Food rules, pop culture messaging, pressure, and the demonization of certain foods have huge impacts on the meals being eaten every day across the US. There is a better way to ensure we get the nutrition we need without beating ourselves up over the meals we eat. Dalina Soto, Your Latina Nutritionist, joins us for this eye-opening conversation. Join us!
Show Highlights:
Including your culture is an important part of nutrition.
Racial bias, demonized foods (like white rice), and pop culture messaging
Food IS fuel—but there’s more to it than nutrition!
Rethinking your nutritional hierarchy
Decision-making fatigue in meal planning
Reevaluating the “food rules” we follow
The “eating out” vs. “buying more groceries” dilemma for American families
Dalina’s top tips for quick meals and easy hacks (An air fryer saves the day!)
We, as women, put much of the pressure around nutrition on ourselves.
Dealing with kids: the key is to keep offering new fruits and vegetables
The beauty in finding a good nutritionist who doesn’t demonize cultural foods
Dalina’s new book, coming in March: The Latina Anti-Diet
Resources and Links:
Connect with Dalina Soto: TikTok, Website, and The Latina Anti-Diet book
Connect with KC: Website, TikTok, Instagram, and Facebook
Get KC’s book, How to Keep House While Drowning
We love the sponsors that make this show possible! You can always find all the special deals and codes for all our current sponsors on our website: www.strugglecare.com/promo-codes.
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KC Davis 0:00
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Hello, you. Sentient ball of stardust. Welcome to struggle. Care. I'm your host, K Davis, and today I am with your Latina nutritionist. That is Delina. Soto. Delina, thank you so much for being here. Thank you so much for having me. So let's start here. I've been following you for a while on Tiktok. I love your content first of all, and you know your brand is is very emphatic about including your identity as a Latina. And I'm curious if you could sort of start there with like, why was that so important to you when talking about nutrition? Yeah,
Dalina Soto 1:47
so I think it's because there's not a lot of dietitians that look like me in the space. I think last I checked, 9% of dieticians identify as Latina or Latina or Latinx, whatever term they're using. And so I think for me, it was very important to talk about nutrition from that lens, because I didn't have that when I was in school and when I became a dietitian, and then I started practicing. So many of my clients, so many of my patients were like, nobody's ever explained food to me in this way. And so it was just very apparent to me the minute I became a dietitian, I was out in the field, that someone had to talk about our foods in a positive way, as opposed to what we usually see, which is a more negative light. So, you know, the interwebs just became the place where I started, yeah, yeah.
KC Davis 2:44
I do feel like and I didn't really even think about this until I started following your content. But you know, when you listen to most dietitians nutritionists, especially like the closer they are to diet culture or to kind of like the wellness grift, the more they all kind of sound the same. So I think, you know, you know, 1020 years ago, it was kind of like this demonization of fat, and now we have kind of, like the demonization of carbs and refined carbs. And, you know, the rice debate about white rice and brown rice and no rice at all and and all this. And then, you know, I feel as though it really wasn't until I started watching your content that I realized how much racial bias was happening in this sort of like wellness push about clean foods. And I mean, I'd always kind of seen it and learned about it from the perspective of, sort of like intuitive eating, or like healthism, and sort of thinking that like, oh, being healthy is more moral. But I think you were the person that really opened my eyes to like, oh no. This is, like, really specific along the lines of some racial bias about, like, what foods are healthy and what foods we kind of demonize. So can you talk to us a little bit about, like, what are some of those things, if someone's listening that they maybe haven't realized before, about some, like, pop culture messaging about health that's kind of coming in conflict with people's culture?
Dalina Soto 4:20
Yeah. So I think white rice is the perfect example. I think the global south all eats white rice, and there's obviously a history for it. We can, you know, go throughout history and talk about how it got certain places and why we got to white rice. But I think it's really important for people to understand all white rice starts off as brown rice, right? Like brown rice is a whole grain because it has all parts of the grain, right? So when we think about whole grain, we think about wheat, right? We think about barley, we think about oats. These are grains that basically have every part of the grain attached to it, and we consume it that way when it comes to white rice, though, because when it has that brand. That tough brown shell over it. It's really hard to cook with. I think we can all agree that brown rice takes a lot longer to cook, takes a lot longer to take on flavors. So throughout the years, you know, people realize that, and so they started refining rice by taking off the brand. And actually, white rice used to be consumed by like royalty, as opposed to, you know, because it took so much more labor to utilize it. And, you know, the poor people were the ones that were eating brown rice. And then that sort of shifted with technology, where we had the ability to refine it quicker, take that brand off quicker. And then that became like what we have now, right? And there are, you know, 1000s of varieties of rice. If you did not know that, people, but the majority of people eat some sort of white rice, whether it's basami, basmati, oh, my god, Basa me. Oh, my God, you could leave that in there, because that's funny, basmati rice, jasmine rice, we have the long grain, we have the short grain. So, like, it comes in all different types of variety, but it just means that we're taking that shell off. And, you know, people demonize it, because I think that in the wellness world, in diet culture, we have this idea that everything has to be perfect and give us the most nutrition. So if you're comparing white rice with brown rice, yes, brown rice is going to have a little bit more of fiber in it because it has that whole brand attached to it, but it is very minimal. Like, honestly, on average it's about one gram. Some of them have, like, 1.8 grams of fiber more, depending on the grain, depending on the type of rice. But to me, that's like, negligent like, white rice is a great vehicle to add nutrition. Nobody. And listen, if you are eating just white rice, I'm not going to shame you for it, but like, most people are adding other stuff to their rice, right? They're adding some sort of protein. A lot of time we're adding veggie to it. We're creating a full meal. So that little bit of fiber that you lose from taking the brand off, we're adding a crap ton of nutrition to it. So it's like, why are we forcing ourselves to eat something that doesn't hold on to flavor that great, takes so much to cook, and we're not going to enjoy it as much.
