denying reality helps no one.
Sharp is attempting to rebrand herself, because HAES nonsense is no longer getting the views. I think the new weight loss drugs (glucagon-like peptide 1 or GLP-1) are part of the what killed HAES. Because many people got prescribed them, first for diabetes and then for the "disease" of obesity, and discovered that their health improved when they lost weight. Even if they were still fat, and many were. For many people for whom the drugs work, they tend to quiet the "food noise"— which I will admit I have no experience with.
I think that HAES also suffered because the researcher who created HAES and gave it the backing of a professional, was unceremoniously dumped. The movement never recovered from that loss. And her reputation amongst fat people (in and out of HAES) took a hit. Bacon is no longer seen as an expert, but rather as a researcher with a dodgy past. I don't know if the woman who took Bacon down intended it (my guess is that she did) but down did she take Bacon.
The Sugar Diet
The second topic I want to discuss is the Sugar Diet, which is pretty much exactly that— people eating high carbohydrates and simple sugar. The surprise is who is following that diet and (presumably) having success. The people jumping on the Sugar Diet are former carnivore dieters. And the carnivore powers that be (the doctors, etc who have created the sciencey reasons for the success of that diet) are losing their shit. I don't follow that world very closely, as I think the carnivore diet (or lion diet or any of the other iterations) are stupid. Humans are not carnivores.
Anyway, apparently some people are eating a high carbohydrate, low fat diet and are in fact, leaning out — and having decent blood marker results, despite the carnivore doctor predictions. And the reactions and predictions have been flying in from "carnivores" all over the web. It's a bit amusing to see, actually.
None of which is to say that I think ingesting pure sugar (and some of these people do just that) is a wise idea, but frankly, eating a high carbohydrate, low fat diet is one way to see success. If you can adhere to it. It all comes down to adherence. Eating only sugar strikes me of not being a long term option— but then for me, eating a low carbohydrate diet was not a long term solution… and "carnivore" is right out.
I think I had more in mind to say on these two topics when I created this file, but that's all for now. If I think more, I'll revisit.
Anyway, apparently some people are eating a high carbohydrate, low fat diet and are in fact, leaning out — and having decent blood marker results, despite the carnivore doctor predictions. And the reactions and predictions have been flying in from "carnivores" all over the web. It's a bit amusing to see, actually.
None of which is to say that I think ingesting pure sugar (and some of these people do just that) is a wise idea, but frankly, eating a high carbohydrate, low fat diet is one way to see success. If you can adhere to it. It all comes down to adherence. Eating only sugar strikes me of not being a long term option— but then for me, eating a low carbohydrate diet was not a long term solution… and "carnivore" is right out.
I think I had more in mind to say on these two topics when I created this file, but that's all for now. If I think more, I'll revisit.