Simple Nutrition Insights
Welcome to Simple Nutrition Insights, your practical guide to understanding nutrition in less than 30 minutes. Join us as we break down the science of healthy eating into digestible insights and actionable tips. Whether you're a busy parent or just short on time, our goal is to provide you with straightforward advice to enhance your well-being. Tune in for expert interviews, evidence-based advice, and quick, easy-to-implement strategies for nourishing your body and living your best life.
Simple Nutrition Insights
Balancing Cultural Foods with Smart Nutritional Choices
Can you imagine maintaining your health goals without giving up your favorite cultural dishes? Join us for an enlightening conversation with fellow dietitian John as we unpack the nutritional challenges faced by Hispanic and Filipino communities. We reveal how common dietary habits, such as frying foods and a love for carbs like rice and tortillas, can still fit into a balanced diet. Discover how respecting cultural traditions while promoting healthier eating habits can make a meaningful impact without the emotional and psychological burden of restrictive diets.
Carbohydrates often get a bad rap, especially for those dealing with pre-diabetes and type 2 diabetes, but do they need to be completely eliminated? John and I tackle this misconception head-on, explaining that staples like white rice can still be enjoyed in moderation. We dive into the nuances of tailoring carbohydrate intake to individual needs and debunk myths like the necessity of switching to brown rice. We also highlight the broader context of immigration and the accessibility of fast food in the U.S., factors that contribute significantly to weight gain among these communities.
What strategies can help low literacy clients make better dietary choices without feeling overwhelmed? We discuss practical, culturally sensitive approaches that include reducing portion sizes and incorporating more vegetables into everyday meals. From adapting traditional dishes to sharing our personal journeys as dietitians, we provide actionable tips to help navigate social settings while maintaining healthy eating habits. Tune in to learn how small, gradual changes can lead to sustainable improvements in health without sacrificing the joy of cultural foods.
John Canlas
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Hey, hey. Welcome back to another episode in the Simple Nutrition Insights Podcast. I am your host, leonila Campos, registered Dietitian, and today I welcome back fellow dietitian John. And welcome, john, welcome back to the podcast.
Speaker 2:Thank you for having me, Leonila. Good to see you again.
Speaker 1:Yeah, likewise. So we've done another episode, right? I think we did tips um to achieve your goals. If it's a weight management goal, so go back and listen to that episode. But to today's episode, I think it's more in relation to, like specific cultural foods, right, that we can still add. So filipino, specifically filipino culture. And so, john, you see a good amount of clients, right, that are Filipino background yes, exactly.
Speaker 1:So I wanted to focus on specifically right, as a Hispanic myself, right, one of the reasons why I got into nutrition is because of my grandma. So my grandma has diabetes, and this is back I was in high school, so I don't know many years ago she would go to the doctor and she only speaks Spanish. They would translate or they will tell her you know what? Just stop eating rice, beans, tortillas. And that's frustrating for a? Um hispanic, a mexican woman, right that she grew up with those foods, and so I would just see her really frustrated like what do you mean? I have to stop eating those foods.
Speaker 1:so there was no other guidance and in my mind I was like there has to be a career right in nutrition that provides more guidance to the population when they're trying to manage a condition like type 2 diabetes, um, and so I think that's you know that that was the first time I I thought about nutrition, but I wanted to like really talk to you about how, like, let's say, you have a client that comes to you right, and before we started recording, you mentioned that you work with. A good majority of your clients are Hispanic and Filipino right, so let's talk about maybe the similarities there in those two cultures.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. Well, thank you for bringing that up, because I do see a lot of similarities with a lot of Hispanic clients and patients and Filipinos. Number one is just the patterns that I see is they love to fry their foods For Filipinos. They fry their fish, their meats, their pork. With my Hispanic clients just this Saturday they said chicharon with guacamole. They heat up their tortillas in oil, they put oil in their refried beans. They fry their meat, they fry their chicken. So one of the things I see parallel is just the frying and food in general. That's number one.