KC Davis 7:18
I certainly don't enjoy it as much. And also, like, if you are only eating white rice, probably there's, like, other problems happening in your life that you need some help with. Yeah, like, you're under struggle, like some financials, or, you know, maybe there's some sensory stuff going on, but, yeah, I think, you know, hearing you say that's so refreshing to hear someone say, like, oh, yeah, sure. Like, you know, there's probably a slight nutritional edge here, but, like, it's minimal. And I think that when we think about food, one of the things that, like, our wellness culture loves to do is, like, strip it down to be fuel only. There's kind of that, like, Food is fuel. Think of food as fuel. And it does seem like when you look at, okay, here's the benefit of this food over that food, and maybe something is a little bit nutritionally, you know better. But nutrition isn't the only purpose that food serves in our life. And I think that when we think about culturally, like, What food does in our lives, that I think it's really great that you're giving people permission to look at that as a valid benefit when you're doing your kind of like benefit analysis on choices, yeah.
Dalina Soto 8:37
And I think I mean, obviously your whole platform is like doing what you have to do right when you're not feeling so great, or just like prioritizing what's best, as you know, think earlier said, like struggle bus. But when I think of people being on the struggle bus, like, sometimes you are depressed, sometimes you have a crap ton of anxiety, sometimes you're not feeling your best. And if white rice is going to be something that's going to give you some sort of nutrition. It's better than nothing, right? So I got a lot of people, especially, you know, from the US, that will be like, well, white rice with butter is like, one of my favorite things. And I'm like, awesome, if that's all that you can get in right now at this moment, great. But I want you to think about like every meal every day is a new beginning. If you only had white rice and butter for lunch, because that's all that you could afford, all that you could have, all that was available to you. How can we add nutrition the next time that you eat right? Like, what is available to you? That we can add some nutrition to your day? And I think if you can change your mentality of like, every meal has to be perfect, every meal has to be like Christy and top of the line, give me all the nutrition. If you are able to shift your perspective from that and just say, like, what's going to taste better, right? Like, what's going to taste good, right? Now, what can I add to this that's going to enhance the flavor, enhance the texture, enhance the nutrition. Every time you have a meal, if you can ask yourself that you're going. Gonna add something that's gonna give you some sort of nutrition. And this isn't, you know, a sprint, this is a long race we're gonna be eating for the rest of our lives. It's okay.
KC Davis 10:16
Yeah, I feel like one thing that really shifted for me was that I realized that, like, my hierarchy in my mind was such that it was like, eat, you know, don't eat bad things. Was like the number one hierarchy. And so I would go to my pantry or my fridge and I'd kind of freeze, and I'd be like, I'm hungry, but I don't have anything right here that feels like it's like, the quote, unquote, right choice, yeah, right. It's not a healthy choice. It's not a healthy you know. And so I just wouldn't eat, yeah? Because I feel like I would feel more guilty if I ate. The thing that, you know, in my head was like, that's not ideal, that's not healthy, that's not whatever. And it really did make a huge difference when I kind of, like, addressed that hierarchy and made, like, the number one hierarchy, just eat enough that, like, actually, if I'm sitting there and I'm going, Okay, I'm hungry and this is all I have, or just like, Okay, I'm hungry and I really don't want that thing in the fridge that I know is like the best nutritional option. So I just won't eat anything. And it's like, Wait, if I want to go by priority, it's like number one, eat number two, eat enough. And it was, it really dropped to like number three, where it was like, try to make choices about, like, the food that's going to meet my nutritional like benefits, and then I didn't feel like I was failing if I wasn't choosing like the nutritionally optimal choice, I felt like I was still succeeding, because it was, like, my only job, if all else fails, is just to eat.
