Chula, come con gusto
In the Your Latina Nutrition blog, we help you learn to nourish & respect your body without harsh food rules, overcome cycles of bingeing and restriction, and embrace your here-and-now body.
You can do this all while keeping your cultural foods alive & adopting health-promoting behaviors.
Enjoy our research-backed articles written by registered dietitians Isabel and Dalina!
Blog Categories
ALL POSTS | RECIPES | INTUITIVE EATING | JOYFUL MOVEMENT | BODY IMAGE | GENTLE NUTRITION | CULTURA
The Pros and Cons of Intuitive Eating for Latinas
Intuitive eating is an amazing framework for promoting health and fostering a better relationship to food, but there are drawbacks for Latinas that get overlooked. Learn all about the pros and cons of intuitive eating for Latinas.
10 Traditional Noche Buena Foods in the Dominican Republic
Noche buena—the night before Christmas—is a night of celebration for Dominicans, including delicious food. Learn 10 Dominican noche buena foods and their nutritional value.
Caribbean Fruits: A Complete Guide
There are loads of Caribbean fruits and they’re all packed with nutrition. Learn the common uses, flavor, and nutrition of 15 Caribbean fruits.
Intuitive Eating for Diabetes: An In-Depth Guide
Despite many people thinking they have to adopt a restrictive mindset around carbs to manage diabetes, intuitive eating is a viable, research-backed option. Learn how you can use intuitive eating to manage your diabetes without harsh food rules.
Is Corn Good for Diabetes? An In-Depth Guide
Corn is a Latine food staple, especially in Mexican, Peruvian, Venezuelan, and Colombian cuisine. It forms the basis for foods like arepas, tortillas, and tamales. With our Latine community facing relatively high rates of diabetes, you may wonder whether corn is part of a healthy diet for diabetes.
What Are The Social Determinants of Health?
The social determinants of health account for systemic factors—those outside of people’s control—that impact health. Learn what these factors are and how they impact health.
Is MSG Really Bad For Me?
Many associate MSG with harmful effects on health; however, this association isn’t backed by research. In fact, it’s rooted in xenophobia and racism. Learn MSG’s effects on health and how it got such a bad rap.
Setting Boundaries With Your Latine Family
Boundaries can support your food freedom journey, but there are unique challenges for Latines. Learn tips for setting boundaries, especially with your Latine family.
3 Things I Learned From My Abuela About Food
If we are consistently eating way past comfortable fullness due to pressure from our families, we probably aren’t honoring our bodies. Yet, we don’t want to disrespect our abuelas or mothers by saying no. We can work on setting kind boundaries - things like “Abuela, the food was amazing! I’m full now, but can I please have some to take home with me?”
Living In Between Two Cultures
I’ve definitely struggled with not feeling Latina enough. And I’ve also struggled with not quite feeling American enough (I think that by that, I mean I knew I’d never be white). I’m sure I’m not alone in this. As children or grandchildren of immigrants, we can feel like we’re living in between two cultures. We may not feel fully understood by our white friends, but we also may not have called another country home. According to surveys conducted by Pew Research, about 60% of second generation Hispanics consider themselves to be “typical Americans”, but most of this population still has a “strong sense of identity with their ancestral roots.”
Are Latin Foods Nutritious?
Our Latin foods have so much to provide in both the nutrients they contain and the other forms of nourishment (cultural, spiritual, familial) they offer, yet diet culture has made us feel they don’t belong in a nutritious diet. I’m here to tell you that isn’t true. Not enough dietitians or medical providers are well-versed in the benefits of our Latin foods and therefore, aren’t recommending them and/or are quick to demonize them. In this week’s blog, I’m going to go through the nutritional benefits of some of the most common foods we grew up with in our Latin households.
A Letter to Latinas on Nutrition
You don’t need to ditch the platanos or the yuca or the arroz blanco. Please don’t restrict yourself from that food. I know that restricting that doesn’t only mean restricting the calories and nutrients, but our culture. It means minimizing the sentimentality of it, the memories of our abuelas cooking it for us when we were young (and maybe even now!), the memories of craving it as a kid, of missing it when we were in a different environment. Food is culture. As a Latina dietitian, I don’t want you to ever minimize the cultural importance of our food.
Why We Became Anti-Diet Dietitians
Being a Latina anti-diet dietitian is something I feel very lucky and proud to be doing. I am passionate about educating others on the issues with diet culture while empowering them to reconnect to their intuition for better mental and physical health. However, if you talked to me a few years ago, I would have never predicted I’d be working in this niche of dietetics. That was before my own struggles, which peaked during college, shifted my view on nutrition and opened my eyes to the intuitive eating approach. For this piece, in addition to talking about my own reasons for doing what I do, I spoke with Dalina to ask her about why she became an anti-diet dietitian.
Eating Disorders Among Latinas
While eating disorders take various forms, they are all commonly caused by a combination of biological, psychological, and sociocultural factors. Unfortunately, they are stereotypically viewed as a white, middle to upper class issue. This generalization is not only false, but it contributes to people of color being under-reported and undiagnosed with eating disorders. Although there is a lot more research to be done on eating disorders in minority groups, the research out there has shown that eating disorders occur at similar or higher rates in Latinas compared to non-hispanic whites, specifically binge-eating disorder.
The Power of Owning Your Narrative
Why am I talking about this? Appreciating our bodies, eating intuitively, and moving joyfully are branches of a bigger tree - the tree of self love! They all intersect and play off of each other. A key step in this journey towards self love is to get to know ourselves (I mean what really makes you, you! Not just what you do for work). How can we respect or love ourselves if we haven’t taken the time to really get to know ourselves?