Psychologist comments on mentally draining diet culture: ‘inherently wrong’

Many people, especially women, must have opted to diet at least once.

However, the damage it causes to your mental health is something Rocio Rodriguez - a psychologist, author, and specialist in body image and psycho-nutrition – has witnessed daily in her career.

The mental health expert has explained how to spot the loop holes of diet culture, adopt more intuitive eating habits and confront your fear of gaining weight.

Addressing how people start believing their bodies are the problem, she said, "The conviction that our bodies are a problem stems primarily from the beauty ideals that dominate our society. It is an ideal rooted in thinness - a mould that is far too narrow for the vast majority of women.”

“Failing to fit that mould leads us to believe there is something inherently wrong with us; that our bodies are the problem and we must do everything within our power to change them - often at the cost of our health, our finances and our general well-being,” the mental health expert added.

Rocio also spoke of how difficult it is for many people to realize that their body weight or shape isn’t the problem.

"It is immensely challenging, as we are constantly bombarded with messages designed to convince us otherwise. Every time we leave the house or scroll through social media, we are met with adverts or influencers promoting 'before and after' transformations, weight-loss injections or fad diets,” she said.

"Sometimes, the greatest act of self-love is to stop dieting,” Rocio advised.

She further explained: "We live in a culture where the desire to lose weight is not only normalised but socially praised, with little regard for the potential consequences. When you live in that type of environment, it is incredibly hard to see that the urge to change your body might be a symptom of a deeper struggle, or that many of the behaviours currently being celebrated could, in fact, be warning signs of an eating disorder.”

Offering motivating words to anyone dieting due to feeling bad about their body weight, Rocio said:

"I would tell them to stop believing they lack willpower; the fault does not lie with them, but with the diets themselves. Diets are not the solution they promise to be: if they truly worked, we wouldn't feel the need to start a new one every year. Constantly being on a diet is like being trapped in an invisible prison that robs you of energy, joy and freedom.”