International No Diet Day

International No Diet Day is a day dedicated to body positivity and promoting a healthy lifestyle, regardless of shape or size.

It is celebrated on May 6, represented by a light blue ribbon, and associated with the body/fat acceptance movement.

International No Diet Day promotes the idea that healthy bodies can come in all shapes and sizes, regardless of what the massive diet and weight-loss industry promotes—hence the no diet in its name, a critique of our collective obsession with body weight, which can lead to eating disorders. On the day, observers are encouraged to look at their bodies with love and develop a healthy relationship with food. 

So many adults whether man or women have issues with their bodies and many go on punishing diets to achieve the “perfect” look, to trim the fat, to get a beach body, endless hours of stress and an inability to really enjoy life due to the constant worry about what they are or are not eating and what the next meal needs to be.

 
I HAVE A BODY
I’M READY FOR THE BEACH
THEREFORE I HAVE A BEACH BODY

I myself have tried weight watchers, Jenny Craig, Lite’n easy, A local weight-loss club, diet shakes, diet meal replacements, appetite suppressants, the cabbage soup diet, the Lo-Carb diet, the no-fat diet, the Paleo Diet, the Keto diet and now in the midst of my husband's fasting/intermittent eating diet. Terribly anti-social as he does not eat after 3 and so we eat alone.

In my opinion, none of them work because of one reason. They are not sustainable. If you want to live your life and enjoy it. All diets require certain meals at certain times and it often means not going out and sharing a meal with others, which is something as Aussies, we love to do, catch up for breakfast, lunch and dinner… or a coffee, or brunch!

Some are very calorie deficit and again this leads to terrible cravings and depending on the calorie deficit can in some cases cause other health issues.

But the real reason to be celebrating No Diet Day is to be celebrating our bodies, see the beauty in the quirks, folds, smooth or rough, stretch marks which we should be proud of if they have been made growing babies, or just growing up and changing shape growth through living. Did you know even the thinnest person has rolls when they sit or bend over?

So why do we as women especially, spend millions of dollars every year trying to change the way we look through diets, surgery, and non-surgical procedures?

Who determines what is really beautiful? Is it society or ourselves? Why do we not love and celebrate our bodies? We are our own worst critics.

If you ask a group of women to name one thing about themselves they love you will find many of them will say eyes, lips, hair, but their body is not the first option.

I myself have, after all the diets failed, looked at cosmetic options to change my face and body, especially my breasts which in my opinion are too large, my belly is floppy and I have the baby apron, my face is showing signs of ageing, wrinkles and lines appearing plus age spots and my hair is starting to sparkle.

Yet if I think seriously about it and was unable to spend the money on these things, which for my hair has now been living a COVID-19 life - it is coping and I kind of like the grey at the sides so I guess things grow on us :) 

In reality, in the past 2-3 plus years, I have finally, really begun to appreciate and even love my body. This was due to attending a breakfast with the gorgeous @TarynBrumfitt where she really gave me all the reasons my body needs my love.

My Body really has served me well,

Those breasts fed 4 children, around 1,000 meals, cuddled and soothed four little children heads and provided hundreds of hugs. And there are more to come in the future. My arms will help give those hugs and they give great hugs and also carry things I need to bring with me. They also guide my finger to the page so that I can type my blog. They are a part of my history, and yes they did use to sit higher, my belly could be flatter, not jelly, but it was a soft pillow for those children and it carried those children each for 9 months. What an amazing thing the human body is. My legs are strong and have walked many km's and trekked the Camino De Santiago in Spain. They take me to amazing places and I am so grateful. My wrinkles and lines are proof that I have lived, that I have laughed and I have smiled. SO who decides my body and face is not beautiful at any stage of my life?

I encourage you to have a look at the beautiful work of  Yossi Loloi’sfull beauty project – big women bare all, he takes photos of obese women in stunning poses and the only words that come to mind for me are Rubenesque.

His words ring true for me today,  as I too have had photos taken of me where I have had to find beauty in a photo of an obese woman (me) and remain strong and encourage self-love and positive self-talk in this world where no bulge is acceptable.

I believe all boys are beautiful and there is a uniqueness in every one of them. I am happy with my body as it is and I know that I sit in the scale of being obese, but I still get out and walk most days, I do yoga, I dance, I try new things, I have been kayaking and standup paddleboarding and I have a goal to one day complete a Triathlon!

So I am positive that my Body is Beautiful, and that is body positivity on this No Diet Day.

Yossi Loloi quoted

“The women depicted are targets of societal backlash, but they are strong,” Loloi said. “They fight for acceptance in a world that doesn’t approve of the slightest bulging of a love handle, let alone ‘morbid obesity’, of the possibility that some people find beauty in…all those things women spend thousands of dollars on every year trying to erase.”

In this week of “Women’s Health” we should be putting ourselves and our health and wellbeing first, educating ourselves on what makes all of us individually beautiful, the bulges, the lines, and the imperfections. 

So I want you all to stand and look in the mirror and say thank you to your amazing body, whatever shape or size in celebration of No Diet Day.