Earlier today (Monday) dozens of women and a few men marched across Westminster Bridge to Parliament to support a campaign to “ditch dieting”.
The protest, organised around the twitter hashtag #ditchingdieting aimed to “speak out against the misery caused by the diet industry”.
Campaigners chanted “Say hey, say ho, BMI has got to go” and “2, 4, 6, 8, stop the diets, stop the hate.”
Supporters of the group Endangered Bodies at the protest argued that the diet industry is part of a wider culture that teaches women and girls to hate their bodies. The effects of this “self hate” ranges from eating disorders and illness through to undermining self worth and “wreaking havoc” with women’s appetites.
They also argue that “The diet industry claims to offer solutions – to the ‘crisis’ it has just funded researchers to determine. However, there is overwhelming research stating that it is the process of restricting food that leads to a consequent weight gain, meaning that diets ultimately make you fat.
“Diets are set up to fail us so we will return to them again and again. The health risks of yo-yo dieting are higher than those of being overweight or obese”.
Protesters bin the diet books
Click pictures to enlarge.
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