Episode 103: Genetics, Culture, & Health With Dalina Soto, MA, RD, LDN
Episode 103: Genetics, Culture, & Health With Dalina Soto, MA, RD, LDN
In this episode we sit down with....Dalina Soto.
Dalina Soto MA, RD, LDN is a Spanish speaking registered dietitian. Dalina works as one of the few Spanish speaking RDs in the Philadelphia area and virtually across the country, teaching her clients how to ditch the diet mentality and keep their culture alive.
In this conversation we talk about:
Dalina’s personal body image story- pregnancy, stretch marks & growing up in a large family
Her experiences of dissonance during dietitian school & changing her beliefs
How Dalina supports her Latinx clients in getting out of the diet culture and practical tools for setting your own boundaries when starting to adopt new information around health
Cultural effects on health throughout US history (& still occurring today!) - food deserts, food apartheids, & redlining
Racism that exists in wellness culture
Connect with our guest...
Resources we mention in this episode…
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TRANSCRIPTION
Episode 103: Genetics, Culture, & Health With Dalina Soto, MA, RD, LDN
Katelyn:
All right, Dalina Soto. Hi, welcome to the show.
Dalina:
Thanks for having me.
Katelyn:
I'm so excited. You're here. Let's dive in. And we always ask the same question to everybody on the show. And that's your first body awareness moment. So what did that look like for you that moment where you realized, I'm in a body? Apparently, this means something in the world that I'm living in, just paint the picture? And also, how did that moment shape your relationship with food and or your body moving forward?
Dalina:
Yeah, so I think that I have had an immense privilege of always being in a body that the world considered to be good, right or not to be problematic. And because of that, that really didn't shape much of my childhood, or even my teenage years, I, again, didn't really think about my body that much. But I think that the one moment where everything shifted was when I became pregnant. And it was really difficult for me to understand why I had stretch marks, you know, because I grew up watching, you know, my whole family get pregnant, and everybody, you know, around me, my friends, I had friends of it that had had babies, and they didn't get stretch marks like I did, right. And for me, it really ended up really messing with my body image, because I kept thinking, like, what did I do wrong? Like, what is wrong with my body that I have stretch marks that don't just look normal? Like super deep, you know, super essentially did, you could see them like a mile away. And it wasn't just like, on one little bit of my belly, it was like, up and down above my belly button, like just like, literally my whole belly. And in my head, I just, it was such a pivotal moment for my body image because I really, you know, never had a struggle before that I never really cared about how my body looked before that. But after pregnancy, I felt like damaged goods, like I literally felt like I did something wrong, but I didn't, you know, put enough lotion on it, you know, you hear the stories of like, oh, you scratched or you didn't use enough of this, or blah, blah, blah. And now I know like it's just genetic. Like, I literally did nothing wrong. And I guess the one beauty of social media is that I have been able to see hundreds of other bellies that look like mine, and that are embraced. And I often say that, you know, I don't love my stretch marks, I will never probably love them. But they're part of who I am. And I am neutral to them. And I think that that's one of the biggest things that if any listener takes away from my conversation today is that body love isn't the like, end all be all, like, you need to have some neutrality to like you can't love every single part of yourself. But I also don't hate them. Because they gave me you know, the ability to grow my children. And if my body didn't stretch, and if I didn't get stretch marks, I would have exploded, my skin would have gone pretty badly. So Stretch marks are a way of protecting yourself, right? So I had to kind of like reframe my thoughts around it. I really learned to be neutral with them and take them and love them. They just are.
Katelyn:
Yeah, I am a big fan of body neutrality. I think when we hear the term body love, it's so confusing for so many people because most of us have spent a large majority of our life feeling uncomfortable with our bodies, or like our bodies were a problem in some way or like body love was for somebody else and not for us. And so it can feel really complex. And I think on the journey to body love. One thing to keep in mind is unconditional love, which means that you don't have to like it all the time. You don't have to be just you don't have to celebrate it all the time. But it is this form of neutrality and respect that I think is so important to keep in mind on that journey to self love. So that's so beautiful. I am super curious. Before you arrived at your stretch mark story. What did your relationship with food and your body look like? Because I, I think it's pretty rare I know, especially in this community to go through life and have a pretty peaceful, neutral positive relationship in your body. So, what contributed to that? What did your family look like? Or your social circle look like? Or what were you watching? What are you consuming? In a reflective period? What do you feel like really facilitated that for you?
