WHAT IS INDD?

INDD is a day to:

• Celebrate the beauty and diversity of ALL our natural sizes & shape.

• Affirm everyBODY's right to health, fitness, and emotional well-being.

• Declare a personal one-day moratorium on diet/weight obsession.

• Learn the facts about weight-loss dieting, health, and body size.

• Recognize how dieting perpetuates violence against women.

• Honor the victims of eating disorders and weight-loss surgery.

• Help end weight discrimination, sizism and fatphobia.

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HOW DID INDD START?

No Diet Day was established in 1992 by Mary Evans Young (pictured below), the director of the British anti-diet campaign Diet Breakers.
Mary, a recovered anorexic, is the author of a best-selling book in Britain titled Diet Breaking: Having It All Without Having To Diet (Hodder & Stoughton, 1995). Here is the story of how INDD was born, in Mary's own words:

"I started INDD in the spring of '92 following two things. The first was seeing a television programme where women were having their stomachs stapled. One woman had split the staples and was in for her third op[eration]. And then a young girl of 15 committed suicide because 'she couldn't cope being fat.' She was size 14 (12 in US). I decided somebody had to stand up and try to stop this bloody madness and in the absence of anybody else, I decided it would be me. So I sent out a press release titled 'Fat Woman Bites Back'...and got some media attention. I was desperate to keep the anti-diet/size acceptance concept in the public eye. So, without really thinking about it, at the end of a live TV interview I said, 'Don't forget to celebrate No Diet Day.' ...Having declared it on prime time national TV I then set about organising a picnic in Hyde Park. Alas it rained, so we adjourned to my living room instead."

From a picnic in Mary's living room, International No Diet Day has spread around the globe. Since 1993, INDD has been celebrated in Australia, Canada, England, Germany, New Zealand, Norway, Russia, South Africa, across the United States and in many other locations around the world.

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WHO CELEBRATES INDD?

INDD is for everyBODY! Since its origin a decade ago in 1992, INDD has been celebrated by size acceptance, anti-diet, body image, and eating disorders activists, groups, and individuals around the world who want to empower people of all sizes. Events and activities will be held in cities and towns spanning the globe.

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HOW CAN I CELEBRATE INDD?

• Film screenings.

• Poetry and book readings.

• Discussion groups.

• Information displays, bulletin boards, literature tables.

• Educational presentations to schools.

• Classroom projects examining advertising for size-negative messages, false claims and stereotyping.

• Public celebrations and media events (dinners, rallies, picnics, etc.).

• Speakers and programs on the dangers of dieting, diet drugs, and the "rehabilitatation" of the diet industry.

• Size-positive movement and dance programs.

• Body image workshops and support groups.

• Seminars for health professionals.

• Theatre and street theatre.

• Scale smashings or recyclings.

• Picketing of diet establishments and weight-loss surgery centers.

• Art shows/exhibitions.

• Size-friendly fashion shows.

• Spring cleanings--donating clothes that no longer fit to battered. women's shelters.

• Candlelight vigils honoring the victims of weight-loss surgery and eating disorders.

• Collecting signatures on petitions to add "size and weight" to civil rights legislation.

• Support for "Truth in Dieting" legislation.

• Comedy skits and routines.

• Group sing-alongs.

• Diet-free dances.

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TAKE THE PLEDGE!

I Pledge:

• That I will not diet for one day, on May 6, International No Diet Day.

• Instead of trying to change my body to fit someone else's standards, I will accept myself just as I am.

• I will feed myself if I'm hungry.

• I will feel no shame or guilt about my size or about eating.

• I will think about whether dieting has improved my health and well-being or not.

• And I will try to do at least one thing I have been putting off "until I lose weight."

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CALENDAR OF EVENTS

The following is only a partial listing, click here for recent updates

WORLDWIDE
Event: The 1250+ members of "Don't Tell Me What Size I Must B" will hold a day of celebration online for International No Diet Day.
Description: Don't Tell Me What Size I Must B is an international online group for women who want to pursue a better deal for plus sizes in fashion and the media. Membership of the group is growing at a rate of 50-100
members per month since it began in August 2000. The group has been widely covered by the media, particularly in Australia.
Date and Time: May 6, 2002, all day
Location: On the Web, at http://www.geocities.com/tenorqueen/
Cost: Free
Sponsor: Don't Tell Me What Size I Must B
Email: tenorqueen@yahoo.com
Website: http://www.geocities.com/tenorqueen/

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UNITED STATES
Event: Big As Texas
Description: To honor the tenth anniversary of INDD, participants at this year's gathering will be given light blue enameled lapel pins of the INDD ribbon, along with INDD greeting cards they can send to a friend in May. The closing program on Sunday morning, March 10, will include a talk on the history/importance of INDD, followed by an uplifting and healing group activity entitled "Letting go of the Past." Participants will be encouraged to write down a bad memory regarding their size that they are still holding on to - something they want to be rid of. Then, they can share it with the whole group, one-on-one, or however they want, and put it through a shredding machine. The program will close with some of the people who want to talk how they felt before and after the shredding ceremony.
Date and Time: March 8-10, 2002
Location: Irving, Texas
Cost: See website for information
Sponsor: Big As Texas
Address: Big As TEXAS
P.O. Box 363
Sour Lake, TX 77659
Phone: 409-753-3451
Email: BigAsTexas@juno.com
Website: http://www.members.tripod.com/bigastexas/comingup.html

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Event: "Alternatives to Dieting" class (course # WJ-D172)
Description: What are the costs and benefits of dieting? This hands-on course by the author of Worth Your Weight (What You CAN Do About a Weight Problem) can save you time, money, heartache and health problems.
Date and Time: May 6, 6:30-8:30 PM
Location: SUNY/Westchester Community College
Academic Arts Building, Rm. 309
Valhalla NY
Cost: $25.00
Notes: Location is handicap-accessible, but is some distance from parking area
Sponsor: Barbara Altman Bruno
Phone: To register, call 914-785-6830, (then choose option 5); MasterCard and Visa accepted
Fax: 914-785-6129
Email: barbruno@computer.net

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Event: INDD Circus
Description: Details to follow later!
Date and Time: May 6, 2002, all day
Location: Justin Herman Plaza, San Francisco, California
Cost: Free public events
Sponsors: The Padded Lilies, Fat Lip Readers Theatre, San Francisco Bay Area Chapter of NAAFA, and other area groups
Email: SSheffi328@aol.com

LIST YOUR EVENT!

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This information is a public service of Largesse, the Network for Size Esteem [http://www.eskimo.com/~largesse/] and may be freely copied and distributed in its entirety for non-commercial use in promoting size diversity empowerment, provided this statement is included.