We believe that DIETS DO NOT WORK. In fact, we believe they are potentially harmful as well as being a waste of precious time, money and emotional energy.
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We believe in the mounting scientific evidence that says that diets don’t work. Despite the diet industry growing year on year, there is little evidence that backs up diet companies’ claims of long term weight loss. Research shows that the vast majority of people who go on restrictive diets regain the weight (or more) within 3 to 5 years due to the hormonal, metabolic and neurological changes that are a product of dieting.
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We believe diets (and any other programmes that stipulate rules for food/eating regardless of whether it calls itself a diet) promote an unhealthy relationship with food and exercise. We agree with the research, and know from personal experience, that diets encourage obsessive behaviours around food and damage our ability to listen to our bodies needs and hunger/fullness signals. Ultimately they steal joy and pleasure from our lives whilst damaging our long-term mental and physical health.
Diets are both damaging and counterproductive. It the very least, diet companies are profiting from our insecurities but more dangerously, studies consistently show how they lead to binge eating, future weight gain and for many people they lead to developing eating disorders.
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We believe that our society’s obsession with losing weight is utterly misguided and irrelevant within a holistic view of health. By focusing on getting down that number on the scale, we take away our ability to make healthful choices about how we eat, sleep, move, socialise and live – not to mention our mental health! All of these factors are much better determiners of health than their weight.
Most importantly Anti Diet Riot Club is about rebelling against the shallow preoccupation with health, beauty and the innate privilege of the ‘wellness’ movement. Rather, we choose to focus on our own inner qualities/happiness/relationships and addressing the rampant social inequality, injustices and discrimination against fat and marginalised bodies that we see around us. We spend so much time worrying about rolls of fat, lack of muscles, thigh gaps, our skin, our hair, our noses…when these have nothing to do with our worth as a human being. Time to change the narrative that oppresses us all.