Dalina:
so odd? Because I've thought about this so much. And I really am like, how was I so sheltered? And why didn't the images or just other people around me faze me as much I often joke around that, I don't care what other people think. And I've always like, gone at the beat of my own drum, like I've never given into peer pressure or anything like that, like just growing up, I just didn't care. Like, if you did something, and everybody else was doing it, but I didn't feel like doing it, I'd be like, Screw this bye, I'm not gonna be part of this. Um, so I think it really had to do with my personality. And I think, as I'm learning from my children, everybody has their own personality, and everybody has a way of being and I definitely grew up, you know, being the first child of two immigrant, you know, parents and I had to grow up pretty quickly, you know, I had to translate and I had to be, you know, kind of like an adult, even when I was a child. So I think because of that, it maybe hardened me a little bit. I was very fortunate that I grew up with parents that were very intuitive. I don't think, you know, be a Dominican, but didn't know what intuitive eating was or anything like that. But I definitely grew up with a family that did not care about bodies. Like it was never like a topic of conversation. My mom wasn’t outwardly always dieting. She, you know, dabbled here and there like slim fast. I mean, like in the 90s, who wasn't having a shake, right? Like, it was like the thing. But she never like, from me thinking back as a child. I just like never heard her ever talk that about her body, or unless it was stretch marks, which I think was why.
Katelyn:
Oh, interesting. Yeah,
Dalina:
Yeah. Cuz she would always be like, I don't have any stretch marks. And she was like, always so proud of that. Like, she was so proud that she that her stomach looked pristine, according to her, right. And she had three children. And she had no stretch mark. But I never ever heard her speak about her body in any way. And the SlimFast you know, it was just that, like, I don't ever remember it being like, I need to lose X amount of pounds or whatever. I think it was more of like, I'm trying to be healthy because, you know, back then that's what everybody thought so, because of that, I think I was like super fortunate of not having that diet culture imposed on me also, because I was a, you know, very thin child. Very thin. You know, my mom always joked around like, I was in the same size for like, you know, I was tall but I was lanky so I was in like, the same size pants for like years because they didn't, you know, they didn't have anything in my waist size. So I had to wear like, the smaller and so because of that people never commented on my body. People, you know, never force fed me or told me to stop eating right. Like, in my family. I was always like, Oh, she could just eat whatever she wanted. She'll be okay. Right. So I definitely grew up with that, you know, privileged, you know, way of thinking because, yeah, and the same thing with like, my brothers, like nobody ever told us that we couldn't have this. We couldn't have that. And so even in the teenage years, you know, some parents of my friends would say things so I would go into their homes and I would hear different things but like to me I would be like, my body's fine. Like, I don't need to do anything like you know, like I just had Some competence that I don't know where it came from. But I just didn't cater. I just, it wasn't something that I wanted to do. I thought it was cool that I could eat whatever I want it right? And be okay.
Katelyn:
When did diet culture start to come onto your radar from more more of a professional sense, or even a personal sense, where you just really started to recognize, oh, this actually is something and it's a problem, even if it doesn't necessarily apply to me in terms of how I'm trying to shape my body right now. But this is something to kind of be aware of when, when was that relevant?
Dalina:
School. So I went, I went to school to be a dietitian, I think a part of me wanted to be like this perfect dietitian, right. And, you know, I was learning all about nutrition, and I wanted to have a perfect diet and I wanted to, you know, eat in a healthy manner. And it was a lot of tug of war within me, because I often say like, I drank the Kool Aid, because I would come home from school and tell my mom like, you can't have this, you can't have that you just switch to this. You can just watch that. Because that's what I was learning in school. But then, as I'm sitting in school, I'm also questioning Well, my mom is one of eight. My family is Jai frickin normous. We all eat the same exact foods. Yet, we all literally have different body shapes. Just like we have different eye colors, different hair color, different skin colors, like you throw us up against the wall. I have over 50 cousins, and you're going to get every single shade of hair. Every single shade of skin color, probably. And like every texture of hair, like you're just gonna get the gift.
Katelyn:
Did you say 50 cousins like five zero?
Dalina:
Over 50? Yeah.
Katelyn:
Yeah, that is that's incredible. Also super fun. And also really interesting genetically speaking, like you're saying being able to really have Yeah, personal case study for how genetics can vary.
Dalina:
Yeah. Yeah. And I mean, they all married different people, too. So I mean, we literally all look different. And my grandma will feed us all the same. Our parents would feed us all the same. Like we were all eating straight Dominican food.
Katelyn:
Which is what what? What is Dominican? Yeah, how would you describe it?
Dalina:
Dominican food is very Caribbean. So we eat a lot of white rice, a lot of beans, a lot of meat. So we eat a variety of meats, like we eat a lot of goat. We eat a lot of oxtail, and things that people in America are like, What the heck is that? And it's like, Oh, that's pretty normal for us, chicken, pork. You know, just root vegetables are huge. And just like it's, it's, I can't even explain it. It's just like very Caribbean. So if you've ever seen like a Cuban restaurant, which are a little bit more, I think popular than a Dominican restaurant, they're more of like a hole in the wall or even like Jamaican food or you know, Trinidadian, little, they have more of like an Indian, you know, yeah, next to it, but it's really much like that those types of foods that you would think of right? And yeah, like, we literally all grew up eating these foods. And in my head, I'm just like, there's something wrong here. Like, you can't tell me that this is a reason why people are sick when literally till this day, nobody in my family has diabetes. Nobody in my family has, you know, heart disease or anything like that cancers. Like, we have been very lucky. And I think it's because of that, you know, relationship with food that has been cultivated in our little bubble that we just don't have these kinds of, you know, things for now. Right? I can't say that it's gonna be forever but as of now, you know, all my aunts and uncles are super healthy, you know, if we want to even use that word, which I don't you know, I use it, but I think that people need to understand like health is whatever that is to you. It's not like a textbook.
