By Araceli Maldonado, Dietetic Intern and Sylvia Klinger, DBA, MA, RDN
Diet culture often sends a message that healthy meals only come in the form of grilled chicken breasts, brown rice, and steamed vegetables. You might even see this in the MyPlate recommendations,which gives us an easy visual of how to ration our foods. This is a fantastic resource, but it is not one size fits all. As a Latina, I will tell you our foods rarely look this way. Our foods are blended, mixed, and varied in their appearance but this does not make them any less healthy.
Media often sends the message that brown rice is nutritionally superior to white rice. Brown rice does have slightly more fiber per serving, but both types actually have similar amounts of calories and protein. This information has led to the misleading directive that if you don’t eat brown rice, you’re not eating healthy. White rice is a staple in the Latinx community. While brown rice does have more nutrients, though in small amounts, it is common to mix in gandules (pigeon peas), peas, corn, and even carrots which all add nutritional value and fiber to white rice. Rice is also commonly paired with a side of beans that are rich in fiber and protein. If you’re looking to increase your intake of whole grains, there are many ways to do it instead of getting rid of white rice as a whole. These options include whole grain breads, cereals, oats, and tortillas. There are so many ways to increase the nutritional value of our traditional foods. Even a cold cereal can can become nutrient dense by simply adding low fat milk or yogurt, and fruit.
So what do nutritious meals with rice look like? Chances are you are already familiar with these meals. Rice is so central to many Latin American countries, such as Puerto Rico’s arroz con gandules, Mexico’s arroz con dulce, Cuba’s arroz con pollo, Dominican Republic’s moro, Venezuela’s orinoco, and Costa Rica’s gallo pinto to name a few.
Messages on nutrition make it difficult for us to know what is best for our health. Current nutrition information does not always take our cultural foods into account despite it being nutritious as is. Connecting with a dietitian that understands the cultural impact of foods can help. It is important to consider what foods are important to us and overall dietary patterns. Remember, every food can be part of a healthy meal plan. Enjoy!