Dalina Soto 11:57
Yeah, and I think again, most people have a hierarchy of individual ingredients, instead of thinking of like a meal, right? And so it's really important for us to think of like not one ingredient, not one food, is going to make or break you, right? When we eat, we should, we should try to have complete meals, right? And like, a complete meal should include a carb, a fiber, a protein, fat, right? So that you have the satiety, so that you have enough nutrition so it can carry you over for the next time that you eat, right? And snacks are usually going to be, you know, a carbon of protein for the most part. You know, most snacks are going to be a carpet of protein, or, like, protein and fiber, because those are just like the snacky foods that are, like, available to most people, or just like in our in America, right? Like, if we're going to go to the supermarket, if we're going to go, you know, to your local store in Philly, so like Wawa is like, the place that we're gonna stop if we need a snack, I'm gonna probably grab, you know, a bag of chips, or, you know, fruit and, like a string cheese. Like, there's gonna be a bunch of different things, but it's always gonna be like a carb or protein, right? So I think it's important for us to understand that, like, if I grab a bag of chips, which I often do. I am not a I'm not a bad person. Like, why I'm allowed to enjoy food without it having to have a nutrition purpose to it, right? Like, not all food is going to be the epitome of nutrition. Like, it's okay to have something sweet just because you want something sweet. But I think the bigger priority is, are you nourishing yourself enough throughout the day? Right? Like, are you eating enough throughout the day? Are you getting a variety? And once you get to a point where you have that kind of relationship with food, chips are no longer going to be like a bad thing to you. You're getting enough of everything throughout the day. So, like, chips are just that, something salty and tasty. So, like, I think it's about re thinking, like you said, the hierarchy of, like, what food is that? Yes, Food is fuel, but food is also connection, food is also satisfaction, food is also pleasure, food is community, food is family, many things. It's not just calories in, calories out,
KC Davis 14:23
well, and I think, you know, I'd gotten to the point where I'd heard the like, eat what you want, add what you need, and trying to think of like meals as more than just like the value of every ingredient. But I don't even think that I had taken that step where, because when you just said, like, you had chip like, not every meal, like, even widening that and looking at the day like, Oh, wait. Like the day is the unit of, like, trying to get the nutrition that I need, not, like, every instance of putting food in my mouth, yeah,
Dalina Soto 14:56
yeah, it's 24 hours you got, I. Yeah, you can eat a lot in 24 hours. And if you're not restricting, if you're not purposely restricting to eat the most minimal amount, you're going to be able to, like, you're going to have multiple snacks in a day. You're going to have multiple meals in a day. And every time that you eat is, again, a time where you can have something that's going to be delicious to you. I think people don't realize that, like, when we eat and we eat food that we like and we enjoy, we produce more gastric juices, right? Like, we're able to digest it better, because we're going to be salivating. We're going to have more enzymes in our saliva, our stomach juices are going to be, like, more activated, more enzymes. It's going to go into our gut, and it's going to be even more activated with, like, all the enzymes that you know are working on the food, because we're actually enjoying it. And I think in the United States, we have created this idea that food, again, like you said, is just fuel, and so people have, like, no pleasure from it. It's just like, Oh, I just ate today. Or I can meal prep on Sunday, eat the same exact thing every single day. And it's like, what is the fun in that? Like, where does that like, oh, you feel Yeah, we feel guilty if we enjoy it, yeah, and you shouldn't because, like, that's why the pleasure sensors light up in your brain. It's supposed to be pleasurable, it's supposed to taste good, right? It's supposed to hit the spot every once in a while. And I'm not saying that, like every meal is gonna be like that. Sometimes you're gonna eat meals that suck. They do. Sometimes I get and I get very angry, trust me, when I'm like, dang, I thought this meal was gonna be so good and it's nasty, but that's all right, my next meal is gonna be better.
KC Davis 16:37
Yeah, that honestly, yeah, like, but that honestly was another freeing part for me, was that, like, the first step was kind of realizing, like, it's okay for food to be pleasurable. But it was honestly, like a totally another, like, separate revelation when it was like, not every meal needs to be bombastic. Like, in fact, Emily and because I do kind of feel like I eat for pleasure, 24/7, right? And so I would make something, and I'd be like, oh, it just isn't great. But there was kind of this almost like, importance. And I mean, like, from a mental health perspective, like it's important for us to be okay with discomfort. And it was kind of that where it was like, it is okay if there's a meal that let you go, you know what? Like, it doesn't taste great, but like, it's got some good nutrition in it, and I'm just gonna do it, and it's like, there's also some power in that, where it's like, it's almost kind of like a mindful non judgment, where it's like, we don't have to, like, demonize something for being pleasurable, or stay away from pleasure, or be like, you know about that, but at the same time, like, it's okay if it's not great every single time.
