My Why
My Why.
On Being a Mom
I am a mother of two small children, one of whom is neurodivergent.
Neurodivergent refers to people whose brains work differently from what’s considered typical. It includes individuals with conditions like autism, ADHD, dyslexia, and others. These differences can affect how they think, learn, and interact with the world. Being my son’s mother has made me grow in ways I never imagined. My mother was right when she said, “he was born to be our teacher.”
“Nacio para ser su maestro.” -My mother
One of the most important things I have learned as a mother to a child with a sensitive nervous system is that food quality can significantly influence biology and behavior. Feeding children with sensitive nervous systems foods that contain additives, pesticides, artificial toxic colors, refined sugars and contaminants not only causes untoward metabolic effects, but it also results in biological changes (through the gut-brain connection) that can consequently impact their daily functioning.
On Being Latina
As Latina I am an underrepresented minority (URM) in the medical and scientific community. Throughout my career I have been “one of the few URMs” in the building. This has been a challenging, exhausting, but also rewarding experience; I have a very unique perspective about food, culture, and Western medicine.
From a cultural standpoint, I know food is extremely important. Feeding tasty treats and overfeeding can be how we show our love as communities of color. As a scientist and medical provider I am aware that our communities are overeating, and what is worse, we are eating poor quality foods in the form of packaged snacks, fast food, chips, ultra processed foods, and refined carbohydrates/sugars. The foods stocked in our grocery shelves are full of tasty and convenient food products that contain a long list of ingredients for the sake of enhancing their taste, and extending their shelf-life. However, putting this in our bodies on a daily basis is slowly poisoning us. Consequently, Lantinx, Native Americans, African Americans and Asian minority communities have the highest rates of metabolic disease. We have to change that.
I am here to tell you that if you are smart about what you put into your body you can prevent chronic metabolic disease (like diabetes, obesity and cardiovascular disease). Best of all, you do not have to sacrifice your cultural values to eat and stay healthy.
Our ancestors and grandparents ate organic/pesticide free/non-processed natural whole foods. Furthermore, they lived in a society where their work usually involved physical labor. They were strong and metabolically healthy. Nowadays, our jobs are sedentary, we drive everywhere, and the products available in our stores have poor nutritional quality and have been stripped of their nutrients.
Once you truly understand the importance of food quality you can begin to work towards a healthier body.
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Si se puede!
Recipe FAQs
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How do I submit a recipe?
Go to the contact me section and send me your recipe with nutritional information. I will make your recipe and post it on the site if its nutritional content matches our health goals!
Can I substitute ingredients?
Yep! I will try to make substitution recommendations. Feel free to experiment and let me know how it turns out by commenting below the recipe!
Can I get a breakdown of the nutritional values?
Yup! I will list the nutritional values of each recipe and tag the recipe with categories such as “heart healthy” “diabetes friendly” “dairy/gluten-free” etc.