This Body Image and Eating Disorders Awareness Week (BIEDAW), Australia’s eating disorder organisations are calling on people to question the health and wellness messages they encounter every day, and to ask: who really benefits?

Running from Monday 7 September to Sunday 13 September 2026, this year’s theme, Redefining ‘Wellness’: Stories we’re sold about our health and bodies, challenges the growing influence of diet and wellness culture, exploring how popular narratives about health, appearance and self-improvement can contribute to body dissatisfaction, disordered eating and eating disorders.

Eating disorders affect more than 1.1 million people in Australia, along with their families and supporters, in every community across the country. Since 2012, the number of people impacted by eating disorders has increased by over 21 per cent.(2)

At a time when wellness trends dominate social media feeds, advertising, and everyday conversations, BIEDAW 2026 promotes a broader and more inclusive understanding of wellbeing. There is no single way for wellbeing to look or feel. Self-trust, food freedom, joyful movement, mental wellbeing and body respect can all be part of the picture, rather than appearance or body size alone.

“Wellness shouldn’t make anyone feel worse about themselves. Narrow appearance ideals are not health goals, and this week we are asking everyone to consider whose interests are served.

References
(1) Global Wellness Economy Monitor, 2024: https://globalwellnessinstitute.org/industry-research/2024-global-wellness-economy-monitor/

(2) Butterfly Foundation, Paying the Price. https://butterfly.org.au/who-we-are/research-policy-publications/payingtheprice2024/