We’ve gathered more information to help inspire Latinas to celebrate Latino Nutrition Month con ganas.
Healthy Science
“A calorie is a calorie,” says registered dietician Sylvia Melendez-Klinger. “It doesn’t matter where they come from so if you take the time do it, counting calories works.” She advises that for women with a less active lifestyle, 1400–1500 calories per day should be the goal. Latinas who exercise regularly—at least four times a week—can bump up calorie intake to 1800. “Portion size is important and any diet must be combined with some kind of physical activity,” she says.
The basics of a healthy diet also revolve around antioxidants and free radicals. Naturally occurring molecules in fruits, vegetables, whole grains, nuts, and legumes, antioxidants offset the process of oxidation, the process by which cells deteriorate. Oxidation is a natural and unavoidable process. Cells die in our bodies and are replaced every day, but a small percentage of them do not die, they are merely damaged. In their struggle to repair themselves, these cells can set off a harmful chain reaction.
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Called free radicals, these cells will seek to repair themselves but in the process, they can take over a normal cell and mutate, changing its DNA and causing a mass production of mutated cells that can develop into chronic diseases, like cancer, diabetes, heart disease, Alzheimer’s, and Parkinson’s disease.
According to Medicine.net, “Antioxidants work to stop this damaging, disease-causing chain reaction that free radicals have started. Each type of antioxidant works either to prevent the chain reaction or stop it after it’s started.”
Most fresh fruits and vegetables are teaming with antioxidants, including many Latino favorites. “Guava has more antioxidants than blueberries and jalapeños have more Vitamin C than oranges,” Melendez-Klinger asserts. “Omega 3 and fatty acids are also exceptional nutrients for reducing the risk of cancer and heart disease and can be found in fatty fish, like salmon, and raw nuts, like walnuts and almonds.”
Good Habits
Obesity figures for Latinos in the United States have brought on criticism of the Latino diet but at its core, it’s quite healthy. In 2005, the Latino Nutrition Coalition (LNC) developed a Latin American Diet Pyramid with the input of many health professionals including Melendez-Klinger. Revamped this year, some of its healthiest components are foods that Latinas find naturally appealing.
The LNC is a project of Oldways, a non-profit organization devoted to encouraging health through traditional foods.
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“Latinos are really ahead of Americans when it comes to incorporating healthy foods into their diet,” asserts Sara Baer-Sinnott, Oldways executive vice president.
The LNC is a project of Oldways, a non-profit organization devoted to encouraging health through traditional foods. “Latinos are really ahead of Americans when it comes to incorporating healthy foods into their diet,” asserts Sara Baer-Sinnott, Oldways executive vice president.
The pyramid stresses fruits, vegetables grains and nuts at the bottom (which can be eaten at every meal), fish and poultry rather than red meat, and limiting foods like sugars and eggs (which should only be eaten once or twice per week), located at the top of the pyramid.
“I’m very impressed with the LNC pyramid,” says Dr. Debbie Salas-Lopez, chair of medicine (one of only two Latina chairs in the country) at Lehigh Valley Health Network in Allentown, Pennsylvania. “Unlike the U.S. Food and Drug Administration pyramid, the LNC pyramid is easier to read, it includes portions and recommended frequency of certain foods and it buttresses everything with exercise.”
Bugaboos
We know we shouldn’t but it’s hard to pass up that donut or that empanada de camote with our coffee. Sugar, unfortunately, gets the best of most of us and next to it, red meat, which can be one of the most harmful elements of any diet. Still, Melendez-Klinger advises that denial can lead to worse behavior, like binge eating, so she tells patients that they can still have that donut, on occasion, and in moderation. “Eating should be a pleasurable experience,” says Melendez-Klinger. “It’s all a matter of balance. We can indulge on occasion so long as we make it up with exercise or fewer calories the next day.”
Baer-Sinnott suggests that avoiding American eating habits, like super-sized proportions and fast-food diets may prove even more valuable than skipping dessert. “Latinos bring good eating habits, like sharing a meal with the entire family and consuming a variety of foods that are high in nutrients,” she says.
Some research may be disputed but it is universally accepted that fat has been linked to breast and colon cancer, says Salas-Lopez. “Fried foods and red meat may be tasty, but they can also be deadly.”
Try something new
Like rock stars, certain foods become the darlings of the health food craze, only to be dethroned. For example, there was a time when soy was considered a miracle food. Still a fabulous substitute for lactose intolerance sufferers, recent studies found that for women recovering from breast cancer, soy is not recommended.
Conversely, avocados were once banned for their fat content but are now lauded as a source of heart-healthy monounsaturated fat that raises good cholesterol, or HDL, levels that protect arteries.
Foods like green tea are known to be full of antioxidants and may be integrated into a diet as a replacement for coffee and seaweed is fast emerging as new darling for its heavy nutrient content and detoxification ability, i.e. it is kind to your liver.
The adventurous Latina may want to explore new foods to supplement her diet. Melendez-Klinger recommends quinoa, a cereal native to the Andes, which is rich in calcium and considered an endurance food. A recent study reveal that flaxseed, normally sprinkled on top of food, is a great source of Omega-3 fatty acids and can help reduce blood sugars and increase after a meal.
However we choose to supplement our diets, it’s always best to ingest ingredients in their natural state rather than pill form. “Vitamins are really a last resort,” says Melendez-Klinger.
In our struggle to live longer, healthier lives, the solution may be not to adopt new habits or behaviors, but to tweak the ones to which we’ve grown accustomed. What we eat affects our quality of life and a Latino menu offers more help than hindrance.
Tips for Healthy Latin Meals |
• Choose alternatives to frying, like baking or grilling, and use vegetable oil such as canola oil or olive oil instead of lard whenever possible.
• Use tasty seasonings, like cinnamon, fresh lemon juice, and garlic, onion, and cilantro, to flavor a dish instead of oil.
• Make sauces healthy with no more than 1 to 2 teaspoons of olive oil, make cream base sauces with reduced fat milk or fat free cream, and use tomato base sauces and flavor them with fresh herbs, hot peppers, green peppers, garlic, or cilantro instead of oil.
• Trim the fat from the meat, choose extra lean cuts and Switch whole milk to reduced fat or fat free milk, especially when making desserts like flan or arroz con leche.
• Eat these tropical fruits that are packed with essential vitamins and minerals - papaya, mango, pineapple, guava, tamarind, passion fruit, sour apple (guanabana), etc.
• Eat vegetables with every meal like cooked nopales that are not only low in calories but also rich in vitamin C and beta-carotene and yucca, pumpkin, squash, sweet potatoes and carrots for an excellent source of fiber and complex carbohydrates.
• Exercise portion control and try to eat half of a hearty portion.
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Source: Sylvia Meléndez-Klinger, Registered and Licensed Dietician.
Learn ways to bring healthy food at your table by visiting the LNC website, http://www.latinonutrition.org/HealthInfo-LatinAmericanDietPyramid.htm.
Features include Sarita’s Sensations, with simple, healthy Latino-inspired recipes, and Camino Mágico, with shopping lists of healthy foods as well as more recipes.
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By Valerie Menard |
