Diet culture - is at the crux of a very daunting issue that is affecting generations of people. Time and time again, people push away their hunger, shy away from food and stick to unreasonable and often harmful diets in the finding of being their “ideal body”. The ill-effects of diets continue to ripple even now as more and more people are trying to raise awareness of all the harm that it can do. And to spread this message further, people celebrate International No Diet Day on May 6. It promotes body acceptance. International No Diet Day 2021 is an especially important event, as so many people struggle to deal with the changes in their bodies that have been brought about by the pandemic. It is therefore more relevant than ever to raise awareness on what International No Diet Day 2021 stands for, how to celebrate it, and everything you need to know about this observance.

International No Diet Day 2021 Date and Theme

As mentioned above, International No Diet Day 2021 is on May 6. The commemoration was first started in 1992 by Mary Evans Young. She was the director of a British group "Diet Breakers", and understood the need to end the diet fad after personally experiencing anorexia nervosa.

History of International No Diet Day

While Young introduced No Died Day as a UK-centric event, feminists from across the world showed keen interest in the subject and the initiative gained momentum. What is interesting to note is that the first No Diet Day was actually observed on May 5, however, when the celebration became international, Americans, particularly those in California, Texas, New Mexico, and Arizona, were concerned that the date clashed with the Cinco de Mayo celebrations in the southern states. So she shifted this observance to May 6.

Significance and Celebration of International No Diet Day

The main aim of celebrating No Diet Day is to raise awareness of all the harm that diet culture as a whole can do. From forcing people to starve themselves and take up completely unhealthy routines all to fit into an ideal that was set by society was suffering. So many people, especially women raised their voices to end the idea of dieting. There have been various research papers showing how diet fads have contributed to the collective rise in body-image disorders and harmfully impacted a perfectly healthy body. The celebration of International No Diet Day is a reminder of just that.

While remaining fit and healthy is crucial, having diets that are extremely restrictive or focused on losing weight rather than building a healthy body is a grave issue, even today. And to combat this, various nutritionists and researchers have been promoting the idea of having a healthy and balanced diet or following intuitive eating, or seeking professional help on forming eating habits that will nourish your body while also suiting your needs. And we hope that this International No Diet Day you take all the necessary steps to ensure you are safe and healthy and stay strong against whatever the latest diet fad may be. Happy International No Diet Day 2021!

(The above story first appeared on LatestLY on May 06, 2021 09:04 AM IST. For more news and updates on politics, world, sports, entertainment and lifestyle, log on to our website latestly.com).