By Danica Jacobs, MAN, RD
International No Diet Day is celebrated annually on May 6 (https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/nodietday). It was started by Mary Evans Young in 1992 to celebrate body diversity and the acceptance of all bodies. The day is observed through taking actions to reject diet culture and eliminate weight stigma and body shame.
In honour of the recent passing of this day, let’s explore why we advocate for ditching diets, how to spot a diet, and how you can celebrate International No Diet Day all year long.
Harms of the diet industry
Have you heard that diets don’t work? In fact, they “fail” about 95% of the time, meaning that nearly every dieter will regain the weight that they lost (https://onlineacademiccommunity.uvic.ca/swell/wp-content/uploads/sites/5160/2020/06/Logel-Stinson-Brochu-2015-weight-loss-not-the-answer.pdf). Two-thirds of folks will even regain more weight than they lost in the first place.
Can you imagine a medication with a 95% failure rate? It would likely be taken off the shelves immediately.
Worse than not working, diets also cause harm (https://www.intuitiveeating.org/resources/studies/). Research shows dieting is associated with increased cravings and binges, obsessive food thoughts, disordered eating, and eating disorders. Diets have also been associated with feelings of failure, lowered self-esteem, and social anxiety.
Despite the research clearly showing the outcomes of dieting, many people are still drawn to diets. A big part of this is the booming diet industry. The diet industry idealizes thinness and equates it to morality, health, and status. It pressures folks into buying certain products in the hopes of aligning with their promoted standards of health and beauty.
The widely held belief that weight needs to change to improve health is another likely reason that the dieting industry lives on. But the truth is that making changes to eating, movement, stress management, and mental health can all support health regardless of whether any weight is lost ((https://nutritionj.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/1475-2891-10-9).
How to spot a diet
Thankfully, information about the harms of dieting is becoming more mainstream. Unfortunately, diet companies are also becoming more aware of this. It’s common these days for diet companies to co-opt non-diet messaging, and re-package the same diet program in a new and improved non-diet package.
So, what are some red flags to spot a diet?
Look out for programs where certain foods or groups of food are limited (like fat or carbohydrates). If there are lists of allowed or “better” foods, and lists of foods to limit or avoid, this is also a red flag.
Often, diet programs will promote themselves as a “lifestyle”. But cutting out carbs, tracking points or macros is not a lifestyle. Anytime a program focuses solely on using external cues to guide your eating, it’s a good sign it’s a diet.
If the program is focused on making a change to your body, there will always have to be some degree of restrictive or controlled eating involved. This includes following a vegetarian, vegan, or gluten-free diet for the purpose of weight loss. Rigid and inflexible eating in the name of “health” is also a diet.
It is important to acknowledge that everyone has body autonomy. If you are choosing to pursue weight loss or follow a diet, this article is not meant to make you feel any shame. It is completely understandable that one would choose to pursue weight loss given the prevalent weight stigma and diet culture in our society. The goal of International No Diet Day is to contribute to changing the societal norms, in hopes of creating a society that is safe and accepting of all bodies.
What can you do to celebrate International No Diet Day?
Although the day has passed, we can continue to celebrate No Diet Day all year long. Here are some things you can do to reject diet culture and celebrate body acceptance and diversity.
- Get rid of your dieting tools. Delete the calorie counting apps and get rid of your scale.
- Get curious about your social media feed. Consider unfollowing and muting accounts that uphold diet culture. Diversify your feed to include bodies of all shapes and sizes.
- Call out diet culture when you notice it. Even if it’s just to yourself, it helps to bring awareness to it and create space for you to remind yourself of the harms of the diet industry.
- Question and challenge your diet thoughts. Notice when a food police thought comes up and get curious about where it might be coming from. Consider if there is a way you can re-frame this thought or take an action opposite to this thought.
- Consider your assumptions, biases, and judgements about weight and body size.
- Be mindful of any stigmatizing language you may use when talking about bodies.
- Learn more about weight stigma and its negative effects (https://www.nationaleatingdisorders.org/weight-stigma)