April 30, 2010 – The ÉquiLibre weight action group wants to make adults and adolescents aware that they have the power to change social norms with regard to weight and body image. The organization will therefore launch – as part of the International No Diet Day of May 6 – the campaign Your influence carries weight.
This awareness campaign is aimed at everyone, but particularly targets adolescents and significant adults around them.
“Secondary school communities and youth organizations will be invited to carry out activities within the framework of International No-Diet Day, but also throughout the year,” explains Fanny Dagenais, director of EquiLibre and nutritionist.
As of May 5, those interested will be able to visit the toninfluenceadupoids.com microsite to download educational tools to facilitate activities on the subject. This microsite will also contain a section for young people and another for parents and adults around young people.
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International No Diet Day was set up in 1992 by a British woman to denounce the obsession with thinness and weight loss diets. In Quebec, this day has been celebrated since 2007 by the ÉquiLibre weight action group. |
Small gestures for yourself and for others
Fanny Dagenais
“This change in mentality with regard to body image is quite a challenge,” agrees Fanny Dagenais. But it is possible to do it on a small scale, starting with yourself. It suffices to question the models of beauty presented to us, realizing that these images have been retouched. There is no one who looks perfect like these magazine photos, in real life. “
She also recalls the initiative of 2 teenage girls who circulated petitions in their entourage. Their petitions gave rise, last year, to the creation of a Quebec Charter of healthy and diverse body image. “A charter which invites the world of fashion and advertising to promote body images which are more diverse and which do not only present models of extreme thinness”, adds the nutritionist.
Finally, adults are invited to accompany their young people to make them discover that they are more than an image in the mirror. “Basically, this body may have characteristics that they don’t like, but it’s still this body that allows them to do all kinds of sports and go dancing with their friends. You have to know how to appreciate it for what it allows us to do and not for the appearance it has, ”says Fanny Dagenais.
Carole Boulé – PasseportSanté.net
1. ÉquiLibre’s mission is to “promote the prevention and reduction of problems related to weight and body image”. For more information: www.equilibre.ca.