Katelyn:
Yeah. I love that. So it sounds like there was some dissonance when you were starting to study this then. So what were some thoughts and new beliefs coming up for you as you were studying like this new version of health and paying all this money for this?
Dalina:
Um, you know, a lot of the textbooks and a lot of the case studies and just a lot of the information is very stereotyped. So it would be like the Latins, you know, community, Latino community has a higher chance or incidence of diabetes and it's because they have tortillas and white rice and blah, blah. So you would get all of this information for a very stereotypical point of view the same thing with like the African American or we should just You know, black Americans, right? We would get that information. And it would be like very stereotypical, you know, it's all the salt and the southern food. And it's like, really? It isn't really that or should we be talking about social determinants? Sure, we'll be talking about racial disparities, like, Should we be talking to access to food, right. And again, I come from more of a middle class family, right? In my family, there were a lot of people struggling to make ends meet and like to buy food, right. So that's something that I think I need to point out that, like, I grew up in a family that never had food insecurity. And so I definitely always had access to food, and so did the majority of my family. So when we look at that, right, in comparison to like, other, you know, Latino families or the, you know, the disbursement of, you know, wealth in Latino families or in black families, that should be something that we should be talking about, you know, that access and the, you know, the pay gap. And so I think, you know, there was just a point where I was just like, and then the BMI like the BMI literally through before, I was like you This is full, like I'm done with this like this. That's where I was like, this is complete bullshit.
Katelyn:
Okay, can I ask you a question about that? Before you go into that, because I want to hear I want to get into the BMI and all. But I also heard you say that you were in a phase where you were researching and reading this information and coming back and telling your mom Hey, that changes around and every Yeah. So what was the journey like for you where you actually realize, wait a minute this is not right. We need to look at this in a different way. Was that in school? Was it after school? How did you get to that point?
Dalina:
Yeah. So like, basically, there's four years of dietetic school. So I want to say like the first two years of dietetic school, I was like, very much like my way to switch with like, just so we have to do that. And like, I was very much into this like wellness world. But you don't really get to do like the medical nutrition therapy, like the really nitty gritty, like until you're getting closer to graduation. And I think that that's really what started, like falling apart for me when I was like, Wait a second, this shit is not real.
Katelyn:
How is it falling apart?
Dalina:
Yeah. Because there was like what I just said, all of the things that we were being taught about the food, and I'm like, But wait a second, like, my family eats these foods. And there's nobody, you know, being sick about it. So it wasn't until we really got into those classes that I was like, Yeah, this doesn't seem right. And like, I think, like, again, like that BMI was like, really what pushed me over? And I was like, yeah, no, this is, this is bullshit. And I think, you know, even then, I questioned the fact that, like, studies weren't really done on us. But I think I just had so many thoughts and processes and things happening in my head, and I still really wanted to graduate and I still really wanted to be a dietitian. And in my head, I was thinking, like, I'm just gonna save the world, I'm gonna cure diabetes, and everybody's gonna embrace some beans and tortillas and Bok, like, I was just still very, like bushy tailed, and like, you know, ready to like, just, like, take the dietetics world by storm. And still, you know, it was a, what I often call, like, it's like the fork in the road, when you're really trying to figure out, like, this whole, like, intuitive eating thing, or like Health at Every Size thing. It's like, even after I graduated, and I still thought, you know, BMI is bullshit. And, you know, started working in the field that really started propelling me into thinking like, Okay, I need to see this differently. But even still, then, even when I was talking about like, we can still keep our cultural foods, I was still very much focusing on weight, right? I was still very much using that as an indicator of like health, but not to the strict parameters that a BMI uses, right? Like, I would be like, Oh, don't worry about BMI like but if you want to lose five pounds, let's get you there. Right. Like, it was very much like a dissonance, like you said, of like, I was still using that as a measurement of health like weight. But I would always be like, but you know, like, we have butts and we have boobs, and you know, we're just a little thicker, so that's okay.
Katelyn:
Yeah. Well, when you were using that as a metric, was it more like a vanity metric? Or was it more like based in research, or what you thought of research at the time around health and like blood markers and things like that? What was the intention?
Dalina:
I definitely use blood markers more, right. And like, I still use them now. Right? But in my education, right. It's always like, well, if we can get people to lose 10% of their weight, right? If we can just get people to lose something, it's going to help right so I was inevitably restricting people. I was telling them well, you know, how about we just, you know, only use a cup of rice or you know, like all the things that you hear, right. Everything that you hear most dietitians say I was saying it, but I was still saying, but you know, you can still have your foods, because we're just gonna portion it out. Right? And you'll find hundreds doing the same thing, really what you want all foods fit? Right?
