Support For No Diet Day

EDM number 1078 in 1994-95, proposed by Alice Mahon on 02/05/1995.

That this House supports International No Diet Day on 6th May, the purpose of which is to draw attention to the perils and futility of dieting, except for medical reasons such as stomach ulcers and diabetes, and to promote a healthier way of living; notes that dieting undermines people's emotional and physical well-being and is often the first step towards more serious eating disorders; condemns the pressure on women and girls, and increasingly on men and boys, to be unhealthily thin; is concerned that dieting has reached epidemic levels; notes that 90 per cent. of women will diet at some time in their lives, and at any given time 50 per cent. of women are dieting, including girls as young as eight and women as old as 75 years; regrets that Western women and girls are starving through dieting when in other parts of the world so many people are dying through starvation; believes that the tyranny of thinness encourages women to be valued on their looks alone and encourages the oppression of fat people as well as causing misinformation on healthy living and eating; realises that, while obesity may cause health risks to some people, the solution is not a simple one of losing weight because 96 per cent. of diets do not work, and dieting causes other problems, including low self-esteem, mood swings, depression, gall stones, lack of concentration, constipation and headaches; and therefore supports International No Diet Day for a better way of living and congratulates Mary Evans Young, Director of Diet Breakers, for her excellent book, Diet Breaking.

This motion has been signed by a total of 90 MPs, 1 of these signatures have been withdrawn.