Dalina Soto 17:46
Yeah. I mean, it's really hard because I think again, we've grown up in a society with so all or nothing. There's like, no nuance when we talk about food. And to have a good relationship with food, you have to be able to discern a lot, and also you have to be able to, like, do what's best for you at that particular moment in time when you're eating. And that is very hard for people to do, because they have a lot. You know, the fatigue with decision making is hard. So I do understand people that are like, I'm just gonna meal prep, and I'm just gonna, you know, have everything available for the week so that I don't have to make the choice. That is probably, like, the number one thing I hear from clients is like, I don't want to make the choice anymore. Tell me what to eat, and I'm like, but that no longer. It's like, you're not in control anymore. You have, there's no, like, looking forward to a meal anymore, where you do that. So, like, for me when I talk to my clients, you know, I'm like, you can prep certain things. You could have veggies cut up. You could have proteins available, but you can create different meals from the same ingredients, like you don't have to, you know, create, cook, you know, brown rice, chicken and broccoli, which is like, and have it divided in a little container five times so that you can eat it, you know, Monday through Friday. Like you don't have to. You can create the chicken. I mean, you can cook the chicken. You can add different sauces to it. You can have it with potatoes, you can have with pasta. You can have it with rice. You can have it in a wrap, like you can prep certain things to make your life easier, and then have different meals with it. It doesn't have to be so like, rigid and strict. And I feel like people have such a hard time with that, because we've been told that we had to be perfect and rigid and strict with our health. That's not healthy either, because it takes you to the different extreme.
KC Davis 19:35
Yeah. And I think what has been the most difficult thing for me, as I've like, tried to deprogram from diet culture, is it was probably like, you know, six or seven years ago when I came across kind of this idea of anti diet, of intuitive eating, of getting rid of food rules, and how, like, food rules can be really restrictive and they can be really oppressive, and they can be they can cause a lot of disordered eating. And. And things like that. But one of the things that I kind of ran into as I was trying to unpack those go, Okay, no more food rules. You know, we're just gonna, you know, make choices. I don't know if it's my ADHD or what, but I found that, like the mental load of making food choices got so much bigger when I got rid of food rules, because although I understood that the food rules I had weren't healthy, they were too rigid. There's something about just having a bunch of rules to follow that makes it easy and automatic, and you don't have to, like, think, because now I feel like I go to the fridge and it's like, okay, I'm hungry. It's important to eat, and what am I going to choose? And it needs to be satiating. And let me make sure it has the proteins I need, but let me make sure that I'm not just doing that, just thinking about this meal. I don't want to be too rigid, okay, what if i Let's get something that's full. Okay, what if it like, I just feel like it's like, I have to now think about so much, and it's exhausting, especially if there's other things going on where it's like, okay, I really want to eat that, but I know that would be better for me. Okay. Well, I don't want to be, you know, food really, and only eat what I want to eat. Okay, well, but I don't want to just not think about my health and eat this thing. Well, I can put them together, but I don't actually want to put them together. Okay. Well, what if I did that? And it's like, so I find myself almost like, missing the food rules, or like thinking about clients saying, like, just tell me what to eat. Like, I remember saying that to a dietitian, and it wasn't she was like, No, it's about no rules. And I was like, I just want to do something just to be easy. And I think that's the hardest part, is it's like our intuition about food has been so damaged that it's like it works overtime now, yeah,
Dalina Soto 21:52
and I think again, you know, if I'm very if I'm being very candid, right? I think that that's one of the bigger issues with intuitive eating, is that a lot of people read the books, follow these lists that are posted on social media, but there's no one there to guide them through it. And then there's also the fact that, like, a lot of dietitians come in and they're like, I'm going to be intuitive eating. But then they also have their own sets of rules. And like, I talk about this in my book, not to plug it in. But I talk about like, why Intuitive Eating is so hard, and why so many people kind of like, take the food rules that they had before and kind of like, flip flop it for the intuitive eating principles and create another list of rules. So it's really, really hard, and I hold space for that, and it takes time to connect with yourself, connect with your body, so that you don't have to feel overwhelmed like that anymore. But sometimes you do need to have, you know, things available to you that you can put together. Sometimes you have to prep like, I think it doesn't again. It doesn't have to be all or nothing, because a lot of people throw the rules away and say, Screw this and then go to, like, a very unhealthy place, right? Where they're like, my dietitian said I could eat whatever I want, so I'm gonna eat three sleeves of Oreo cookies, and then I'm like, and then how did you feel afterwards? Because that wasn't a good feeling either, right? So you have to find a balance. It's not just eat all of the cookies or just eat only kale. It's, How are we going to live a life where food is in ruining your everyday because all you do is think sometimes, for that, for those purposes, you have to eat practically. Sometimes you do eat for taste, right? You eat for like, Oh, my God, this looks amazing. I might not be hungry right now, but like, I have just opened my fridge and I saw, like, a piece of cake, and I want to have a little slice of it. Sometimes you're going to do that, and that's okay. Sometimes you're going to prep ahead and have things available to you. Like, I just made violets, dense bean salad the first time. It was so good I'm going to eat it for lunch after this. But I'm like, Oh, I'm excited to eat because it's actually very delicious, and I prep that, and I've been eating it all week, like she said. And so it's working with somebody that's gonna understand you, right? You have ADHD. You need to work with somebody that's gonna help you, right, figure out what's best for you, not for the masses, but, like, what's gonna work for Casey, like, all right, maybe for you, we need to have a little bit more rigidity, not rigidity. Oh, my God, I can't even speak
KC Davis 24:27
English. Like, more guidance, though, you
don't have more guidance,
a bit more of a pattern, right?
