Between Two Statues: A Reflection on Bodies this International No Diet Day
6 May 2025 | Written by Dominic
While walking along the windswept Dutch coast, I came across two statues* that stirred something deep in me.
One was slender and straight.
The other was full and round.
They stood side by side, equal in height and expression. Both holding the same still, open posture. Not competing. Not ashamed. Not performing.
They were simply there.
Rooted. Present. Whole.
I first saw these statues about a year ago and they left a lasting impression on me. Ever since, I’ve felt the pull to write about them but I needed the right moment. Almost exactly a year later, it clicked. These sculptures speak to everything I believe about bodies, worth, and letting go of the need to shrink ourselves. This International No Diet Day, felt like the right time to share.
As someone who lived for years at war with my own body, the contrast between these two figures felt personal. For decades, I fought with my body and food. I dieted, I binged, I shrank, I expanded, I punished, I praised. Like many of us, I lived on a battlefield between being on and off a diet. Diet culture thrives on a dangerous idea – that thinness equals worth. It conditioned me to believe that a larger body was a weakness and a failure. I used to see my body as “before” or “after.” Diet culture is insidious in many ways, it teaches us to distrust our hunger, fear our curves, and judge ourselves in numbers. It shames softness. It rewards restriction. And it keeps us in a loop of never-enough.
These sculptures don’t apologise for their size. They don’t compare or criticise. They simply are. On International No Diet Day, this is the message I want to share: If we were not at war with our bodies, we would not be going on diets repeatedly. You have not failed at diets, the system is broken, the system has failed YOU. Your body is not a problem to be fixed. It’s not a self-improvement project. It simply is. No Diet Day invites us to step off the scale, to stop obsessing over numbers, and to question the systems that profit from our insecurity. It invites us to nourish ourselves with food and with compassion. It’s a rebellion against a world that tells us we’re never enough unless we’re shrinking.
These sculptures don’t try to be anything other than what they are. And neither should we.
Letting go of dieting isn’t giving up; it can be an awakening.
It’s choosing presence over perfection.
It’s choosing self-care over control.
International No Diet Day is not just a protest.
It’s a quiet revolution of coming home to ourselves.
We’ve spent so long trying to change our bodies instead of caring for them. Maybe it’s time to ask ourselves, if the harsh ways we’ve learned, was this ever the right path?
Standing between these two giants, I was reminded of something simple and sacred: there is no wrong way to have a body, all bodies are valid. Not because they are perfect, but because they are human. We each carry stories in our skin, strength in our bones, and wisdom in our softness.
Wishing you peace and freedom,
Xen
✨ Do you want to find out more about how Mindful Eating can help you? Join me for an upcoming introductory retreat – A Taste of Mindful Eating.
✨ If you’re tired of fighting food and body shame, I see you. I offer free 30-minute discovery sessions to help you reconnect with your body in a kinder, more mindful way. No pressure. No rules. Just a space to breathe.
*The sculptures I encountered are part of a public artwork titled “Wachten op hoog water’ (Waiting for high tide) by sculptor and poet Jan Ketelaar. For more information https://sense-of-place.eu/experience/wachten-op-hoog-water/
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