International No Diet Day!

Today, May 6th, is International No Diet Day.  For a history on how this began, see here.

Time to celebrate something that will make you feel liberated!  For one day, live your life free from dieting, calorie-counting, and obsession with thinness.  For one day accept your body as it is.  What can one day hurt?  Try this experiment for a day.  If you like it, live more days this way; if you don't like it, you haven't lost anything but a food/calorie log for the day.

Take the Pledge!

I Pledge:

• That I will not diet for one day, on May 6, International No Diet Day.
• Instead of trying to change my body to fit someone else's standards, I will accept myself just as I am.
• I will feed myself if I'm hungry.
• I will feel no shame or guilt about my size or about eating.
• I will think about whether dieting has improved my health and well-being or not.
• And I will try to do at least one thing I have been putting off "until I lose weight."

Signed,

____________________________________________________


(Thanks to the INDD website for this pledge!)


And if you still need a nudge to leave your diet behind for a day, check out these reasons to stop dieting.

Top Ten Reasons to Give Up Dieting

Photo courtesy of Flickr

#10: Diets don't work. Even if you lose weight, you will probably gain it all back, and you might gain back more than you lost. 

#9: Diets are expensive. If you didn't buy special diet products, you could save enough to get new clothes, which would improve your outlook right now. 

#8: Diets are boring. People on diets talk and think about food and practically nothing else. There's a lot more to life. 

#7: Diets don't necessarily improve your health. Like the weight loss, health improvement is temporary. Dieting can actually cause health problems. 

#6: Diets don't make you beautiful. Very few people will ever look like models. Glamour is a look, not a size. You don't have to be thin to be attractive. 

#5: Diets are not sexy. If you want to be more attractive, take care of your body and your appearance. Feeling healthy makes you look your best. 

#4: Diets can turn into eating disorders. The obsession to be thin can lead to anorexia, bulimia, bingeing, and compulsive exercising. 

#3: Diets can make you afraid of food. Food nourishes and comforts us, and gives us pleasure. Dieting can make food seem like an enemy, and can deprive you of all the positive things about food. 

#2: Diets can rob you of energy. If you want to lead a full and active life, you need good nutrition, and enough food to meet your body's needs. And the number one reason to give up dieting: 
#1: Learning to love and accept yourself just as you are will give you self-confidence, better health, and a sense of well-being that will last a lifetime.

Copyright 1994 Coucil on Size & Weight Discrimination, Inc. For more information: International No Diet Coalition, PO Box 305, Mt. Marion, NY 12456, or call 914-679-1209. Copying permitted (with copyright intact)

Will you take this pledge?  What do you think about dieting?