NEDIC's vision is a culture that promotes and supports individuals engaged in healthy lifestyles regardless of ascribed or inherent characteristics, physical appearance and social status.
NEDIC promotes healthy lifestyles, including both healthy eating and appropriate, enjoyable exercise. Being client-centred means that our staff try to give people information and guidance about every option so that our clients can make informed choices for themselves.
As feminists, we believe that all human beings are of equal value, and have equivalent civil rights. These beliefs are behind our efforts to show how eating disorders are influenced by society and culture. Another part of our work is to help people see prejudice against fat people. We also work to increase awareness of myths and stereotypes that allow people to be unfair to any other person, thin or fat. At NEDIC, we believe that food and weight issues for both women and men are related to the society in which we live. We do not believe that eating disorders develop only out of an individual's biology.
We recognize that our information and most of our clients are from North America. We recognize that there are cultural differences among communities, and for people outside of North America.
NEDIC has a non-dieting, client-centred, feminist philosophy. NEDIC's work will be guided by the following values:
Health Promotion Principles
- NEDIC's fundamental principle is a belief in healthy lifestyles.
- NEDIC believes that restrictive eating is not a solution for any problem, whether related to food and weight preoccupation or other problems.
- NEDIC believes that dieting is intrinsically harmful to the individual in that, in addition to potential physiological harm, it perpetuates the illusory cultural notion that imposing control over one's body size will create control and efficacy in one's life.
- NEDIC workers will not refer clients to diet centres or services that advocate restrictive eating patterns or a particular body size and shape as a solution to food and weight preoccupation or other problems.
- NEDIC recognizes that the determinants of health are varied and encompass the whole-life experience of the individual.
- NEDIC recognizes that health and well-being are more than the absence of illness.
Client-Centred Principles
- This principle drives NEDIC's work to make our materials and services accessible to all regardless of financial status, geography or other barriers.
- Being client-centred dictates that staff strive to provide all available information and guidance regarding available services, treatment modalities and alternatives in a manner that empowers the client to make informed choices.
- It also informs the work that NEDIC staff do to locate women's and men's food and weight issues within the contexts of their lives rather than as individual pathologies. This includes respect for an individual's way of knowing, and a regard for the dignity of the person in body, mind and spirit.
Feminist Principles
- The feminist philosophy of NEDIC includes the unequivocal belief in the equal value of all human beings and their right to equivalent civil rights.
- This position underpins the methodical attempts that NEDIC makes to illuminate the socio-cultural aspects of eating problems. An additional aspect of this is to raise awareness of fat-prejudice and the myths and stereotypes that perpetuate irrational and damaging responses for all persons, thin or fat. It also informs the work that NEDIC staff do to locate women's and men's food and weight issues within the contexts of their lives rather than as individual pathologies.
