Did you know that diet is a bad word?

I never use the word diet around my children and I try not to talk about needing to lose weight either. My daughters especially, look up to me and learn from me. I am an influence on my nieces as well and the girls I work with as a Brownie and Guide leader.

Often we don’t realize it but they really do listen to what we say and more importantly, pay attention to how we act. Even if I don’t discuss it, if these girls were to see me counting calories or refraining from eating certain types of foods, they would learn something about that. Since they look up to me, if I do it, they might think they need to do it.

The Never Say Dieting Oath

I’m already careful about what I do and say in front of these girls in my life but to make extra sure I don’t influence them negatively, I took an oath (click to view my oath) to remove the word “dieting” from my life and to role model a healthy, balanced lifestyle.

Our culture’s obsession with dieting and weight has led to some pretty scary statistics. The following statistics were commissioned by Multi-Grain Cheerios which examined young women ages 10-17:

• 3 in 5 women have been on a diet
• 52% of girls get their information about dieting and nutrition from family members
• 1 in 5 girls under 18 is currently dieting

It bugs me when I see or hear an adult talk about dieting, never mind when I hear it from children! Children especially should NEVER be dieting. No one should actually. If you want to lose weight and/or have a healthier lifestyle, than you need to make some basic changes to your lifestyle, not diet.

I am very happy to say that Multi-Grain Cheerios has launched a program called “Generation Healthy” at the World Without Dieting website which is aimed at encouraging women to recognize their self-worth and be a part of the solution to our diet obsessed world by role modelling a healthy, balanced lifestyle.

I encourage everyone to take the oath, you can add an image or video but you don’t have to!

GIVEAWAY CLOSED

To encourage you to take the oath and Never Say Dieting and to help spread the word about the initiative, I have a giveaway for Canadians. (Non Canadians can take the oath, they are just not eligible for the giveaway.)