Dalina Soto 24:32
Yeah, yeah, something that is beneficial for you, right? And we do see that a lot like, you know, many of us have a lot of ADHD symptoms. I am not going to self diagnose myself, but I think we do live in a world where it's just again. We're bombarded with a lot of decisions. So having some sort of guide is important, but it might not work for everybody, like for some people, meal prep doesn't work at all. So I'm just like, okay, what can we have? In your fridge that's no cook that we could just throw together for a meal or throw together for a snack. For other people, it's like, all right, you can actually afford to order out. So if you can afford to order out, why are you stressing? Because I can afford to order out. And I will tell you that I utilize that to my advantage a lot, because I have two kids, and they have soccer and they have dance and we're running around like crazy, and sometimes I'm like, we're just gonna order Thai food today, and it has a lot of veggies, it has protein and it has nutrition, and we're gonna eat it because that's what's available right now. And we gotta go. Or sometimes that, you know, there's a local company that does like meal prepping. If I like the menu for the week, I'll order and just have, like, you know, the breaded chicken already ready, the pasta already right? I'm like, throwing these meals together that a chef prepped, and we can do that, but I can afford that. I have that privilege. Not everybody has that privilege. So my job as a dietitian is trying to figure out, okay, what can we do to help you, right? And so that's why these, like, blanket statements of just like, eat, where you want eat, where you're hungry. Prep, this prep that is, like, that's not beneficial for everybody. And some people are gonna go off the deep end, and it's not gonna be.
KC Davis 26:11
I remember, like, the dietitian I was working with that did a lot of intuitive eating, you know, we kept trying to talk about, like, well, how does your body feel after you eat? You know, chicken versus a Big Mac. And I kept being like, yeah, it doesn't feel any different.
Dalina Soto 26:26
I was like, that Big Mac probably hit the spot.
KC Davis 26:30
Like, I'll admit that, you know, sure, maybe energy level, whatever. But I was like, but I just like, truly, I don't feel any different. And she finally, after we, like, kind of did that investigation for a while, was like, I mean, honestly, some people don't and, like, intuitive eating sometimes overstates the importance of, like, you know, just, you know, close your eyes and how does it feel, and eat it. And I'm like, I don't feel I always like a Big Mac
Dalina Soto 27:03
Exactly, exactly. It
KC Davis 27:05
was, in fact, like life changing. The first like, and this was actually like a piece of financial advice. I heard someone say where they were talking about how most of us are in this cycle where it's like, we're eating out too much, and we're like, okay, we're spending too much money, so we need to, like, stop eating out and just buy the groceries at home. But then, like, what we realistically do is we buy the groceries and then we still eat out, and we're all and the thing, and every week, we're like, I need to eat out less. I need to eat out less. And finally, I heard this person be like, I mean, let's be real. Just stop buying the groceries. Yeah, because they're going to waste. Because that's like, if we kind of look, and I just feel like that really felt good with, like, my whole approach to everything, and like, house cleaning and things like that. It's like, let's look at what we're doing and be realistic that. Like, if we were to look at our real patterns, like, the actual way to save some money here would be to, like, quit buying those things that are like turning into a puddle in the refrigerator every single week because we're just buying them as a way of atoning for how bad we feel for all of the takeout when, in reality, maybe there are some takeout choices I could shift for nutritional purposes or financial purposes, right? And then I'll stop buying the food that's like, going to waste in my fridge. And then, like, I actually still could address my money and my nutrition in a more realistic way,
Dalina Soto 28:36
yeah. And I think for me, like, I know my kids love fresh fruit. So we have all the fresh fruits. We have strawberries, we have blueberries, we have raspberries, Mango bananas, you know, apples, like mandarins. We have everything in my house at all times, but veggies. Veggies are not their favorite things. And you know, we're working on it. They're seven and 10. So I buy a lot of frozen veggies. Most of my veggies are frozen, except for lettuce, that's only I even buy frozen avocados. And people are like, what I'm like, Yeah, I just throw them in a blender, you know, or like, you thaw it out when you need them. But almost everything that I know is gonna potentially go bad easily, I'm gonna buy frozen so I, you know, buy my onions and peppers frozen, already cut up. That's a lifesaver. Because when I'm cooking and I'm making proteins and I want to add veggies to it, I'm like, dumping that in, right? I'm usually here alone for lunch, and I love pasta and peas, like, like, I go through, like, petite sweet peas, like crazy. Because any pasta that I'm if it's a creamy pasta, I'm like, oh, peas. I'm adding peas to this. So, you know, I love that. I mean, I love Aldi, I do. And so I buy their green beans. They have, like the fancy green beans. My kids do love those. So I buy them frozen, and I roast them in the air fryer, and they taste like they're fresh, because they actually. Hold more nutrition. I don't think people realize that veggies and fruits are flash frozen at their peak brightness, so that nutrition is intact while they're frozen, as opposed to, like, the fresh stuff that's at the supermarket loses nutritional value daily as it's sitting there. And again, nothing wrong with it. I'm not telling people not to eat fresh fruits and vegetables, but I'm saying that, like, you could have a little bit of both, and if it's going to be more cost effective, if it's going to be less waste, buy frozen and the air fryer is, like the most amazing piece.
