Since this Wednesday is Independence Day, I was inspired to re-write the Declaration of Independence as a declaration to never diet again.
I found it interesting that so much of the original text was appropriate for explaining why women everywhere should break their ties with dieting.
Please join us in declaring your independence from dieting. Leave your name in the comments section by 3:30 EDT on Tuesday, July 3rd, to have your “signature” added to the document and we’ll post an updated version on Independence Day.
Encourage the women in your life who have wasted too much time dieting to join us as well. You can share this blog post via Facebook, Twitter, and Pinterest.
Here is the transcription below.
Declaration of Independence from Dieting
When in the Course of human events, it becomes necessary for one woman to dissolve the emotional bands which have connected her with one diet attempt after another, and to assume among the powers of the earth, a separation from dieting to which the Laws of Nature and of Nature’s God entitle them, with respect to her body, mind, and soul that she should declare the causes which impel her and other like-minded women to the separation.
We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all women are unique, that they are endowed by their Creator with certain unalienable Rights, that among these are Life, Liberty and the pursuit of Happiness.That to secure these rights, women have previously attempted diets with hopes of yielding such results. However, whenever any Form of dieting becomes destructive of these ends, it is the Right of the People to alter or to abolish it, and to institute a new way of feeding one’s self, laying its foundation on such principles as mindful eating, permission, flexibility, intuition, and the wisdom of the body and choosing foods in a way that to them shall seem most likely to affect their Safety and Happiness. Prudence, indeed, will dictate many food choices, but not all, and accordingly, past eating experiences hath shewn, that womankind are more disposed to suffer from dieting, while evils are sufferable, than to right themselves by abolishing the restriction to which they are accustomed. But when a long train of abuses and fruitless diet attempts, pursuing invariably the same Object of a smaller body, yields the same results of frustration, demoralization, feelings of failure, guilt, and in many cases weight gain, it is their right, it is their duty, to throw off such restrictions, and to consider a new approach for their future health and happiness. Such has been the patient sufferance of these women who have tried diet after diet; and such is now the necessity which constrains them to alter their former relationship with food. Our history of dieting is a history of repeated injuries and usurpations of the joy and pleasure that food can provide, all having in direct object the establishment of an absolute Tyranny over so many women. To prove this, let Facts be submitted to a candid world.
~ If one diet worked perfectly, there would never be the need for another, yet there are countless diet plans available.
~ Dieting, for many women, has been shown to result in weight gain over time.
~ Dieting often demonizes foods making them more appealing as forbidden fruit.
~ Dieting generates stress and feelings of failure for many.
~ Dieting is the antithesis of healthy eating.
~ Dieting results in most people regaining the weight they lost and more.
We, therefore, the Representatives of the diet-weary, in the name, and by Authority of good sense, appealing to women everywhere, solemnly publish and declare, That these women ought to be Free and Independent of ineffective and unhealthy diets; that they are Absolved from all Allegiance to restriction, starvation, deprivation, guilt and the self-judgment that diets create; and that as Free and Independent women, they have full Power to decide what to eat, when to eat, and why to eat, based on their personal needs and desires, and to do all other Acts and Things which normal eaters may of right do. And for the support of this Declaration, with a firm reliance on the wisdom of the body, we mutually pledge to each other to never diet again.
– Robyn Priebe
– Marsha Hudnall
– Barbara Meyer
– Darla Breckenridge
– LynnAnn Covell
– Kate Nolte
– Lisa Christie
– Victoria Thayer
– Alan H. Wayler
Aaron Flores
So glad to add my name to this list
Sign me up!
Rachel Hubbard
Rosie Molinary
(while I don’t believe in a creator) I do believe that ultimate freedom from dieting comes from doing the hard work of untangling all of our emotional ties to food.
Of all the good things in life that any one person deserves, we deserve the goodness of the sun and the goodness of the universe as it is conveyed to us by fresh and wholesome food.
Hi, Robby,
Thanks for your great comments! Do you want your name included?
Robby, we’re getting so many names, I’m going to go ahead & add yours. Hope that works for you!
Excellent!
Hi, Connie. We don’t want to include anyone’s name who doesn’t want it. So just double checking with you. Thanks!
Connie, I’m going to go ahead and add your name. We’re getting so many signers, I don’t want to leave anyone out.
Lucy Pozek
I’m on board!
Brilliant
Charlotte Denny Henley
Count me in!
Harriet Brown
Yes!!
YES PLEASE! Mara Glatzel
Add me on!
Yes please!
Karen C.L. Anderson
Include me, please.
The New York Center for Eating Disorders joins forces with the declaration of independence from dieting. Indeed, Mary Anne Cohen’s book is entitled French Toast for Breakfast: Declaring Peace with Emotional Eating!
MaryBeth Zamer
SO MUCH THIS.
Sierra McConnell
Awesome
Well said!
Beaded Star Eating Disorder Recovery Center of Jacksonville Beach, FL declares no dieting! Amen!
