Mery Viñas (Madrid, 1980) has been accompanying thousands of women for more than ten years when it comes to accepting their body without the need to change it and live in peace without diets, restrictions, guilt or shame. This psychologist specializing in relation to food and the body knows very well what she is talking about, as she herself suffered from an eating disorder (ED).
The diet culture is such a marked and normalized trend in society that, often, the consequences are not known. 70% of teenagers do not feel comfortable with their bodies and 6 out of 10 girls believe they would be happier if they were thinner, according to the Spanish Society of General and Family Practitioners.
What is the diet mindset?
It is a belief system about food, between what is good and what is bad, what I can eat and what I cannot, etc. Everything that revolves around what, when and how much I should eat, and that is also related to how my body should look because of what I have eaten. This mentality ends up disconnecting the person, mostly women, from what their body really needs at every moment.
Can it lead to an eating disorder?
Diets are the gateway to TCA. Not all of them end up like this, but the vast majority start with a first diet. You have to be very careful because sometimes we think we are doing it for health and we are doing the opposite. Diets throw the metabolism out of balance, add stress, and when we talk about health, it’s crucial to consider mental health, something that diets overlook. The only thing they generate is frustration, guilt and shame when we don’t get the expected results or what we were told we would get if we changed our bodies.
95% of people regain the weight within three to five years.
There is a whole industry behind it that profits from our insecurities, known as the discontent industry. We women are constantly being told everything is wrong with our bodies and if we don’t change it, it’s our own fault. It is a cyclical process that feeds our insecurities because we consume certain products. As long as we are entertained thinking that we always have something to “fix”, the less we will project to conquer other terrains.
How do you combat these messages?
We are born with clearly identified hunger and satiety signals. As the years pass, we intervene, as mothers and fathers, with expressions such as “eat everything” or “don’t eat so much, you’ll get fat”. We learn to disconnect from these signals and begin to obey orders. Therefore, instead of looking outside for “what to eat and when”, it is to turn it upside down and think “what am I hungry for and how much do I have”.
How does diet culture affect our self-esteem and mental health?
Diet is not synonymous with health, because if it were it would take mental health into account. There are women who stop doing some activities such as going to the beach to hide their bodies or mothers who regret not having taken photos with their children during the first years after giving birth.
Despite everything, I keep hearing that successful people are white and thin people.
We have to take the reins. If we have to wait for the system to change and put a person with a fat and racialized body on TV… When you walk down the street or watch TV, you can’t choose which bodies you see, but on social media you can. We must also start looking for body diversity, which is there. Once you get used to it and “clean” other types of accounts, it’s not so strange anymore.
Cosmetic surgeries increased by 215% from 2013 to 2021, without assessing the mental health status of the patients. 85% are women.
Every day you see on social media cases of women undergoing operations. “I recovered in two weeks and nothing hurt me”, they say. The publication is filled with comments about “how it was and how much it cost”. The reality is that many have operated for free, in exchange for publicity, and they are telling you this without, obviously, explaining the risks. With a couple of clicks you can find all the information, how should it not increase if access is so easy? On the other hand, a psychologist should assess the patient’s state of mental health before undergoing these operations. Just as patients who go to the nutritionist should be evaluated by psychologists. Many women have surgery and continue to have the same basic problem, and live permanently “stuck” in wanting to modify parts of their body.
Why shouldn’t you have an opinion on other people’s bodies?
Bodies don’t give an opinion or comment on each other, because you don’t know what happens to each person. There is a phrase that I love: “We see bodies, but we don’t know stories”. You don’t know if that person is thin because they suffer from depression or anxiety, a family member has died or because they are sick. In addition, this person will think that if she later gains weight, she will no longer be beautiful and, therefore, will no longer receive those “compliments”.
A positive message in the face of so much aesthetic pressure.
Our bodies are vehicles that allow us to enjoy everything we do every day. It’s also not about loving your body 100% and liking everything. It is understanding that you are in this process, that there are parts of your body that you do not like, but that this should not be an obstacle to living the life you deserve.
