Reclaiming cultural foods with Dalina Soto

Diabetes Digital Podcast by Food Heaven

Wendy Lopez, Jessica Jones

Nutrition, Health & Fitness

4.9 • 2.4K Ratings

🗓️ 19 March 2025

⏱️ 42 minutes

🔗️ Recording | iTunes | RSS

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Summary

Have you ever been told to swap rice for quinoa or skip the plantains in the name of “healthy eating”? In this episode of the Diabetes Digital Podcast, we sit down with Dalina Soto, a Dominican-American registered dietitian and author of The Latina Anti-Diet, to explore how mainstream nutrition has unfairly vilified cultural foods. Food is more than just calories—it’s tradition, culture, and connection. Dalina shares why reclaiming our cultural foods without guilt is a powerful act of healing.

We dive into the impact of diet culture and weight stigma on communities of color, unpack the problematic history of BMI, and discuss how the wellness industry often overlooks cultural nuance. Dalina also offers practical ways to heal your relationship with food while honoring tradition, showing how reconnecting with cultural foods can be an act of self-care and resistance.

If you're living with diabetes or prediabetes and want personalized support from a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist covered by insurance, visit diabetesdigital.co to connect with our culturally aware and weight-inclusive team. And if you love the show, don't forget to rate and review us on iTunes or Spotify—it makes a huge difference! For additional resources and show notes, head to diabetesdigital.co/podcast.

Transcript

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0:00.0	Welcome back to another episode of the Diabetes Digital Podcast.
0:04.8	Today we have a really special guest.
0:07.8	She is a fellow dietician and one of our friends, Delina Soto.
0:13.1	Delina is a dietician, a first-generation Dominican American who has made it, her life's mission to confront diet culture and encourage everyone
0:21.7	to incorporate flavor and culture into their diets.
0:24.7	Welcome to the Diabetes Digital Podcast.
0:27.2	I'm Wendy.
0:28.1	And I'm Jess, and we're best friends, registered dietitians and diabetes educators.
0:32.4	Through our telehealth platform, diabetes digital.co, we offer accessible and personalized virtual nutrition
0:38.8	counseling for people with diabetes and prediabetes. Visit diabetes digital.co, that's CO, to book
0:45.4	your first appointment. We accept insurance and offer affordable self-pay options. Now, let's get into
0:50.5	today's episode.
0:57.0	This podcast is brought to you by Hero Bread.
1:01.7	As dietitians, we're always on the hunt for store-bought foods that we can confidently recommend to our patients.
1:03.3	But here is the catch, anything we recommend has to actually taste good.
1:07.9	Life is short, and I both live to eat and eat to live. That's when Herobread
1:13.4	reached out. I'd seen them in stores, but I hadn't picked anything up yet, and they had sent a
1:17.9	bunch of products for us to try. Now, my husband and I, we love food, and we were immediately
1:22.8	hooked. Hero Bread isn't just tasty, it's functional too. Each serving has zero to two grams of net carbs,
1:29.2	no sugar, and four to 10 grams of protein depending upon the product. So the Hawaiian rolls,
1:34.4	for example, which are new and I love, they have four grams of protein per serving. It's perfect
1:40.0	for managing blood sugar or adding more protein while eating the bread you love. Their tortillas
	...

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