Diet Culture Vilifies Latine Cuisine. I Help Latinas Reconnect With Cultural Foods

Growing up, I’d wake up to the tune of Juan Luis Guerra and Toño Rosario and the smell of los tres golpes. That meal of salami, fried cheese, eggs, and mangú was made with love, and I felt nourished with each bite. This classic home-cooked Dominican breakfast brought warmth to my mornings and aided my growth more than any U.S. fast-food breakfast sandwich ever could. 

Since I was a child, I’ve always known how nutritious and satisfying Latine homefare was. A plate of arroz blanco con habichuelas y platanos was my fuel. This ancestral meal had been keeping me and my elders energized and well for decades. And during the holidays, making locrio with my abuela and eating habichuela con dulce were nourishing treats. These dishes made me feel good, physically and spiritually — until I was taught that these superfoods that aided my healthy growth were labeled as “bad.”

It was 2006 and I was in college studying to be a pediatrician when I took a nutrition 101 class. I fell in love with the idea of preventive care and ended up switching my major and starting dietetics school. And as soon as I did, I started questioning everything about food, my body, and disease, all the knowledge that had been passed down to me by the matriarchs in my family. I absorbed all of the dietary guides and promptly changed my eating habits, obsessing over so-called “good” foods, like leafy greens, and cutting out what was called “bad,” like sugary quesitos, in the name of health. I even asked my mom to switch to brown rice — though that lasted all but 30 seconds because, well, it’s just not very appetizing.

But just as my regretful switch from white to brown rice was short-lived, so was my indoctrination of whitewashed Western nutrition. The more classes I attended and literature I read, I began to learn the actual science behind different kinds of food — and it wasn’t adding up to what all the guides suggested. After carefully considering and examining what I was actually being taught, the science, and how to apply it to what I was eating at home, I discovered what had been inherently true to me as a kid: the food I grew up on, la comida de la casa, was giving me all the nutrition I needed. I knew my Dominican meals were healthful. If they weren't, how would my bisa-abuela, who ate frituras, platanos, y arroz con habichuelas, live to be 100? And now I had the facts to prove it.

But just because I recognized the racism behind United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) guidelines, which has a very whitewashed Western idea of nutrition that disregards fares from around the world, doesn’t mean other Latinas did as well. The U.S. diet industry forces Latinas, and other marginalized racial and ethnic groups, to assimilate by adopting a new diet that white nutritionists and dieticians have deemed as quality, good, and healthy. And in doing so, many Latinas stop eating our cultural foods, fearing nourishing meals and snacks, and some developing disordered eating behaviors.  

But just because the USDA guidelines don’t customize recommendations and make blanket statements using stereotypes and racism, that does not mean our comida is “bad.” Consider how these nutritionists and dieticians advise Latines not to eat rice and beans together because there are allegedly too many carbs in this combination, but turn around and encourage people who are vegan to eat these sides together because they make a complete protein. Make it make sense. You can’t because it doesn’t. 

This is why I’m on a mission to make sure Latinas know and understand that our foods are healthy and have long sustained us. As a registered dietician with nearly 10 years in the game, I use my insight to help Latinas reject diet culture and reconnect with our cultural foods. Whether through my practice, Your Latina Nutritionist, masterclass, social media, or upcoming book, I help Latinas heal our relationship with food. From group sessions to one-on-one coaching, I help my community understand how “whitewashing” contributes to disordered eating and how it’s not our ancestral diet but rather the lack of access many of us, especially those who are low-income and/or live in food deserts, have to quality food that contribute to our higher incidences of chronic diseases. 

After helping my clients unlearn the racist lies we've been taught about Latine eating habits and health, I teach them about the nutrition in our traditional meals. For instance, our foods have whole grains: corn (maíz), oats (avena) bulgar (trigo), and quinoa are all whole grains. Even if some of these grains are refined or processed, this does not mean they’re “bad.” It means that the bran, the hard shell that covers a grain, was removed in order to make it softer and oftentimes more palatable. And we can enrich and fortify our grains to add more nutrition with beans, protein, and veggies. Talking about vegetables, while leafy greens are healthful, we don't have to eat them all the time. Whether Latinas cook with a sofrito base that’s made up of herbs, peppers, and onions or add these ingredients later, so much of Latin American fare is rich in vegetables. Root vegetables, like yucca and malanga, are also starchy, including more minerals, vitamins, and fiber. 

Our cultural foods are amazing. In fact, the foods we were told were bad — like avocados  — are now being sold back to us as “super” or “better.” Just because predominantly white institutions have not taken the time to learn the ingredients in our food, or why we use these ingredients, doesn’t mean they’re inherently "bad." We need to think critically and remember that our ancestors thrived on these meals — they got all the nutrition they needed. 

When you think of nutrition in a scientific way, then you realize that the comida en casa is exactly what you need. You can add nutrition with culturally appropriate ingredients to your meals without compromising nutrition or flavor. You don’t need the kale or broccoli — unless you want it, of course.