By: Alaa Elhannouny, University of Illinois at Chicago Dietetic Intern
Food often thought of exclusively as a means of energy is so much bigger. Numerous factors have shaped our food: traditions, community, climate, geography, religion, economics, colonization, and plenty of others. Since the profession of Nutrition and Dietetics has a smaller pool of dietitians with different ethnicities, much of the nutrition information comes from white practitioners. This makes it difficult to seek care that is personalized and take into account a person’s cultural differences which have the potential to affect their health. This is why is important to become aware and educate yourself on the various factors that can affect someone’s health.
What is cultural humility:
“Cultural humility is a lifelong process of self-reflection and self-critique whereby the individual not only learns about another’s culture, but one starts with an examination of her/his own beliefs and cultural identities.” (Tervalon & Murray-Garcia, 1998)
1. Change the blame:
While some have the privilege of being in control to make their own health choices, many suffer with issues like the lack of access. Not all health concerns are due to the fact that people lack the willpower or are weak. The health issues that minorities face are due to the social determinants of health. For example: access to nutritious foods, access to healthcare, employment and socioeconomic status like education can have a major effect. Social systems and implicit bias create disparities in minorities and puts them at risk for poorer health. This is why it is important to never blame a person without understanding the determinants of health and the person’s personal barriers that they face.
2. Address bias:
It is critical to step back and look at one’s own biases. It is essential to recognize that the attitude and stereotypes people have leads to poorer quality of health care which can lead to disparities. It is first important to accept that we all have an innate bias. Then, an effort needs to be made with unlearning and challenging the stereotypes that we have. Finally, we need to be willing to learn from the mistakes we make and correct them when necessary. The Harvard Project Implicit is a good starting point to reflect on your bias: https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatouchtest.html
3. Cultural foods are healthy:
If you Google healthy foods on the internet the first images that come up are western cuisine dishes. This causes people to have a narrow view of what healthy foods are. Even in the Dietary Guidelines for Americans there seems to be a lack of representation for those of different cultures. It is important to understand that there is more than one method to eat nutritious foods. It is essential to get familiar with other diets because culture can be seen as a big part of the health solution of individuals. There needs to be more representation of cultural foods because individuals can feel empowered to improve their health by connecting and identifying with their culture.
References:
1. http://dx.doi.org/10.1353/hpu.2010.0233
2. https://implicit.harvard.edu/implicit/takeatouchtest.html
3. https://www.todaysdietitian.com/newarchives/0221p24.shtml
