The well-known dietitian and nutritionist Julio Basulto stars in the new chapter of the podcast Stay to eat. This expert, accustomed to being called a Taliban, makes a call against fatphobia. “Not only family members, but colleagues, doctors and even nutritionists label people with an obesity problem as lazy and incapable of regulating their own pathology, and that is totally unfair and stupid.” It is not all nutritionists, he clarifies, “but there are many who blame, recriminate and stigmatize their patients for obesity.”
Basulto explains how he approached the world of nutrition, motivated by his own health problems, and how when he started studying he discovered a great passion that prevents him from disconnecting from his profession and encourages him to help whenever possible. “Many people send me emails asking questions, I receive hundreds, and when I see that it is something serious, or that they are risking in the hands of a naturopath who is giving them bad advice, it is stronger than me.”
The author, among many other titles, of Come Mierda (Vergara), justifies the forcefulness of his statements on issues that go beyond all or nothing: “People need messages that stir up awareness of the risk of issues such as a sedentary lifestyle or self-medication” and assures that it is important to be well informed to be able to freely choose how we want to eat.
Regarding the food culture in which he grew up, he explains that it has nothing to do with what he and his partner, also a nutritionist Olga Ayllón, transmit to their children. “But I don’t blame my mother, because the intention was good.” Furthermore, he assures, there is always time to incorporate small changes that will greatly improve our quality of life: “You don’t have to suddenly become a vegetarian or vegan. Reduce your consumption of ultra-processed foods a little and that will be a big step.”
This expert highlights the importance of the emotional aspect and encourages cooking at home and eating with others. “The good atmosphere at the table is more important than the food.” Regarding the feeding problems of the little ones, he explains that a sedentary lifestyle and poor quality food will make them live less long. “Someone may not be interested in their life expectancy now, but be careful, because reaching 80 years after 20 years of good health is not the same as 20 years in an ailing body and admitted to a hospital.”
Basulto remembers that there is a pandemic of people with eating disorders, but we must avoid confusing cause and effect. “Teenage vegetarian girls are at greater risk of suffering from an eating disorder, but it is wrong to believe that it is the vegetarian diet that causes it, when it has surely been the opposite.” He assures that the eating disorder has multiple causes: “Sometimes emotional abandonment during childhood, for example, is what leads many adolescents to follow a vegetarian diet in the belief that it will make them gain better weight. And we must not forget that it is a psychiatric pathology, not a nutritional one.”
Regarding the need to buy nutritional supplements, he is blunt: “We don’t have to supplement, it’s a business. The problem of our society is not the lack of nutrients, we do not lack nutrients, although perhaps some foods have lost a little, but there are no deficiencies. The problem is that we have too much salt, sugar, flavor enhancers, sweeteners, alcohol, refined flours, ultra-processed foods.” As a nutritionist, it seems more useful to transmit that message to the population when making purchases than to say ‘eat a lot of fruit and vegetables, which have vitamin C’. “We know that this message translates into them continuing to consume ultra-processed foods. It is the talisman effect, since by eating that kiwi so rich in fiber, I unconsciously continue eating ultra-processed foods.”
Basulto insists on the importance of not self-medicating, neither with stomach protectors, unless prescribed by a doctor, nor with probiotics or prebiotics. He explains that many people self-diagnose food intolerances that they don’t actually have and are reluctant to diet or intermittent fasting. “There is no evidence of the effectiveness of intermittent fasting, which has only been shown to cause muscle loss. That is a stab in the back of the metabolism.”
When asked to explain his position on wine consumption in a less radical way, looking for nuances, Basulto assures that “there are already many people looking at the gray ones”, advises consuming “the less, the better” and is in favor of indicating on labels those products that can be harmful to health.
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