KC Davis 30:32
I live by my there. I have never met a frozen food that I can't put it 350 for like, six minutes. That's
Dalina Soto 30:43
right, that's right.
KC Davis 30:43
That's where my green beans go. I don't even read the directions anymore. No, it's like, it's that or 12 minutes. It depends on if it's like a chicken breast, it's like, oh, that's a 12 minute. That's a 12 minute item right there. If it's smaller than that, it's like, oh, yeah, that's a six minute item. 356 minutes. I don't know why I started doing it with broccoli, frozen broccoli. I mean, everything
Dalina Soto 31:05
I do it with everything, I don't even use my my oven anymore, because that's what it technically is. It's a small convection oven that's just like tiny, and rotates the air quicker and hotter and dehydrates quicker. So it makes everything like crunchy. So that's why, I guess that like fry effect. But, like, I love to buy again. I go to Wegmans a lot. I don't know if people have Wegmans, but Wegmans has a lot of, like, pre prepped proteins. So my kids love breaded chicken. And yes, I could bread it myself. I could totally be Nora here and breaded myself, but I don't want to, and I can afford buying, you know, a six pack of, like, huge, you know, fresh patties that are just frozen and breaded, and I just have to throw them in the air fryer. They're raw. So I throw them in the air fryer and, boom, my daughter loves steak. It's so expensive. So I buy it and I freeze it and, you know, I'll air fry it when you know she wants to have it. So like I think, we have to start thinking outside of the box when it comes to nutrition and doing what's best for us, because cooking everything from scratch is not it, unless you want to love that for you, if you want to do that, and we have to lean into convenience, because cooking from scratch was created for the woman that was at home while the husband was at work. You know, 40 hours a week you're home, you're cleaning, you're cooking, we're all working now.
KC Davis 32:33
We don't have time for it, so we're gonna
Dalina Soto 32:36
lean into frozen things.
KC Davis 32:37
I forgot who it was that was talking about like, I think they were looking at like England, like through the ages, and they were like, the thing you don't realize is that like, this idea of like people cooking for themselves every day is like, a very new thing, because either there was, like, one person in your family who was cooking all day, or She was talking about how, like, the way that inns used to be set up, like, there's a reason why, you know, when you read your like books, or I always read, like, fantasy books that are kind of set in, like that England ish era. It's always like a tavern where you can rent a room, but there's also, like, someone serving food, you know, get your like, gruel or whatever, and they're like, that's how a lot of people ate, yeah. And I think, like, you were eating something someone else was cooking all day, like somebody, it had to be someone's full time job,
Dalina Soto 33:29
yeah. And I think, I also think in Latin America, right, a lot of people that were well off hired, they had somebody that was there, right? Like, the idea of, like, the Latina made, right? A lot of it comes from the fact that, like, you know, that was a job that a lot of women did for the wealthier families, or, like, the middle class families, like they had help, they had someone that was cleaning and cooking, even if they themselves weren't working. That was a sign of you being, you know, what's the word? Like, not rich, but like, just, you know, yeah,
KC Davis 34:06
somebody
Dalina Soto 34:07
privileged. You were somebody in somebody's town, you were married to the doctor, to the lawyer, you had help. And it's very, I think it's very new. It's a very new concept that now we're working, and then now we also have to do the eight hours of work at home as well. Like, give yourself some grace.
