Milanese increasingly on the scale. Over half, 51% (in 2021 they were 28%) stick to a diet or controlled eating regimen, but only in 19% of cases is a professional prescribing them. This was revealed by the survey by the UniSalute Health Observatory, which together with Nomisma, in December 2023, questioned a sample of 1,200 people stratified by age (18-75 years), sex and geographical area regarding their relationship with food. The first data that emerges is that more and more Milanese declare that they follow a controlled diet: of the 51%, only 19% have relied on a dietician or nutritionist, despite 61% of those interviewed declaring themselves interested in being followed by a professional . Many still opt for “do-it-yourself” or the advice of friends and relatives (18%), while in the rest of the cases a specific type of diet was suggested by the GP (7%) or by a personal trainer (6%).
But why follow a diet? The most often cited motivation is feeling good about oneself (49%), together with wanting to keep fit and take care of one’s physical appearance (35%). In the background are issues related to health: from those who try to prevent diseases and other disorders (31%) to those who have had to change their diet after finding abnormal values in the analyzes (27%), or those who want to solve a problem of overweight or obesity (24%).
In any case, whether on a diet or not, in Milan over two out of five interviewees (41%) say they have eaten in a healthier and more balanced way in the last year and 54% consider good eating habits a fundamental aspect of their Health. The Mediterranean diet is very widespread, with 38% indicating it as the eating style most similar to their own. This is followed by low-calorie diets (16%), personalized diets based on specific needs (14%) and diets that limit meat consumption (11%). However, 7% of those interviewed describe themselves as vegan or vegetarian.
«In the meantime we need to understand what diet means – explains Sara Bertelli, director of the Nutrition and Eating Disorders Center of the Santi Carlo e Paolo Asst – the relationship with food is one of the ways we have to take care of ourselves, together with taking care of physical activity and the body in general. But you have to be careful: extreme diets, for example, risk making you fat. Therefore, a diet done alone risks having the opposite effect with the typical yo-yo trend, except that by continuing to gain weight you also risk becoming depressed. Food also has a consolatory effect: the risk is that when faced with the failure of the diet we paradoxically console ourselves with food, falling into a vicious circle that is very difficult to break.” The center sees around 300 new admissions a year for anorexia, bulimia and obesity, with a 40% increase compared to the pre-Covid period. Pathologies that particularly affect the age group between 16 and 24 years. This is why it is necessary to be followed: to get indications on the type of diet to follow depending on your needs and characteristics. Thus, extreme diets should be avoided which risk being very dangerous for the body: a high-protein diet, for example, can cause kidney damage in the long term. «It is also necessary to follow up on the times in which to start a diet – continues Bertelli – periods in which you do not have sufficient energy to do so or in which perhaps you are busy on another front.
Precisely to prevent the person from falling into this spiral.”