Katelyn:
What's the problem with that? Because I think so many people are going to hear this and be like, you will? Yeah, that's, that's what I believe, or that's what I've been told, or that's what I feel like I should be working towards. So in your expertise and your experience. Why should people be concerned or curious about looking at that?
Dalina:
Yeah, because we're, we're inevitably restricting, right? So anybody that's going to tell you that they're going to help you lose weight, or they guarantee a certain amount of weight loss, they are cutting calories in order to get you in a deficit in order for you to, quote unquote, lose weight, which we all know doesn't always happen. And so this idea that I had to portion control, and I had to like monitor or track, or I need to cut a certain amount every single day to see a certain amount of weight loss during the week, right? Like, I'll even hear people be like, yeah, we're only doing half pound or like a pound a week. And I'm like, but Yeah, but you're still restricting, right? And you're, you're not allowing your body to really eat how much it needs or not eat or just like or balance itself out in the long run, right. So I always say like, we're not robots, you can't take one calorie count and disperse it into seven days. And say that that's what your body needs. Because your hormone levels are going to change the activity level, your sleep is going to be different, like, we don't wake up and move exactly the same, and have the same levels of everything every single day. So when you learn to connect with your body, you will notice that some days you are more hungry than others. Some days you're less hungry. Some days you are craving more vegetables, some days, you're not some days, you just want a little bit more carbs. You know, some days, you really just want salads, because it's hot outside, and you just want fresh foods and like it just because it's what you want. You don't want nothing heavy. Then there's days where it's cold outside, and you're like, I really want a soup. So this idea that you need to be a robot and have the same amount pre portioned, right? Like people will be like, but I'm meal prep for the week. And like nothing wrong with meal prepping. But if you're taking a container and saying any seven nuts here, and only half a cup of rice here and only this year, it only got here that you're inevitably restricting.
Katelyn:
Let's talk about blood markers a little bit more, because I think this is very normal in the culture that we live in. It's a question that most people have that's often confused with the advice that we're getting in different medical settings. And just you know, it's passed on from families, media, it's all around us. So what do you know that you want other people to know about genetics and blood markers, predispositions to just certain types of diseases that really don't have anything to do with food? And how we should be looking at food a little bit differently because of that?
Dalina:
Yeah, so genetics plays such a big role in our health. And so when we look at like the social determinants of health, we'll only 30% of our like health is contributed to exercise and diet. That means that the other 70% has to do with your education, your access to food, health care, where you live, right do have sidewalks. Your religion sometimes even plays the role into all of this. So like, I don't have the wheel in front of me. I usually have my workbook in front of me when I have my wheel in there. But there's just like so many things, right that contribute to your health. But genetics is a big one, right? Because if you come from a family that has familial you know, high culture straw that means that like, no matter what you do, you're probably going to have high cholesterol. So, you know, familial cholesterol is like, you know, genetics. And you know, in my family, it runs in our family. And like, nobody takes medication, everyone just tries to manage it with, you know, food and exercise. That's the worst. That's the best we can do right now. And eventually, I might need your no medication. And I'm not going to be opposed to it because my body over produces cholesterol, right? There's instances where, you know, people just have a family history of diabetes. And all you can do right is try to keep it at bay. And then eventually, if something goes wrong, it's not your fault, right. And I think that that's something that angers me about the wellness world. And that it, it puts pressure on the individual, like I did something wrong, I caused this to myself. It's like, no people can do quote, unquote, everything perfect. And you'll hear like, I don't know, who was the biggest loser guy that like dropped a heart attack. And he's like, literally the Potomac. Like New could literally try to be perfect and still get sick. So health says, is part of wellness culture and diet culture, because it blames the individual and says, You did this to yourself, you should have done more, you should have been better. But nobody talks about how stress affects your health and how you know that.
Katelyn:
Well, I heard you just say, you know, really, rather than focusing on restricting or just what you're eating, find other ways to help keep some of these predetermined conditions at bay. So stress, like you're saying, huge, what else? What are some other things that we should be concerned about that don't have anything to do with food or perhaps do have something to do with food in a non restrictive way?