Speaker 2:Number two, another thing that I noticed with a lot of my Hispanic clients and Filipino is the social aspect. Hispanics, mexicans, that whole community is very family oriented. So if family goes out my Hispanic clients, they kind of have to go along with it and it's hard to break the norm sometimes, especially if all your family is wanting to do it or if your family offers you food. It's the same thing with a lot of Filipinos. They'll go out to eat. There are a lot of celebrations. They feel like they have to do it. They have to do it, so they'll do it, and when they're not in an environment, it's really hard to say no or you feel kind of like a pressure around you to eat, eat, eat. That's number two.
Speaker 2:Number three I noticed a lot of my Hispanic and Filipino clients love carbs. In the Hispanic side it's tortillas and rice. On the Filipino side it's a lot of rice. You know white rice just plain white rice but it's a very staple thing for a lot of rice. You know white rice, just plain white rice, but it's a very staple thing for a lot of Filipinos and the Hispanic side. Tortillas and rice are something that they tell me they have a hard time resisting, like this Saturday when I work. That's one of the topics that we talked about and he said I don't have to give up tortillas to lose weight. I was like no, no, no, you don't need to, because what he read in the internet is he had to get rid of his tortillas. So we kind of worked around it to make sure it's a little bit more balanced.
Speaker 1:But those are the three things I picked up on. As far as similarities, yeah, a lot of similarities, right into both cultures. Yeah, you're so right with everything. I have to attest to that for sure, um. But it's so amazing to see, you know, the reaction of clients when you tell them no, you don't have to eliminate rice, or you don't have to eliminate tortillas. Right, it's all about being able to to keep them and, like, have that balance, um, but it's hard when, when you read this on the internet, right, or when you hear it by someone that has no nutritional nutrition background, right, or the education, and then they struggle, right, because who's not going to struggle with, like, something that is part of their culture, part of them growing up and, like you said, the environment. Like if grandma's making homemade tortillas and you say, oh man, I, I can't have tortillas, but they smell so good right most likely.
Speaker 1:You know you're going to do it and now you know we won't go into that or in depth, right. But there's all this guilt and there's all this shame and you're like man, like what's the point of continuing, right, if I already messed up and we know that that's not the case?
Speaker 1:it's yeah exactly above that, but, yeah, it's pretty amazing to see that specifically. Right, I wanted to mention to you. Maybe we, maybe we can talk a little bit about that specifically as well. Is the frying of things right? It, of course, is going to bring flavor. Right, frying something brings the flavor. It like it makes foods more palatable. Right, you desire them more.
Speaker 1:But if we were to visually look right like what two tablespoons of oil look like, right calorie-wise. Sometimes we don't think about how much that comes into play, right in terms of our goals, because we don't. It's not that you see it on your plate, right? Okay, this is a quarter cup of oil that you're eating, right, but it is absorbent to the food. It's not that it disappeared, right like, it's in the food and so that's. I feel that sometimes, when you don't really see something right or visualize something, it's harder to understand. So well, how do you help your clients visualize that? How do you help your clients maybe change that into maybe a healthier way of making their meals?
Speaker 2:So what I do with my clients, whether it's Hispanic or Filipino, I first tell them how much one tablespoon is, and then I ask calorie-wise. And then I ask them how much oil do you put? Majority of the time people do not measure, they'll just pour it and they won't even think about it. And it's fine, because they've never really learned that that much oil does add up over time. So I tell them the calorie wise and then, for illustration purposes, to be more graphic, whether Hispanic or Filipino, I often compare it to a burger you know. So I'll put three tablespoons equals. I don't know a cheeseburger at mcdonald's, so I'll I'll make that comparison and I'll say I'll be saying you know this much oil every time you eat this. This is equivalent, from a calorie standpoint, this much cheeseburger. So basically, you're eating cheeseburger every single day. So they'll put their head down like this and they'll say oh, my goodness, I didn't even know I was eating that much. That's another way of doing it.
