May 6 is celebrated annually as the International No Diet Day. You may be wondering why such a day exists and why it had to be designated as a global awareness day. And since this day has been given many different meanings in recent years, and has been used for different purposes, let’s first clarify what it is NOT …
What International No Diet Day isn’t:
- It is NOT the “day against dietitians”.
- It is NOT the “day of fat people”.
- It is NOT the day of junk food and fast food.
- It is NOT a day to justify overeating and eating recklessly anything that we wouldn’t allow ourselves if we were on a diet.
- It is NOT a day to decide that we are no longer interested in the quality of our nutrition and start eating everything in sight.
The history of the day
International No Diet Day was established in 1992 by Mary Evans Young, a British writer who had personally experienced school bullying due to her weight and struggled not only with self-hatred because of her body image but also with anorexia nervosa. In an effort to help other people accept their bodies, she was touched by their experiences, some of which she describes in her book “Diet Breaking: Having it all without having to diet”. There had been several events that urged her to openly declare her opposition to diets. Among them, the suicide of a teenage girl who had been bullied because of her weight. Thus, in May 1992, No Diet Day was organized for the first time in London. A year later, it had gained worldwide interest and on May 6, 1993 it was established as International No Diet Day.
The goals of the day
The goals of International No Diet Day aim in raising awareness among the public about very important issues related to diet and body image. Some of them are:
- To challenge and demolish the idea of the “ideal” body type and size.
- To raise awareness and fight against discrimination based on size and to put an end to sizeism.
- To realize the size of the industry behind the diet culture.
- To understand the failure of the diet mentality in the prevention of obesity.
- To honor patients struggling with eating disorders, and people who have been bullied because of their weight.
- To put an end to the obsession with weight, the scales, and the measuring tape.
How we can all help
Behind the diet culture lies a huge money-making industry that is multiplying its profits, at the same time that thousands of people around the world are battling eating disorders. Among them are teenagers and even children who fight for their lives and their mental health. And we now know, based on a lot of scientific evidence, that weight cycling is a key factor in the risk of eating disorders.
In addition, people with different body types and sizes from the proportions that have been established in the minds of people as “ideal” face discrimination and different behavior almost everywhere. In the workplace, in public transit, and even in health care.
All of us who have personal experience in any of the above, and also all of us who are opposed to the diet culture, can help achieve the goals mentioned earlier. We can share our story if we feel ready to do so or raise awareness for as many people as possible to issues of eating disorders, size discrimination, or simply failed diet cycles. We carefully choose who we follow and what we share on social media. And most importantly, we pay close attention to our mentality, our thoughts and our behavior. The beliefs of the diet culture have unfortunately raised many generations. It takes work to eradicate them and replace them with a healthier way of thinking.