Dalina:
Yeah, it's about having balance. And I hate using the word balance because I feel like also diet culture has stolen it and the word moderation but it's literally if you think of a pendulum, if it's swinging towards both ends, that's not good, right? If you're being constantly really, really good, then you can't keep it up. And then you'd let go, and then you're being really really bad and you're binging and you're eating you know, a whole thing of Oreo cookies and you're shaming yourself and guilting yourself and then you're like, Oh crap, no, I need to restrict sugar again. And you're like going back and forth. That causes so much stress to your body and cortisol causes complete in our habit. We know that right? Instead, why don't we just do the pendulum how it always is in the middle of some days you eat more sugar, some days, you might not eat anything at all that's sugary, but it's always swinging in the middle in either direction, not like swinging towards the ends. And as long as you're eating variety, you know, having satisfaction with food, which plays a big role in how you digest and how nutritionally or getting out of it. And the variety also plays a big role in how much nutrition you're getting right? And then your movement, right? Instead of always having this like Burn, burn, burn it burn everything I ate mentality movements should be more than that it should be about mental health, it should be about physical health, it should be about feeling good, right? Nobody likes to be sitting all day and then feeling all your knees are cracking. But also, you don't have to go to the gym. Like there's this idea that like gym is the end all be all of working out and like our ancestors didn't go to the gym. Gym didn't exist until like 100 years ago. So there's just so much polarizing fear based information out there that you could literally find something fear based for everything that you want to look up. So why not just look at the bigger picture of like, this is the binary that I'm going to be in for the rest of my life. Let me just do what works for me.
Katelyn:
Yeah. Well, and if you are somebody who has a genetic history of diabetes, or high blood pressure, or cholesterol, can you speak to these things as well, too, because I think that what you're saying applies so beautifully to these areas, but it's often confused. Because when you hear diabetes, you immediately think we can't have any sugar. You can't have any carbohydrates. And so what's the problem with that? And also, where does medication fit into all of this? And the stigma? The bullshit stigma with medication?
Dalina:
Oh, my god, yeah. Okay. So I always use myself as an example, like I said, so we have this, you know, genetic predisposition to high cholesterol, not like extreme right now. Like my dad, and I have it and have Go figure, right, the dietician has it. I love it, brother, my brothers are fine. And here I am like about the dietitian. So mine is slightly elevated. Every time I go, we monitor it. I don't mean medication yet, but I do, you know, exercise for cardiovascular health. I do, you know, add nutrition to my day with like fiber and foods that I know can help reduce my cholesterol. And I just, you know, try to reduce my stress, I you know, try to just be like normal out, like, I'm not going to not have the slice of pizza. I'm not not going to have the wings, you know what I mean? But I definitely try to add nutrition in my every day. It's not always at the forefront. But like, I know that oats are fantastic. And you can see like all the oats, a lot of oats because it helps. Because oats have beta glucan, which is a special type of special but it's a type of fiber that really really has been shown to reduce cholesterol levels. And so I had a lot of beta glucan to try to help myself.
Katelyn:
I love that I love that you're guiding in you're not taking out you're just adding in the things that support this versus Yeah, removing the thing yet quote unquote, don't Yes. Whatever it is that good.
Dalina:
Yeah, yeah. Or like, you know, exercise is great right at but I couldn't exercise for the last two weeks, I had a biopsy in my breast, and I couldn't lift and I was in extreme pain. Am I really going to be like, No, I'm going to push through because my cholesterol No. You know, two weeks isn't going to make or break my cholesterol levels. The thing was valid. Yeah, the same thing with blood sugar control, right? Stress is worse for your blood sugar control than if you had a cookie, I'm sorry, that we need to say it. But if you're eating a variety of carbohydrates, if you're again, exercising because it feels good, and you find movement that actually you want to do and it releases endorphins, and it helps you feel happier. Think of all the amazing things that are happening inside of your body. So if you have a family history of diabetes, instead of restricting we need to be adding nutrition. We need to be helping you eat enough have your body feel nourished, have a wide variety of different carbohydrates that you can choose from, you know, have exercise in your day. And if you have to take medication one day, there's nothing wrong with that because now we have science people didn't have science before in the early 90s People were dying like literally dying because there was no insulin. Now we have insulin right yeah, I think it's it's makes me so mad. Just the comparison that we are in with medication right now and hearing these one off case studies of I changed this and I got off my meds and kind of latching on to well, if they did that, I would be able to do that or I can't do that or that's like the end all be all and it's it's so deeply problematic because as we're talking about, like genetics plays such a huge part in this as well as all these other determinants of health that have nothing to do with food.
Katelyn:
So well Let's talk about culture a little bit more, because I know I mean, your business and your social media really speaks to the Latin culture. And one of the things that I'm so interested in how you support your clients in getting out of the diet culture in a, in a very like communal cultural to begin with, like it's very family oriented, very just together, that's, that's my impression, together. Imagine all 50 cousins together. Yeah. So that's kind of where I'm, I'm going. I mean, I was exposed to this a lot. I come from a very white family. But I also grew up in central Florida, where we were exposed to a lot of Latin influence, and just hispanic influence. And so that's something that I really picked up on just how close the families are, especially around food as well, too. So my question is, how do you advise your clients to set their own boundaries when they're starting to really adopt this new information around health and getting out of diet culture and all these things? What comes up in your line of work? And how do you educate around that?