I Declare this a Diet-free life! Huzzah!
Julia Newman
Love this! Where are the Diet-Free Fireworks!
Jill C.
Ludlow does a great fireworks display on the 4th. We’ll dedicate them to this declaration of independence!
Annabel Adams – YES!
I would be in the camp that does believe in the Creator and support including this reference as it was in the original document. I love the part about relying on the wisdom of the body. 🙂
Count me in!
Fall Ferguson
This is certainly something to celebrate!
Heck to the yes!
–Jenn
So true, the more something is “off limits” the more we crave it! Love this!
Yes! Let’s abolish diet mentality. I believe in chowing vibrantly in ways that work for your body. That’s how I’ve dropped 40 pounds and kept it off 4-1/2 years now, and more importantly have inner peace. I don’t diet. I just eat 🙂
Stephanie Quilao aka @skinnyjeans
Love it!
Add my name
awesome, consider me signed!
I do wish this applied to everyone, including men because they are affected, too. However, I’ll still sign as is. So, add my name to the list: Lonie McMichael, PhD
Count me in!
Rosie Schwartz
Alysa Bajenaru
Freedom Feels So Wonder-Full!
Beautiful! I wish I had thought of this!
If we can help the mommas and the poppas, then we can help the children too!
Jill Castle
Count me in for life!
Love this and hoping for a health care coup aka modern day tea party!
Julie Duffy Dillon
Angela Meadows
YES. I declare myself independent from ever dieting again. I pledge to LOVE my body, honor what she wants. If she wants some ice cream, she will have some. Good healthy food, good healthy amounts, lots of dance and movement and other fun exercise, NO MORE GUILT or FEAR of PLEASURE!
Yes, count me in 🙂
Jennifer Menges
Please add me — thanks! Anna Guest-Jelley
Add my name, too 😉
p.s. I’d like see men in your declaration–unless there needs to be a Male Suffrage Movement for an amendment!
Hell yes, add my name.
Count me in from over here in England.
There are so much more important things us women (and men) should be spending our time, energies and lives focusing on
Please add me to the declaration.
Mary Lynn Carver
Amanda Kenner
Sign me up!
Jean Fain
Ellen Shuman
Wonderful!!!
Totally on board!!
Rita Zeelenberg
Shannon Cutts
Lindsey Glorioso
Health isn’t a number. 🙂
Add my name please.
Dieting implies a temporary, usually painful, state that can’t – or shouldn’t – be sustained. I say down with dieting!
Hillary Wright
Yes mam! Let us all care for our wonderful selves with kindness and generosity.
Christy Maurin
Please add me to the list of signatures
Deborah Cook!
Paula Wisor
Amen! Thank you for writing this. I pledge right alongside you.
I’d be honored to be on your list. I have a blog post-live Tuesday 7/3-at http://MomItForward.com/category/food-2 on being an Independent Eater where I also reference the Declaration of Independence!
Hear, hear! Feast Upon Life!
I’d be honored to be on the list as well! Thank you sooooo much for writing this. It’s incredibly empowering!
This is truly a breaking of the bonds of dieting that keep so many women from true happiness.
Anything that promotes health and not weight has my support! No more diets!
yes pls…i always knew there is no such things is diet’ING..i sworn in
to never diet again. yayyyyy.
Wonderful post Robyn! I am 100% on board! Please add my name to the list: Janet Zimmerman. I’m so thankful for all the wisdom & promotion of whole body health that you all do at Green Mountain Fox Run & around the country. Keep on spreading truth & freedom!!
Maureen Hutton
Sign me up
Yes! Please add my name to the Declaration of Independence from dieting!!
Victoria Baldasarre
Dear dear diet
It’s time to be quiet
I’ve broken free
From your hold on me!
WOOHOO!
YES! Please add my name 🙂
Emma Wood!!!
Add my name, please.
Add my name to the list: Liz Daly
Wow! Awesome declaration.
Include me as a signer.
Chris Ohlinger
I’m in.
Count me in!
I agree
Yes! Totally agree.
I hereby give you full power, all rights, interest, and advantages of and in, to add my name as a Signer of this Declaration of Diet Independence.
Happy 4th Everyone!
Megan Kealy
Perfect for this 4th of July, and everyday!
Please add my name to the declaration.
Ditch the diet!
Cassie Tuttle
Please add my name to the Declaration of Independence from dieting and thanks for writing it!!!
Add my name!
🙂
YES!! I’m thrilled to be able to add my signature to such a wonderful Declaration!
If only women could channel in a positive direction all the energy they put into dieting, what a different world this would be!
I very much like to add my signature to this declaration.
Since 1998 I help women professionaly to stop dieting for all the reasons said in the declaration. I even wrote a book about this subject.
I’me pleased to notice that there are more people over the world who tell this important message too. Thanks for that.
Keep up the good work!
Fantastic!