KC Davis 34:28
I haven't cooked. Like, I cook a little, but like, the full out, like, really make the protein and the two sides and some roll. Like, I haven't done that consistently and so long I do it when I think it's fun or when I really have a hankering for, like, a dish that's really nostalgic for me, but I will just never forget. Like, I had been married for five, six years, and I was making dinner every night. And like, first of all, I like, god bless my husband, who like. Since the day I met him, the words like, what's for dinner have never come out of his mouth. And I realized this one day, because, like, he came home and I was like, I'm so sorry I cooked dinner. And he was like, I don't care. And he was like, let's just order something. And then I started kind of, like, paying attention. And I realized that when he was asking about dinner, it was always, what do you want to do for dinner? Yeah, that's what we asked. I was the one responding, I'm gonna cook meatloaf. And he was like, Cool, right? And so, like, you know, five, six years in, and I'm just had a baby, and I'm like, cooking dinner. And I finally was like, I don't think I can do this anymore, and he's like, okay, like, I realized, like, Oh my God. Like, I have put this on myself. Yeah. I mean, society teaches that. Like, this man has never cared about whether or not we were eating dinner. And so, like, I quit. And so now I did. So now, like, I feed our kids at like, six o'clock, and you know, they're at that age where they're not eating big, huge meals anyway, so like, making their stuff is pretty simple, and then, like, I'll either eat what they're eating or I'll feed myself something. He gets home later, and if I've already eaten, he just fends for himself. And if I'm still hungry, we go, Hey, let's order something. And it's just, you know, I think that there's a lot of really important stuff to say about division of labor and the entitlement of men and the way that, you know society, sort of, you know, the disempowerment of women under the weight. But I do think it's important to point out that we sometimes put some of that weight on ourselves. We do. I mean, like, 100% the people in our lives can absolutely do that. So I'm not trying to say, like, it's our fault. We can just believe in ourselves and throw off the chains like but I do think that like, to a degree, sometimes, you know, the call is coming from inside the house on the whole like, I'm a failure of a adult or a mom if I'm not, like, cooking a dinner every night. Yeah,
Dalina Soto 37:08
yeah. And I think, you know, I remember before I had kids, I would be like, you know, because you go to school to be a dietitian, and they're like, everybody eats the same meal. Everybody says, you want to set these standards for your kids. I'm sure you learned that and there. And now I'm like, I'm sorry, but if my kids are like, I want pasta and chicken for dinner, and that's not what I want, I'm gonna make the pasta takes 12 minutes.
KC Davis 37:33
Thank you. I'm
Dalina Soto 37:35
gonna make them that chicken, and then I'm gonna have a meal I want. And you know what? We'll all sit together. You know, for the most part, my kids call it juicy chicken, but it's literally just like, I make chicken in the wok and it has like, soy sauce, and I make it with like, chicken broth, and it's just like a little like, has a little more wetness to it. It's juicy, they say. So they love that they could eat that every single day. So most of the time, like I said, like, I have the chicken cubed and prepped, like, I'll buy it, I'll cube and prep it. I put it in a big container, I'll season it, and then when they want juicy chicken, I'm just throwing it in the wok with all the ingredients, and then I'm giving them fruit. They always want pasta. They want pasta every day. And I'm like, that's fine. You could have pasta every day. I'm not having pasta, but we sit together, we have dinner. They have their pasta and juicy chicken, and they're, you know, fruit or veggie. And then, you know, my husband and I have whatever it is that we decided to eat that night for dinner, you know. But I think we also, I was very naive when I first started the diet. I would tell my patients this, like, no, your kids should be eating a yes, they should be, for the most part, you shouldn't be a short order cook, but pasta is not going to take that long, right? Like the chicken I'm making is not taking that long. Why am I going to fight with them?
KC Davis 39:01
I mean, little kids have so little control over their life as it is, you know, it's like, this is like, the one meal a day that it's like, yeah, babe, if you want pasta and chicken, I will make you pasta and chicken. I'll make it every night
Dalina Soto 39:14
of the week exactly. You want pasta chicken or strawberries. Here you go. You want some green beans in there. Love that for you capacity to fight. I mean, when they're babies, you obviously want to offer them a lot of more variety, and that's more when they're eating the same things that you are, right, because they don't have the ability to vocalize their choice yet. But I think I've also learned that we take the choice away from our kids in everything. It makes me sad. Like, you know, they're little humans too. They should have autonomy, and sometimes they don't like certain foods, and that's all right. Like, you don't have to force them. I think, as a parent, our job is to offer things, and they get to decide whether they like it or not, but we also have to offer it a lot, and I know parents get very discouraged, like, my kid doesn't eat it. Any veggies my kids doesn't need to do this. And I'm like, literally, you have to offer it, like, what, 2030, times for them to accept it. And it's like, my son is seven. He you could offer him all the green beans. He's still not there yet. But he did tell me. He's like, you know, Mom, you know you told me to try at lunch, like, to grab like, the cucumbers or the carrots. He's like, I actually got the carrots and I really like them. I'm like, Cool. So now when you buy lunch at school, you could have the carrots and an apple. He's like, Yeah, I think I could do that. Boom, done. He's eating carrots. Now,
KC Davis 40:33
yeah, they talk a lot about, like, oh, you expose them. You expose them. You know, you have them. Try it. You have them. Try it. But I feel like what we found is that nobody ever really talks about the actual first step, which is it just tolerating it on your plate. Yes, that too, yeah. Like, that's our only rule is, like, you don't even have to try it, yeah, but it is gonna stay on your plate away. You can't take it off your plate and put it on the table like it does need to stay on your plate. Like, listen for a four year old, like, that's actually a pretty big step that has to happen before you come around to the like, I guess I'm willing to take a bite or whatever so or
Dalina Soto 41:10
smell it, yeah, or touch it or lick it.
