Healthism, an Often Unfair View of Health

Healthism is not a new term. In 1980, Robert Crawford termed Healthism to describe the rising popularity, and shifting social perception, of health and wellness in his journal article, Healthism and the Medicalization of Everyday Life, International Journal of Health Services: Planning, Administration, and Evaluation.

Healthism is an ideology, not a science.

Crawford defined healthism as “the preoccupation with personal health as a primary…focus for the definition and achievement of well-being; a goal which is to be attained primarily through the modification of lifestyles”. He argued that shifting social perception indicated that health was one’s responsibility, an indicator of personal worth, rather than the result of an interplay between social, economic, and environmental factors which contributed to an individual’s well-being.

A healthist is a person who believes and follows healthism. Although disease is complex and shaped by numerous factors, a healthists perspective reduces health to personal responsibility and control. In this view, an individual's health is seen as a direct result of their actions and decisions, often blaming them for failing to meet societal standards. When their efforts to maintain health fall short, the individual is stigmatized as morally inferior and a "failure."

Healthism fails to account for the broader, multifaceted factors that influence both physical and mental health. It disregards critical elements like social determinants of health, such as income and employment status, education level, access to health care, and even personal trauma, transphobia, racism and misogyny.2

By neglecting these influences, healthism promotes a one-dimensional

and often unfair view of health, ignoring the larger systems at play.

At its core, healthism promotes the belief that good health is a direct result of personal choices such as eating well, exercising, avoiding harmful habits (like smoking or excessive drinking), and practicing mindfulness.3 While all of these are important for maintaining a healthy lifestyle, the pressure to conform to these ideals can lead to harmful consequences. From a healthism perspective, a person is judged by their ability to maintain their health. So, people who engage in detoxes, fasting, and dieting for their health are moral and disciplined. Those who do not are perceived as immoral and lazy.

Diet culture and healthism

Diet culture equates thinness with success and moral superiority. It ignores the fact that health is a complex and multifaceted concept influenced by genetics, mental health, socioeconomic status, and access to resources. By perpetuating unrealistic standards, diet culture reinforces the harmful notion that individual worth is tied to one’s ability to meet specific health ideals, further fueling the pressure of healthism.4 

One of the most concerning outcomes of healthism is the pervasive sense of guilt and shame that people can feel when they don't live up to society's health standards.

Working with Rasa Nutrition can help you to move away from the harmful notion that individual worth is tied to one’s ability to meet specific health ideals.

To move away from healthism, we can do the

following:

1. Embrace a Holistic View of Health

Health is not just about physical appearance or fitness levels. It encompasses emotional, mental, and social well-being. By broadening our definition of health to include factors like mental health, self-care, community support, and financial security, we can move away from a narrow, judgmental view of health.

2. Address Social factors and inequities

Many people’s health outcomes are shaped by factors beyond their control, such as poverty, access to healthcare, racism, and other forms of discrimination. Moving away from healthism means recognizing these systemic barriers and advocating for policies and practices that promote health equity.

3. Encourage Body positivity and Awareness

Promoting body positivity and self-acceptance is essential in counteracting the harmful aspects of healthism. We need to challenge and address fatphobia, weight stigma, and other forms of discrimination based on appearance.

4. Encourage Health at Every Size (HAES)

The Health at Every Size (HAES)5 movement promotes the idea that health is not determined by weight, and that individuals of all body sizes can be healthy. HAES encourages adopting behaviors that improve overall well-being—such as enjoying balanced nutrition, engaging in physical activity for pleasure, and managing stress—without focusing on weight loss as the ultimate goal.

5. Promote evidence-based practices that actually work

Try to stay away from fad diets, and unrealistic fitness trends by prioritizing balanced nutrition, regular physical activity, and overall well-being without placing unrealistic expectations on individuals.

The rise of healthism represents a cultural shift that warrants reflection. Health should be about holistic well-being—not about perfection or comparison. Our focus on health and well-being has contributed to positive changes in society. As we move forward, we should continue to prioritize health and balance personal responsibility with empathy, inclusivity, and an understanding of the systemic factors that impact our well-being. Health should be about holistic well-being—not about perfection or comparison.

Resources:

1. Crawford, R. (1980). Healthism and the medicalization of everyday life. International Journal of Health Services: Planning, administration, evaluation, 10(3), 365–388.

2. Social Determinants of Health. (n.d.). U.S. Department of Health and Human Services.

3. Wieczorek, M., & Sebastian Rossmaier, L. W. (2023). Healthiness as a Virtue: The Healthism of mHealth and the Challenges to Public Health. Public Health Ethics, 16(3), 219. https://doi.org/10.1093/phe/phad019

4.      Goldberg, R. L. (2018, August). What is "Healthism"? Ask About Food. https://askaboutfood.com/what-is-healthism-august-2018/

5.      Association for Size Diversity and Health (ASDAH). (n.d.). Health at Every Size® (HAES®) principles. https://asdah.org/haes/