Catherine Grych
Yes, independence from dieting AND body appreciation for all.
Even though I’m a man who does not diet, I still stand behind this.
Jay Solomon
Dieting and the diet industry have done so much damage to so many people!
This is great! Sign me up, please!
Wonderful! Please add my name to the Declaration of Independence from Dieting.
Sign me up!
Sign me up! Live healthy-Eat Mindfully!
Please sign my name to the Declaration of Independence from Dietitng. What a wonderful idea Marsha!
Sign me up!
Add me to the list. 🙂
can Canadians sign it too ? !!! 😉
Absolutely! Independence from dieting is important everywhere!
I’m in!!
I LOVE this! Dieting was so destructive to me and I’ll never do it again.
Please add my signature.
Please add my signature. Thank you.
Proudly independent from dieting!
Yes indeed-we hold these truths to be self-evident. Well-done.
Please add me too! HAES love!!!
Please add Lindsey Mazur. Go HAES go!
sign my name! Good job.
Alice Rosen
Brilliant and Very Freeing!
I’m in! Great idea!
Happy Independence Day!
Life, Liberty, and the Pursuit of Happiness, for everyone of all sizes!
Any chance of allowing a longer period to collect signatures? (I just posted your Declaration on the Intuitive Eating Community site and would love to see you get more signatures 😉
Good idea, Evelyn. We’ll go ahead and post an updated version tomorrow but will keep collecting signatures. More to come!
GREAT idea, thanx Marsha.
Thanks, Lisa, but must give credit where credit is due. Robyn Priebe, RD, our nutrition leader, came up with the idea. I agree it is GREAT!
sign me up!
Sarah Sutton
Sign me up! Great Idea Robin!
Add me! MarJean Davis
Add my name please! 🙂
Please add my name! Thanks
Celebrating body diversity on this Independence Day!
Sign me UP!!
Yes!
This is a fantastic idea!
What a wonderful way to celebrate the 4th of July by declaring our independence from obsessive thoughts — blame, guilt and shame. With each bite let awareness and compassion nourish us. Let trust follow this healing. Let us rejoice in the many names that help us remember — We Are Not Alone!
[…] Independence from dieting. We hold these truths to be self-evident, that all [people] are unique, that they are endowed by […]
I’m also a little late. Saw Michelle May’s posting (hi Michelle). Please count me in as well.
[…] instance, maybe you declare your independence from dieting or the bathroom scale, which you toss in the […]
A “weight” is lifted just reading the words of the Declaration!
Add my name please
Such a good idea!
I’m a little late…I just saw this on twitter. Though I suppose my name won’t be added to the document today, I at least ed wanted to “sign” it through my comment!
Thanks for signing, Marie! Megrette’s signature is the last to get on today’s version but we’ll update shortly.
I’m in! (Or is it out?)
Clever as usual, Michelle! Thanks for signing. Have a great 4th!
Yes, I too, am late for the original signature but have just returned from vacation….My reading material during that vacation has been Dr. Bacon’s Health at Every Size and I am ready, willing, and able to declare my independence from dieting!
I am late as well…however I find that indeed dieting can be destructive and I will mindfully not allow myself to diet and encourage others to be mindful. That truly there is a place for eating right based on the individual IE…Gluten sensitive, lactose intolerant, etc…I believe this is eating right for the individual vs a diet order. Though not part of the Independence Declaration I would also like those tied to a medical diet also be freed to follow as an individual with specific needs.
Except for implication that it is ONLY women who suffer from serial dieting, I support this whole-heatedly.
I am always glad to hear women swear off dieting. It is so destructive, particularly of our natural ability to know what and how much to eat. I was a normal weight child who was put on a diet by a weight-obsessed mother (a way to exert control in the midst of emotional chaos), and it damaged my life horribly. Combine dieting with untreated hypothyroidism, and you have created a recipe for disaster. Hurrah for every women who says she will never diet again!
Agreed Amy, it’s not just an issue that women struggle with. I wrote it from a woman’s perspective as I am a woman, and I mainly work with women, but I fully agree that this is fruitless cycle that men can be stuck in as well. Thank you all so much for all the feedback and for supporting this. I appreciate you taking the time to read this and “sign on.” Happy 4th everyone!
Celebrating “Independence” from dieting!
July 4, 2012
[…] I signed the Declaration of Independence from dieting posted on a Weight Lifted. That signature for me was a true, heartfelt, belief in myself commitment that begins my new […]
Great idea! I’m late for the first round of signatures but hopefully it will be extended! Thanks for doing this!
Sign me up, too… I’m never going to diet again!
[…] you declared your independence from dieting? It’s about time, don’t you […]
What a great idea! I had my own declaration of independence this month about family issues so I can totally relate to women making this powerful move. I love it!
Sign me up!!
I’m so in! Thanks for this awesome positive message.
Signed!! 🙂
Hell yes, I signed. c:
I signed! Best of luck!!