Riverdale's Camila Mendes Is 'Done with Dieting' After Dealing with Past Eating Disorders

Riverdale's Camila Mendes Is 'Done with Dieting' After Dealing with Past Eating Disorders

Camila Mendes is “done with dieting” after spending much of her life obsessing over being thin.

The Riverdale star, 23, says she decided to change her mindset after talking to a naturopath about her “anxiety” about food and an “obsession” with dieting.

“She phrased a pivotal question in such a way that struck a chord with me: what other things could you be thinking about if you didn’t spend all your time thinking about your diet? I suddenly remembered all the activities I love that used to occupy my time,” Mendes writes on Instagram. “At some point in my life, I allowed my obsession with being thin to consume me, and I refused to make room in my mind for any other concerns.”

When did being thin become more important than being healthy? I recently went to a naturopath for the first time in my life. I told her about my anxiety around food and my obsession with dieting. She phrased a pivotal question in such a way that struck a chord with me: what other things could you be thinking about if you didn't spend all your time thinking about your diet? I suddenly remembered all the activities I love that used to occupy my time. At some point in my life, I allowed my obsession with being thin to consume me, and I refused to make room in my mind for any other concerns. Somehow I had stripped myself of all the pastimes that brought me joy, and all that was left of me was my anxiety around food. My passion for education, cinema, music, etc. — all the interests that used to occupy my mind — had been eaten away by my desire to be thin, and it made me miserable. I'm done believing in the idea that there's a thinner, happier version of me on the other side of all the tireless effort. Your body type is subject to genetics, and while eating nutrient-dense foods and exercising regularly will make you healthier, it will not necessarily make you thinner, and the current system fails to make that distinction. I’m sick of the toxic narrative that the media consistently feeds us: that being thin is the ideal body type. A healthy body is the ideal body type, and that will look different for every person. I’m #donewithdieting - join me in this movement and share your story!

A post shared by Camila Mendes (@camimendes) on Feb 19, 2018 at 9:13am PST

The actress, who previously revealed that she once had an eating disorder, realized she was no longer enjoying her former pastimes — her “passion for education, cinema, music” — because she was too focused on being thin.

Instead of continuing to feel “miserable,” Mendes says she will no longer diet.

“I’m done believing in the idea that there’s a thinner, happier version of me on the other side of all the tireless effort,” she says. “Your body type is subject to genetics, and while eating nutrient-dense foods and exercising regularly will make you healthier, it will not necessarily make you thinner, and the current system fails to make that distinction.”

Plus, Mendes adds, there’s a false idea that “being thin is the ideal body type.”

“A healthy body is the ideal body type, and that will look different for every person,” she says. “I’m #donewithdieting.”