Dalina:
Yeah, well, it's really hard because in Spanish, we don't even have an actual word for boundaries. And so that's so funny. Somebody else told me that too, that's so much like we don't I mean, there is like, now people translate it, you know, now, because everything in the internet and everyone is writing things in Spanish and in English, and the go to is coordinated limiters are set limits, that doesn't fly, it does not communicate the same way. And I think that it's really what I teach my clients is that, like, they learn, really a solid foundation for nutrition, that then they can take and say, like, these are the foods that we're eating, and this is the nutrition in it, and we don't have to change it. And we don't have to change who we are. And I think like we really discuss about how like sometimes, you know, we live in multi generational homes, and there's a lot of generational trauma going on. And sometimes it's about learning that you had to set the boundaries for yourself, and you can't, you know, really expect everybody to be on board. And there's a lot of like, you know, different ways to navigate it, depending on your family structure and what's going on. But for the most part, right, if you're really open and honest with your family about what you're doing, most people are like, Oh, so you're eating better, and you're moving more like, cool, right? Like, if you're able to say like, Yeah, I'm doing all these things that you want me to do. And just because I don't look a certain way, it doesn't mean that I'm healthy. And I think that or that I'm not healthy. I think it's starting to change the dialogue. And it might take a while. But a lot of people do catch on and does start shifting the dynamics in the family. And it's really wonderful to see to like just how a lot of these, you know, two lads, as I call them are able to like be that first person in their family to really just like, sprinkle that information. And, again, diet culture is like the water that we're all swimming in. So we're not always going to be perfect, and there isn't always going to be a perfect response to you. Or, you know, some people might not be on board with you. But that's fine. Because if you feel good now, why would you go back to doing something that you know, made you feel like complete and utter shit. I think like, that's what people realize is that like, I feel so good. I have so much frickin energy I can do all the things that I love to do. And I'm just not going to let someone's comment derail me, because I know the difference now. And I think that that's one of the key moments and when things shift for people is that, like, they realize how good they feel. And they don't want to go back.
Katelyn:
Yeah, the intention is different. Compounded with just the information and the education. I think that's so powerful. And I see that a lot too. I love that. Like, what are the two questions that you get asked the most right now whether it's through clients or your community, what are like the buzzy topics or things that seem to be surfacing the most?
Dalina:
Um, I say the one that we're always discussing and like my page really usually talks about is like how our cultural foods is quote unquote, not healthy. So either it doesn't have enough vegetables or it's all fried. So I'm always like dismantling that
Katelyn:
And show me the link here. Yeah, so let's just talk about it. What how would you address that?
Dalina:
So I think that a lot of people assume that vegetables and what are pollutants to look like as my plate right like you should have make Half your foods or half your plate fruits and veggies and then a quarter, you know protein and a quarter carb. But that's not how Latino people eat all their food is mixed. A lot of the times or veggies are blended or cut up super small. We don't eat kale that's not native to our country's neither is broccoli. But these are all the buzzy superfood foods that a lot of people assume we should be eating, right? Like when you look on Instagram, and you, you know, just type in healthy foods, what are you going to see a sea of green, everything is green foods are not frickin green. They're Brown, they're white. And they're a lot of ingredients. Because we don't cook with similar ingredients. Like, literally there's like sometimes like 6789 10 ingredients just to make a sauce, like, and so we've been brainwashed to believe, really, there's no other way to think about this, that we have to have these vibrant, colorful dishes green and set up and separate plates and everything has to be, you know, not touching and like, whatever. But when we talk about our dishes, which I do a lot of with the people that I'm working with, we break down the ingredients, and we talk about the nutrition. And I'm like so if this dish is giving you the fiber and the nutrients and vitamins and all that stuff, but it's green, and then we look at your dish, and it's brown, and it's also giving you all that vitamin fiber and nutrients. Why do we have to change? Like, why do we have to change what we're eating for that right? And my biggest pet peeve is like, white rice and beans gets, you know, told to Latino families like do not eat it. It's horrible for you. But if a frickin vegan walked into sorry, if a vegan walked. and I mean, it's the classic dish recommended to vegans. Yeah, yes. So why the double standard? Why the stereotype? Mm hmm. Right? It's a perfect protein. It's a full protein. It's so nutritious, and they live off rice and beans. But the little Walidah that goes to the doctor and has diabetes, the first thing out of their mouth is stop eating your rice and beans. Why? Why can the vegan do it? But the abuelito can’t.
Katelyn:
it's just so eye opening, how you're describing all of this. It's really just making me think how racist the wellness culture is. And I don't I can't remember if we've had discussions like this specifically on the podcast yet before, but it's something that I've really explored on my own in the past couple of years. And I'm so glad we're talking about this because it is so important. And it is so interesting how we get into this comparison, this comparative culture, us versus them and not being enough and also what you talked about before just all of the other social determinants of health. And we somehow are comparing everything to what Instagram is deeming as classically healthy.