KC Davis 41:13
Well, that's yeah, like, looking at it and smelling it like is a part of the process. And so they are habituating to foods, even if they're not even before they're tasting them,
Dalina Soto 41:23
yeah, yeah. And having some sort of, like routine with it too, right? Like, I think, is also important, like, having them, know, like, I'm always going to put like, a veggie on here, or I'm always going to put a fruit, and again, knowing that, like, it's okay if your kid doesn't like the broccoli, like, there's a ton of other vegetables out there. You know, broccoli is not the only one. And I'm like, you know, why do we want kids eating fruits and vegetables, for the vitamins, for the fiber, right? For the minerals? If my kid isn't eating broccoli, I really don't care, because he's literally housing a quart of strawberries a day.
KC Davis 42:01
Seriously, I am keeping the strawberry business like
Dalina Soto 42:05
he goes to the blueberry pines of blueberries. Yeah, yeah. We do. We keep the Yes, yes. And, you know, I'm like, as long as he's eating fiber, and I know he's eating fiber because I see how much he poops, we're okay. I'm okay. He's getting enough protein, he's getting enough carbs, he's getting enough fiber, he's getting his vitamins. You know,
KC Davis 42:24
we're good. So before we end, I want to kind of loop back to where we started. Was the importance of people being able to connect with dietitians and nutritionists that at least respect people's connection to their cultural foods and all these things that we've been talking about, about, you know, food having more value than just fuel, and not getting caught up in food rules and things like that. I'm curious if you could just share like, have you seen people have clients come to you that have been with previous dietitians or are consumed previous sort of like, try self study about stuff. Like, what is the difference it makes to them to have someone not demonize foods that are culturally significant to them that, like, maybe, like white wellness culture would kind of demonize
Dalina Soto 43:21
I mean, yeah, we I know I have people break down in sessions all the time crying, because nobody's ever explained it to them in that way, right? I think the mainstream media, mainstream dietetics, is not going to look like me. It's going to look more like you, right? So when people find someone that's talking about it in a different way, they definitely gravitate towards it, and they just feel seen and heard. And you know how important that is when you're working towards, you know, any goals or any health, you know, values. So, yeah, I mean, I have seven dietitians on my team, and they all experience the same thing, right? Like, we all have people just kind of, like, it's like, they're able to stop the code switching. They're able to, like, kind of like, take the load off and be themselves during sessions without being judged. I think a lot of the times, you know, we hear from patients like, well, you know, I told them I ate, you know, Mexican food, and then the first thing they say is, don't eat tortillas anymore. And it's like, Well, really, I'm not eating tortillas every day, but thanks. There's a lot of like biases connected to our food. So I think when they get to work with somebody who like, can see food differently, especially from that cultural standpoint. And listen, we work with people from all over the world, and sometimes I don't know what their food is, and the first thing I say is, like, can you explain it to me? I've never heard of that. Like, can you tell me what it is like? Can you break it down for me? Because we don't eat food separately. So sometimes they're telling me about a dish, and I'm like, Oh my God, that's fiber. Oh my god, that has a ton of vitamin A. Oh my god, that is like, a full protein. And. Like, what nobody's ever told me that I'm like, Yeah, because they're not thinking of nutrition in that way, because that's not how we're taught in dietetics. Unfortunately, that could be a whole nother episode, but I think that when you work with somebody who understands your food and you and your goals and understands just that, like cultural context, it does make a huge difference.
KC Davis 45:24
Yeah, well, please plug your book for us and tell us where people can follow you, where they can find your book. Yeah.
Dalina Soto 45:30
So my book is coming out March 18 of next year. It's called the Latina anti diet, and it is available now for pre order, so you can get it anywhere books are sold. And, yeah, all my handles are you're Latina nutritionist on Instagram and on tick tock and on threads. But on threads, I'm not talking nutrition. On threads, I'm on head
KC Davis 45:52
coach. And, well, Delena, thank you so much for your time and for just dropping a whole lot of wisdom on us in regards to food, so yeah, thank you so much.
Dalina Soto 46:03
Thank you for having me. You.