Dr Eva Orsmond: ‘Irish women need to look after their bodies and stop putting their kids before their health'

Irish Independent

20-06-2025

Orsmond, who was on the panel of experts on the now-defunct Operation Transformation, also said she went on her first diet at the age of 11 and makes no apologies for it.
The diabetes specialist, who runs clinics in Dublin and Galway, is known for her acerbic tongue and unapologetic straight-talking, and said she is 'frustrated' by Irish women.
'I often ask my Irish clients who the most important person in their lives is? They might say, 'Oh, my husband' or 'My children' and that is nonsense,' she said.
'It shouldn't be like that – that is the wrong answer. It should be yourself.
There is nothing wrong with liking yourself – how could you like someone else if you don't like yourself?
'And really it should be your partner and not your children, because children should come afterwards. I really believe that.
'There is nothing wrong with liking yourself, because how could you like someone else if you don't like yourself?'
The Finland-born doctor said she started dieting as a schoolgirl, on the advice of her mother, and has no regrets. 'I like being slim because it is good for me and to be honest, I am quite vain. I was on my first diet with my mother when I was 11 to lose a few kilos, so dieting is in my DNA,' she said.
'I cannot complain about my childhood because I didn't have so much, but the best thing I would say that my mother gave me was respect for my body and looking after myself.
'I'm very vain, I like to look as best as I can. That doesn't mean that I go to the gym with make-up on or look great all the time, but I like to fit into nice clothes'.
Orsmond is the first guest on the second series of the Under the Grill podcast, with celebrity chef Kevin Dundon and co-host Caoimhe Young.
In each episode, a well-known Irish personality chooses a dish from their childhood and Dundon cooks it up in his kitchen, setting the scene for some warm conversation.
Orsmond, who has two grown-up sons, worked in her homeland, as well as in Bangladesh and Namibia, before moving to Ireland in her mid-30s and making Dublin her home.
She said she has great admiration for Irish people and the Irish 'mentality'.
Orsmond said she hopes to meet a 'nice Irish man' and loves being in the public eye and being recognised when she is out and about.
Irish people are so polite
'Ireland has only brought goodness to me. Irish people are so polite,' she said.
'I think it's once in the last 25 years that somebody has approached me on the road and said something negative. It's actually very nice for somebody like me who is an immigrant. When I came here I didn't know anyone. Nobody. Not one person.
'It's nice because it makes it obviously so homely and there is this thing, you know, when you go to shops and people talk to you.
'There as a lady in Dunnes Stores the other day and she was presenting, you know, some food demonstration and she started to talk to me like we knew each other.'
Under the Grill is on YouTube and wherever you get your podcasts.