Author: Justine Rickard M.A.
International No Diet Day is celebrated on May 6th and serves as a day to bring awareness to the dangers of dieting and Diet Culture, while also celebrating food and body neutrality, and freedom from harmful societal messaging around food and bodies.
The dangers of dieting are well-documented, including the link between dieting and eating disorders and/or disordered eating, yet the diet industry remains one of the most profitable. This is at least in part due to Diet Culture profiting off of individuals’ insecurities - insecurities that the industry helps to create and cultivate. Dieting has become so engrained and mainstream that in some instances it goes unnoticed or disguised as “wellness”. With so many mixed messages around what and how to control and manipulate food and/or body size and shape, people can end up getting caught in dieting cycles without even recognizing it. It’s no wonder so many people end up struggling with their relationship to food and their body.
International No Diet Day can help remind us that there is another way. There is another option that does not require us to deny our hungers or needs or spend our life at war with our body. Rejecting Diet Culture and moving toward food and body freedom can be a powerful and life-altering direction change. Practicing releasing rules and conditions around food on this day (or any day!) may help shine a light on some of the ways Diet Culture has been influencing your food choices and give you the opportunity to decide for yourself whether or not these align with your values and what you want for your life.
None of us are immune to Diet Culture’s messaging. Becoming aware of the ways your thoughts and/or actions around food and bodies may have been influenced by these ideals gives you the power to decide whether or not to break free from the constraints of dieting. Whether you find yourself trapped in cycles of dieting, disordered eating, or are struggling with an eating disorder, you deserve to live a life of food and body freedom, and to make every day No Diet Day.