It’s International No Diet Day! No Diet Day promotes and celebrates natural beauty and diversity. People are found in all shapes and sizes and there is no one ideal. It also encourages people to stop dieting for the day and put aside all weight loss plans or food restriction practices and put an end to weight discrimination.

There are lots of ways that we can celebrate No Diet Day. But for me and my family, it will be just another day of eating the way we always do – mostly fresh food, lots of coffee (for the grownups, not the kidlet!) and, in all likelihood, something with some Nutella spread over it at some point of the day.

And I will also be thinking a lot about diabetes-related eating disorders and how common they are amongst people living with diabetes.

No Diet Day

I applaud these sorts of awareness campaigns, but the danger is that in the positive messaging, there is still a risk of shaming. No Diet Day is not about shaming people who are thin. When reading up about No Diet Day, I came across a lot of materials that were celebrating ‘real women’ and ‘real bodies’, claiming that real women have curves. This actually doesn’t advance the cause it all. All women are real women. Whatever shape or size you are, if you have a vagina, you’re a woman. Go get that on a t-shirt!

I guess the thing that we can all take away from today is remembering that diets don’t work. That’s the bottom line. Diets Do Not Work. So with that in mind, perhaps we should be aiming for every day to be No Diet Day. I know I certainly do.

In other news, jump over to the Diabetes Victoria blog where today I’ve written the second in a series about the consultation that is underway around the development of the new Australian National Diabetes Strategy. You still have 11 days to complete the online survey and I really urge you to take the time and provide some feedback.