Dalina:
It's unfortunate, because, I mean, there's no other way around it. Like, you know, there's just, you know, I don't know, I can say white supremacy some people go. there is a hierarchy. And everybody is going towards that hierarchy. I mean, like, I was just in DC for Martin Luther King Day, and we had like a, you know, a very intimate conference of food communicators from around the country. And it was all based on this, like, literally racism in our food system and in our education. And as dietitians a lot of the white dietitians, like, walked away from that four days, and they were like, holy shit, I've been racist, and I didn't even know about it. And one of the biggest takeaways for a lot of them was my friend Shana Spence, if you don't follow her, you should @thenutritiontea.
Katelyn:
She’s awesome. We’ll link her in the show notes.
Dalina:
Yeah, she did a presentation. And I think she did a post about it recently to talk about the presentation. But she talked about the Mediterranean diet. We all talk about the Mediterranean diet, right? It's like confidence, like the one diet. Everybody was in the Mediterranean Sea, Africa, and a bunch of other countries but we only talk about the four white countries that touch the sea. Go by Italy, Greece, France. We still talk about the Mediterranean diet, but we're not talking about the colors of the Mediterranean diet. We're just elevating the white countries. And we're not talking about the Mediterranean as a whole, which they use a lot of the same ingredients, right? Because that's like the area and all the ingredients are like the same, you know. But if we're going to talk about the Mediterranean diet, like, we need to be talking about all of those countries, and we're going to be talking about all of those foods, because that area is the one that you're elevating. And the other countries also have those same foods. So it was very eye opening for a lot of people there.
Katelyn:
Yeah. You know what, as you're talking about this, it's so interesting how much research is out here on the benefits of community and how and how it's not even in the conversation, when it comes to health in most cases, because we really reduce it down to just how we're eating and how we're moving our bodies. But I mean, even look at the Mediterranean cultures, it's really, really integrated in terms of community and family and relationship. And that has such a strong impact on our health. I mean, the studies with how children are raised and their health and how much physical touch and affection they're getting, I mean, there's just so many case studies that really influence just Yeah, health and how we are actually bonding with people and has nothing to do with food either.
Dalina:
No, it's just, it's sad. It's sad, because we have such an individualistic approach to everything. Like, I just have such a gripe with public health campaigns, because it's always like, if you don't do this, you're gonna die. And this is your fault. And you did this to yourself, What kind of like campaigns, right? You didn't eat enough fruits and vegetables, you know? And it's like, Yeah, can we talk about that? Because like, again, access? And again, why is it that the United States is, you know, the richest country in the world, supposedly, I don't even know if we are anymore. But like, why is everybody struggling? Like, why are so many people struggling with food, you don't see that in a lot of other nations, like people rub shoulders at the markets, like I have clients that live in Texas that go to Mexico to buy food, they cross the border to buy fruits and vegetables, because there's nothing in their neighborhoods. So how is that okay.
Katelyn:
Yeah, so for everybody who's listening, this is an example of a food desert, right?
Dalina:
Well a food apartheid.
Katelyn:
Well, can you explain why we're calling it that now? And also what it is because I don't think we've ever talked about this before. So educate.
Dalina:
So a food desert or a desert, in essence, it's something that occurs naturally. Right? So when we say that it's a food desert, we are saying that it's naturally occurring, as opposed to when we say a food apartheid, it's something that was created because redlining, there's a lot of, you know, systemic racism issues that go into play. Just think about redlining. If you don't know what redlining is, back in the early 60s, I would say 50s. Maybe they started redlining neighborhoods and saying, you know, this neighborhood has low income people, this neighborhood has higher income people. And so there's a lot of this like redlining and a lot of communities across the country where there's markets will be like, Oh, we don't want to go into that zip code, because they're not going to make a profit because they don't have enough money to buy our food. And so because of this, we now have created where you know, in DC I was, I'll use DC as an example, because I was literally just there this information is in my head, and Philly is just like this, and I'm from Philly. But there's forgot the river’s name, but we were in Georgetown. I don't want to butcher I don't want to. But if you look at Georgetown, where all of the like, you know, affluent people live. You can literally drive by like seven supermarkets in like, two miles. I think he said it was something ridiculous. But then you cross the river literally cross you could see them across the river, there's literally the first supermarket broke ground in like, like this year, or something, or maybe it just opened now. So the age difference of death is about 20 years. So people the death gap is literally about 20 to 25 years, because the people that don't have access to food are dying younger than the other community that has access to everything right. There, there's, you know, and you have to think about it like these lower income communities get pushed into these redlining spaces. And then there's less like, you know, there's less There's less access to be able to like get better paying jobs, like they're primarily black and brown communities. And that's the other thing. And it has to do with like, segregation. It just I mean, there's so much I don't have enough time to break it down. But like, you can Google this and like, find out like, what happened in our history? This is the history of the United States.
Katelyn:
That’s still occurring today, yeah.
Dalina:
There's so much redlining still going on. Now. You can go to a bank and try to get a loan and they'll look at your zip code. And that affects whether or not you get the loan.
