RSSMay 6 - International No Diet Day
May 07, 2011
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| Image by africa. |
A study by Harvard Medical School and Biological Psychiatry Laboratory from 2007 reports that that [...] 0.9 percent of women and 0.3 percent of men reported having anorexia at some time in their lives, and 1.5 percent of women and 0.5 percent of men reported having bulimia. In contrast, 3.5 percent of women and 2 percent of men reported having binge-eating disorder at some point in their lives. The study also found that people with eating disorders, regardless of the type, often have coexisting mood, anxiety, impulse-control, or substance use disorders.
The prevalence of these eating disorders in the US is relatively low, yet over two-thirds of the American population is overweight. It makes me wonder – is the problem caused by diets or our mental health? The way I see it mental issues are the problem with dieting being merely a symptom. Are we not barking up the wrong tree by focusing on dieting rather than the cause of the problem?
Now let’s look at the meaning of the word “diet”:
diet
noun, verb, -et·ed, -et·ing, adjective
–noun
1.
food and drink considered in terms of its qualities, composition, and its effects on health: Milk is a wholesome article of diet.
2.
a particular selection of food, especially as designed or prescribed to improve a person's physical condition or to prevent or treat a disease: a diet low in sugar.
3.
such a selection or a limitation on the amount a person eats for reducing weight: No pie for me, I'm on a diet.
First and foremost the word diet means the food we consume which is meant to provide the nutrients our bodies need. However, it also means limiting food consumption in order to lose weight. So why is there so much focus on the latter? Could it be because of the increasing overweight problem spreading around the world along with increased awareness of eating disorders? Eating disorders that cause underweight are far less prevalent than overweight and the eating disorders causing it. Neither is healthy. Education, and therapy for some, is needed to prevent these health-threatening disorders.
The slogans of the International No Diet Day are “Born to be Wide”, “FAT and PROUD”, “A Waist is a Terrible Thing to Mind”, “Fat Power!”, and so on. Everyone needs to be accepted for who they are but should we accept all sizes or should we encourage everyone to be healthy? Accepting overweight and idolizing underweight is accepting and encouraging bad health habits. Nobody tells people to accept their smoking or drug addiction so why should other health-threatening behaviors get the A-OK? Slogans like those used for the International No Diet Day promote bad health habits. In my opinion promoting poor health is not the way to go whether it’s via “fat acceptance”, the “diet industry” or the fashion industry.
One thing that I do agree with is that crash diets and unhealthy diets do more harm than good. On the other hand, I am an opponent of accepting preventable health damaging conditions such as being overweight and underweight. Instead of having a no diet day how about introducing a day about healthy eating habits?
References:
http://www.eskimo.com/~largesse/INDD/slogans.html
Image from: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=1803
Image from: http://www.freedigitalphotos.net/images/view_photog.php?photogid=1803
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