Mery Viñas (Madrid, 44 years old) is a psychologist specialized in food, she is based in Barcelona and has a solid community of followers on social networks, on Instagram she has more than 14,000 followers, and manages a dissemination channel on Youtube which has been reactivated at the beginning of 2024. In addition, for a decade she has been accompanying thousands of women to accept their bodies without having to change it from her consultation in the Catalan capital, her Web page and his blog. She is also certified as Mind Body Eating Coach (ebody-mind nutrition coach, by Spanish translation) by the Institute for the Psychology of Eating of Colorado (USA)—the only center in the world that offers this certification—a training that has allowed him to discover even more the connection between mind, emotion and body and its relationship with food.
According to this psychologist, no human being is born hating his or her body, or having a bad relationship with food, but rather, as he or she grows, he or she learns to relate to food in a dysfunctional way. “If the connection with food does not improve, the consequences are physical and emotional stress derived from dietary restriction, obsession with body image or concern about success or failure,” Viñas explains to EL PAÍS.
For her, it is important to talk about the highly normalized culture of dieting and the pathologies that can arise from this trend: “From a young age, girls are instilled with fear of food, of gaining weight, because it was also instilled in us, to their mothers or caregivers, what type of body was correct or expected. As adults we must promote the message of body diversity.”
ASK. Regarding eating disorders (ED), what are the current data in Spain?
ANSWER. It is estimated that around 300,000 young people between 12 and 24 years old suffer from some eating disorder in Spain. [últimos datos de la Fundación Fita —organización que se dedica a la detección temprana y a dar a conocer las señales de alerta de las principales problemáticas de salud mental—]. Nine out of 10 are suffered by girls, according to the Association against Anorexia and Bulimia of Catalonia. It is true that more and more cases are being seen among them, but there is still a big difference between the aesthetic pressure that society generates towards the female body.
Q. Comments to girls and adolescents such as “You shouldn’t eat this” or “You’ve gained weight” are harmful, but how do they do it?
R. It has been shown that these types of comments can generate negative body image problems, eating disorders and low self-esteem, especially in girls and adolescents. Parents should avoid making these types of comments, foster an environment of acceptance of all types of bodies and promote a healthy relationship with food and body image, which is essential for the emotional and physical well-being of minors. At home we should offer a variety of food without labeling foods as good or bad so that they do not have to end up secretly eating what is prohibited.
Q. Do girls and adolescents worry more about losing weight when the good weather arrives and they wear less clothes?
R. When summer approaches, the messages about bikini surgery and that we have to change something about our body are accentuated. The big mistakes are miracle diets, dangerous for both physical and mental health, and any type of restriction, the intake of shakes or slimming pills. When we are restricting, our body goes into stress and our metabolism becomes dizzy. Studies have shown that the vast majority of people who diet will regain the weight they have lost in less than three years. So diet or restriction is never an option.
Q. What guidance would you give to families who have doubts about whether their daughters are bordering on dangerous limits in their relationship with food?
R. Let them observe if there is a sudden change in behavior and mood, if there is more interest in how it is cooked, in the ingredients, if she wants to serve herself the amount of food or cook herself. Also watch if they hide to eat, if they do more physical exercise than usual, or say positive comments about thin bodies, while their school performance decreases or they isolate themselves from their friends. Perceiving an obsession with food or the body will be a warning sign.
Q. It is often believed that thinness and beauty lead to success in life. How can parents educate in a conscious and responsible way to avoid falling into these ideas that can harm their daughters?
R. The reinforcement at home for our daughters should be unconditional love, loving them as they are. And, although they may want to improve, they must start from the basis that they are accepted and loved and that they should not change for anything or anyone.
Q. What percentage of responsibility do social networks and advertising have in girls wanting to look thinner? And the parents?
R. Everything that previously existed in women’s magazines, where models and diets to follow appeared, now girls have on their cell phones 24 hours a day. There is already a pioneering study in Spain [¿El uso y la adicción a las redes sociales están asociados con los trastornos alimentarios entre los adolescentes?, de mayo 2023] which shows that the greater the use of social networks, the greater the probability of developing an eating disorder. Certain social media profiles are constant exhibitions of bodies fitness, thin, healthy recipes, and this makes girls feel insignificant, small and less valid. Anxiety and depression have skyrocketed in recent years among adolescents, in part due to the consumption of this type of profiles that do not at all reflect the reality of youth, but that many aspire to have.
Q. Can you follow a healthy, conscious and balanced diet without having a bad time?
R. In no case should we have a bad time eating. The problem is that we associate healthy eating with restriction, with dieting and, therefore, with being hungry and suffering. When you feed yourself in a flexible way, listening to your instinct, paying attention to your rational part and, above all, to the information that the emotional part is trying to give you, everything becomes easier and more organic. It is not about following norms or rules, but about following your own signals where the goal is always well-being. What you need is something that we must decide and not an external guideline. Therefore, variety and flexibility with food is the key to eating in a way where there can only be connection and enjoyment and where guilt has no place.
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