Katelyn:
Yeah, this is something that I just realized in the past couple of years to this type of research, and especially just with all the things going on from the just social justice, Black Lives Matter perspectives, and all of these things. And it's, there's just so much here, and it really does influence our health disparities. Yeah.
Dalina:
Like 20 age difference. That's insane. Yeah. Life expectancy, life expectancy difference. That's the word I was looking for.
Katelyn:
Yeah. So I'm curious, in your opinion, just digesting all this information? What can we do to make a change? What can we start doing in our own cultures to make a change? Even if it's how we're making choices about our own health, but also how we can change the system as well, too? Do you have any ideas?
Dalina:
That's a loaded question. I think that, you know, we all speak about it, if you have the bandwidth to talk to your representatives to you know, it all has to start from the bottom, honestly, and changing a lot of these laws that are still in place. So if you want to make that, of course, you can talk I mean, I talk about it every day. I mean, my whole story is today has been about that, literally. And you know, I think if you want to change yourself and your view about this, you know, I'll plug in another book that I think it's amazing. It's called Fearing the Black Body by Sabrina Strings. And it really takes you through the history of fat phobia, anti blackness.It's dense, it's dense, it's really hard to read because it is like a textbook. It is very scholarly, because she is a scholarly person. She's an amazing professor. But my favorite part of it is the second half of the book, which is called the American statics right. And it really digs into how America has shaped the wellness world and a lot of what we think about health now. And it all has really screwed up reasons behind it. Great book if you want to just like dip your toes and yeah. And then you're gonna want to fight because when you read that you hold back.
Katelyn:
I mean, it makes so much sense when you are exposed to information like that, because it's also like, she's a fabulous researcher. She's not just bullshitting. And, like she, she sources every single thing. Yeah, and for anybody listening, who is not in a place where like, that feels more like a should than a want. I would also recommend just Google Serena Strings, listen to her on podcasts, listen to her on YouTube interviews, she talks a lot about what she actually writes in that book too. And so you can still get information. And also follow Dalina I mean, seeking out people who are actively talking about this regularly and getting education and, you know, questioning things on your own. Like, that is so important to I mean, I think it's amazing that you are committed to actively doing this work. And yeah, I mean, that inspires so much change in itself.
Dalina:
Yeah, that's all we can do.
Katelyn:
So, um, I don't even know where to take this conversation, because I feel like we took so many different turns. Yeah. Well, in terms of how you actually are supporting people in your community now, what is the best way to get involved? Where do you see your community going? Because I've watched you from, you know, different perspectives. I've seen so many like turns that you've taken and everything. What, what's next?
Dalina:
Yeah, I mean, I'm still going to be on Instagram talking about this. I often say like nobody put me on a pedestal because I'm also learning and I might fuck up one day and say something that's not okay. And I'm going to learn from that mistake and keep going. But I can't, you know, sit around and stay quiet about a lot of the issues that are affecting because I have two kids and I want them to live in a better world. Like, I don't want my daughter who's seven, who's already dealing with a lot of this at school because kids are talking. And, you know, people are saying things like, I don't remember this when I was in school, but she's dealing with it now. And it's so heartbreaking to have to, like, undo a lot of the things that she's listening or hearing at school. And yeah, I just want to leave this world a better place than it was for me, for my kids.
Katelyn:
I love that. I think it's so powerful. I don't have kids, but I have so much respect and have a fire under my ass for the next generation of people to like, boys, girls, you know, all of them. You know, I think that it really does start, start with how we show up and influence them. So I am so grateful that you're doing this work. I learned so much in this conversation, where can everybody find you? If they want to learn more and just get plugged into your community, we'll link it in the show notes too.
Dalina:
Yeah, so I am most active on Instagram. So you can find me at your.latina.nutritionist. On Tik Tok, I am a little bit more fun. Which is more like dancing. And it's the same yourlatinanutritionist without the dots. Yeah, you can just go on there, you can download a lot of free stuff. You can read the blog, you can listen to the podcast, I have my own podcast with my friend Melissa called Break the Diet Cycle. So yeah, there's a lot of information on there.
Katelyn:
Are most of your clients from the latin community?
Dalina:
Um, yes, but anybody can work with us or join my membership. Just know that we're speaking from a Latinx lens. And we're talking about a lot of these things that we talked about today. And if you're willing to learn and listen, and you know, be in the space with us, you can come along,
Katelyn:
I think that's amazing. And I just want to say, I'm so grateful that you are creating a space like that, because it is a super, it's, it's super niche down. It's really specific. And it is so important to have communities where we can feel really safe, just with our own, like experiences. And so whether you are from my background or you know, interested in learning more from a cultural perspective, and all the things that we talked about today, I'm just so excited that you are creating that. So thank you. Thank you for your wisdom. Thank you for your story. We'll link everything in the show notes and I can't wait to just continue following your journey and learning more from you. It's been a pleasure. Thanks so much.