Save the Date: It's International No Diet Day!

Did you know today's International No Diet Day? Me either. First, a brief history: Created in 1992 by Mary Evans Young, director of the British group Diet Breakers, No Diet Day originally in England on May 5 to bring attention to both the group and cause. Young has worked with people to appreciate themselves for what they are, and the body they have, utilizing her own experiences of being bullied at school for being fat and suffering from an eating disorder as well as speaking with women who attended the management courses she ran. A year later, No Diet Day was commemorated in California, Texas, New Mexico and Arizona. However, there was concern that the date clashed with Cinco de Mayo celebrations in the South. Young agreed to change the date to May 6 (also her birthday), and symbolized the date with a light blue ribbon. The team at BOLD Magazine has lots of content for International No Diet Day. BOLD Holdings and Magazine founder Christopher Salute has posted a series of YouTube videos about his relationship with his body. BOLD Magazine editor-in-chief Janet Conroy-Quirk posted a very personal essay to the mag's website. Shannon Svignen-Jones, founder of fabUplus , created the Making Peace with Your Body program about loving yourself, not changing it. So, how do can you observe INDD? Here are a few steps, per BOLD: Question the idea of one "right" body shape. Raise awareness of weight discrimination, size bias and fat phobia. Declare a day free from diets and obsessions about body weight. Present the facts about the diet industry, emphasizing the inefficacy of commercial diets. Honor the victims of eating disorders and weight-loss surgery. Help end weight discrimination, sizism and fatphobia. Here's to a more widely-celebrated International No Diet Day in 2021.