Open a magazine, turn on the telly or watch a movie and you’ll be faced with ONE type of body, ONE standard of beauty and an obsession with thinness...all of which feeds into what is commonly known as: diet culture.
Check out the below statistics, which are a consequence of diet culture:
In short, the vast majority of diets do not work...but not many people know this!
Not only does dieting mess with our mental health but it can also permanently affect our metabolism (along with multiple other negative physical side effects) meaning we often gain the weight back plus more.
So while the industry continues to pump out shakes, laxative pills and expensive diet plans - we keep thinking it’s OUR FAULT that we can’t get ‘a perfect body’.
We live in shame at not having society's ideal body, but statistically and biologically we're unlikely to actually achieve it.
(Credit to Amy Drucquer for the campaign video & image)
We're Anti Diet Riot Club and we believe that unrealistic beauty ideals, poor body image and a society obsessed with dieting is doing long term damage to our physical health, mental wellbeing, and capacity to live our best lives.
YOU CAN HELP US stop this toxic culture being passed down to young people and future generations!
For the past 14 months Anti Diet Riot Club has been hosting workshops, events and meet-ups - mainly in London - that create a supportive space for the hundreds of people who are exhausted with hating their bodies. Our events are for everyone but we find young women are especially in need of this message.
We bring people together who’ve struggled with obsessive dieting, poor body image, and disordered eating and educate them in ways to heal their relationships with food and their bodies.
Through events, workshops and online content we inspire people to STOP waiting to achieve their "goal weight" and start living their life to the fullest NOW.
Our aim, with your help, is to spread this message of radical acceptance as far and wide as possible. We need you to help us try and protect future generations (who will already grow up in a world obsessed with social media) from experiencing the body shame and obsession that has been entrenched in society for too long.
To help our mission…WE’RE BUILDING THE UK’S FIRST BODY POSITIVE BUS.
The Anti Diet Riot Bus will be a mobile workshop space and venue hosting our trademark quirky events such as: Body Positive Boob Printing, Riot Club Life Drawing, plus size clothing swaps, empowering photoshoots, panel talks and many more!
The bus will enable us to take our events to YOU, our community, and to as many people as possible in the UK over the course of 2020 and beyond.
We will be converting an ex-mobility or -community minibus into a mobile workshop space so that we can reach more people with our events and empowering message. The conversion will be carried out professionally and to fit the different requirements of our workshops and community.
The Anti Diet Riot Bus will ‘tour’ the UK in 2020 with plans to go to over 15 towns and cities throughout the country. As well as rolling into local communities (with permission and in conjunction with community hubs) the bus will park up at co-working spaces, outside schools and colleges, and arts/music festivals and the increasing number of female-led events.
Loads of juicy rewards (which are listed on the right or below on mobile) plus some special limited rewards from collaborators, influencers and amazing body positive / mental health advocates.
Mental Resilience & Mixed Mental Arts Introductory session (£300)
Join Michael Matania from Tough Cookie for a crash course in mental resilience.
You and your team will be guided through a series of novel experiments to provide insight into how your mind works (and why it can work against you!) Drawing on the latest scientific findings on the emerging research field of psychological resilience, Michael will reveal why our current methods for coping with change and adversity aren’t sustainable. You'll get an intro to 'Mixed Mental Arts’ - a toolbox of practical techniques to begin your own resilience journey.
A3 digital print by Alice Skinner
Entitled 'At The End of the Day We Can Endure More Than We Think' and inspired by our idol Frida Kahlo
Your generous donations will help us purchase a decent minibus in good condition and with wheelchair access. We're currently sourcing something like the VW T5 Bluebird minibus or similar...
After the purchase, the rest of the £15,700 will be spent on converting the minibus into a bespoke workshop space that fulfils our requirements to run a variety of workshops and events. A portion will also go towards getting all the rewards to you generous lot and the crowdfunder 6% fee.
All amounts above are estimates and might vary depending on other elements.
Becky Young founded Anti Diet Riot Club in January 2018 to create an IRL body acceptance community in London (something she was lacking personally). She wanted 'body positivity' to be more than just inspiring quotes on Instagram, believing that radical support networks and practical tools can help people heal disordered relationships with food, exercise and their bodies.
The launch event with Megan Crabbe (aka BodyPosiPanda) in March 2017 SOLD OUT; it captured the zeitgeist of the moment and was featured in The Guardian, Grazia and The Metro. Since then the community and project has grown rapidly, having been involved in over 25 events & workshops and with over 40,000 online followers.
Becky first started dieting at the age of 13 or 14, and continued to yo-yo diet and struggle with her body image well into her 20s. For the last 3 years, she's been learning how to take care of herself irrespective of her weight or size and prioritising her mental well being above the desire for thinness. Producing and programming events has been a passion and career for almost a decade.
Harri Rose is a certified health coach and author who specialises in unapologetic body acceptance. She helps people get un-messed up around food and their bodies so that they can start living their most creative life. Harri co-creates the workshops and talks that Anti Diet Riot Club offers to corporate workplaces, SMEs, festivals and the public.
