"It is worth getting rid of the idea that only what is grilled or boiled is healthy"

BarcelonaAesthetic pressure and fatphobia are conditioning our relationship with food, and this leads to an increase in body dissatisfaction, a decrease in self-esteem, an increased probability of suffering from eating disorders, not to mention that it promotes unnecessary cosmetic surgeries and touch-ups and makes bodies that do not meet standards invisible. All situations that provoke self-censorship and generate constant comparisons, leading many people to forget the need to maintain a healthy relationship with food. Based on this premise, pharmacist and dietitian-nutritionist Julia Palacios, specializing in eating behavior, has poured all her knowledge into the book Mucho más que pechuga y lechuga (Bruguera) with the aim of offering a new perspective on the relationship we have with food. A book that talks about fatphobia, biology, privilege, pleasure, and guilt, but above all about the importance of context and other topics rarely found in a nutrition book. "I would love for people, by reading the book, to shed their guilt. I would also like us to accept that body diversity exists and that it is beautiful that it exists. And that we learn to claim pleasure. Women have been deprived of pleasure in many aspects of our lives, not just in food. And I think it is revolutionary to verbalize it, right? 'I like this,' 'I prefer this,' also having a voice and vote on the subject of food,"' explains the author.

Thus, Julia Palacios opts for an approach to nutrition that is compatible with each person's reality and context, and reminds us that eating is essential for living and, therefore, cannot include concepts like burden or guilt. Palacios acknowledges that she has written the book in the feminine, because professionally she especially accompanies women. "But also because we are the target of this diet culture/dictatorship and aesthetic pressure," she says. However, her postulates are applicable to everyone. She recalls that having health is synonymous with having quality of life and regrets that health has become another demand of our daily lives. A demand that, as with food, also does not take into account people's context, especially considering that healthcare does not reach everyone equally, especially, as Palacios specifies, if you are a woman, poor, fat, black, or have some type of mental health problem. In this regard, the pharmacist warns of the danger of motivational phrases such as "We are what we eat," "Move more and eat better," "Your health depends on you," "Your body is your business card," or "There are no excuses for not taking care of yourself," and insists that change is not possible through obligation and guilt.

In the book, she breaks down the factors that influence our health, such as the environment, medical care, genetics, individual behavior, and social circumstances, to make it clear that not everything depends on us. Palacios emphasizes that, even "in what depends on us, we are not always given the facilities to carry it out": "For example, can I choose what I eat? In principle, yes, but something that will limit me a lot is my purchasing power. Or the time I have to cook or go shopping. This also disconnects us a lot from the product. Is it my responsibility to choose and do I have options? Yes, but often limited."

The diet dictatorship

Alerts that the diet culture is everywhere and that we must combat this culture/dictatorship to be able to reconcile ourselves with food and our bodies, and insists that the relationship with food needs context to have a healthy relationship with it. Palacios emphasizes that we are biologically designed to enjoy food and that we should not give up pleasure. What we do need, however, is to set aside guilt. We need to eat as much as we breathe, and although we have been receiving stimuli for many years to eat or not eat certain things, "change is possible". "Perhaps it won't be easy to change the way we relate to food – he says – but the effort is worth it for what we will achieve, which is to live more calmly. Because, curiously, eating is the only basic need about which we impose so many doubts and on which we place such a large magnifying glass. From obligation, changes are not possible. Or, rather, they are possible, but they have an expiration date".

The pharmaceutical executive states that nutrition requires attention, consciousness, and decision-making, keeping in mind that diet and nutrition are related but not identical processes. She also warns of the danger of moralizing food – eating a salad, good; eating a croissant, bad – and reminds us that no food is good or bad in itself. Once again, it depends on the context and how we incorporate it into our lives. In this sense, she recalls that dietary restriction has physical and mental consequences and that the fear of gaining weight is a social construct fueled by daily messages. In this regard, she acknowledges that there are many myths surrounding food, such as that we should stop eating carbohydrates because they make us fat, about whether plant-based proteins are better than animal proteins, or that eating more fat is synonymous with storing more fat. The important thing, assures Palacios, is to learn to listen to and decipher our bodies to attend to what they need, and this has as much to do with hunger as with satiety. Mindful eating reduces impulsivity and, by adapting intake to our needs, manages to decrease anxiety and guilt and allows us to enjoy all foods without fear.

Palacios concludes: "It is advisable to get rid of the idea that only what is grilled or boiled is healthy, because with this we are saying that only what is less tasty is healthy. And besides not being true, we must remember that if we want to maintain a good diet over time, it must also be pleasant to the palate." And he adds: "Is it interesting to eat a varied diet? Undoubtedly, yes. A nutritionally complete diet has vegetables, protein sources, carbohydrate sources, fats, it has everything, because that's what our body needs; it needs everything." In summary, taking care of yourself with food is understanding your body's needs and how to integrate them into our reality.