Alimentación salud y cultura - SANHISO C. International health and ...

AlimentAción, sAlud y culturA: encuentros interdisciplinAres
out as up to the person herself. In a very significant passage of those
discussions, I wrote down in my field notes:
73
Each person should ask himself: «What is important for me?». The
suggestion was followed by the idea that this attitude would take precedence
over the care with her or his own children. The comment pointed
out the excessive dedication that parents devote to their children. That is
to say, even when parents are taking care of their own children, they still
should not abandon what was important to themselves personally; they
should find the best form of reconciling the two things (Field notes).
These perspectives inflate the self in such a way that it seems
to become incompatible with the dispositions of the family relationships
experiences as they were lived in the past. The caretaker mother
should give way to the self centered individual, busy with himself.
The individual that takes on the responsibility for the care of himself
certainly may seem too selfish for mothers who says that «the children
are worth any sacrifice». At the same time as this self comes to
light, it seems that it make the caretaker to acknowledge how wrong
she conducted herself in the past, abandoning herself to be a support
to others; how wrong it was what seemed to be the most right
and valued thing to be done: «I was submissive, I was a super-mother,
super-woman», as Selma expressed once. This self gives a sharp tone
to the dislocating of references that comes as a solution to the experience
of solitude, strengthening a more individualistic experience.
The individual more autonomous in the caring of himself becomes
critical in the face of the traditional values and skilful at making
his own choices. The Diabetics are advised to be acutely aware
about themselves: as a manner of living better they are counseled, for
instance, to become conscious of the way they think or feel the things
which affect them, they must «see» the things. In so doing, people
could evaluate the «collective influence that imposes the values upon
the unconscious mind».
The narratives that were collected in the psychotherapy groups
point out the changes that have been happening above all in the
members’ family relationships, but also in those related to the job
market. These changes reflect some conflicts related to the material
and affectionate support relationships, and the reciprocity among the