Speaker 2:Another way of illustrating how much oil they use is I will pull up my Instagram, because I have a video on my Instagram of pouring the oil, of how much it is. I'll show that to my clients, whether Hispanic or Filipino. I'll show them how much one tablespoon looks like and a lot of them are surprised it's not a lot. And then I tell them if you're pouring this much, you're probably pouring more than a tablespoon, four, five, six. And if you're frying your food every single day, every single meal, it will certainly add up. So I, by just attacking it in different angles, um I I find that a lot of my clients will understand that these oils can be quote unquote, hidden and kind of be absorbed in the food and it doesn't really add too much, uh to to your satiety because, um, it's absorbing the food. It doesn't feel like, um, it's 600 calories or 500 calories. So three different ways to approach on how I educate my clients awesome.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I love the visuals right because it really helped versus like oh, one tablespoon is I don't 100 calories or 200 calories. Yeah, because you're like you know, if you don't see it right, it's difficult to like really understand it, or if you don't compare it with something that you know they can visualize and be like. Okay, he said that if I eat these many tablespoons of oil, I'm eating these many hamburgers. Right, it really creates that image. Exactly, and so it helps, right, I don't want to eat three hamburgers.
Speaker 2:Yeah, how do you tell your clients, how do you explain this much oil? Do you have a strategy that you do?
Speaker 1:I do the measuring spoons too right. And measure it out, so sometimes I have them try it at home, right, if you want to still cook your foods right, measure out, measure out how much you want to do.
Speaker 1:At least you'll have a visual as well and and you're aware of it, right you're mindful of it that's right usually they don't even have measuring spoons because we don't use them Right, at least in the Hispanic community, even when we're cooking, even with, you know, my grandma making her recipes. Yeah, it's just like a little bit of that and like sprinkle of that, not like can you know how how much? No, just do it.
Speaker 2:That's what I hear from a lot of my Hispanic and Filipino clients.
Speaker 1:Just pour it, Right, right Like well we kind of know. But yeah, and that's you know, usually that's how things are, how generations, right, we continue to do those things. Yeah, great point. So we made this change right. Let's say, we visualize these things and we made the comparisons, the comparisons between the two cultures. So you have a Filipino patient that is coming to you and maybe to manage a specific chronic condition, let's say diabetes. How do you approach the education and the change in behavior and change in nutrition? How do you go about that?
Speaker 2:So the first thing I ask them is what do you know about diabetes and nutrition? For a lot of my patients or clients they will say something along the lines of stop eating sugar, stop eating bread, stop eating bread, sugar tortillas, stop eating any of those variations. You know bread, sugar, tortillas. Stop eating any of those variations. And then I'll try to get an understanding of what, how much they know. What do they know? And then I'll try to explain to them that you know, our body needs carbohydrates. You don't need to have a all or nothing approach and I'll try to explain to them that you do need carbohydrates, especially if you're a type 2 diabetes, because I get patients and clients that have pre-diabetes, type 2 diabetes, and what I explain to them is that you do need carbohydrates, but we need to figure out what is right for you, you know, and then I'll go into their height and weight, their physical activity, and then I'll usually figure out what it is, what they need in moderation. So when they when for a lot of my Filipino clients, when they when I tell them that they can have white rice, they almost kind of shake their head or they kind of don't believe it because they've been told whether it's social media, google that they have to have brown rice instead of white rice.
Speaker 2:In Filipino, everyone loves white rice. Not many love the brown rice. For my Hispanic clients they like the white rice too. Sometimes they fry their rice for the Mexican rice with tomato. I tell them you don't have to necessarily quote unquote have brown rice, but you do have to moderate how much rice you put. And here in my office I do have illustration like pictures and graphics to give them an idea of how much rice they need. So in summary, to kind of figure out for my patients and clients, I find out what they know and I try to fill in the gaps and try to explain them why what their initial belief is may not be so true. Sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't. So I have to kind of develop a rapport or trust with them, because eventually they do turn away.
Speaker 1:I love that you mentioned that, that you know, when you tell them, no, you can, you can have it right. Sometimes, it's difficult, especially even if maybe a healthcare provider has told them don't you know?
Speaker 2:that's so true.
Speaker 1:I hear that and they hear we are, as dieticians, like no, you can actually have it.
Speaker 2:And they're like well, do I believe you or do I believe the doctor, right, or I don't want to go against the doctor, like you know, but I have to spin it in a way without putting down the physician or the provider exactly, right, right, absolutely.
Speaker 1:And you're correct, right, it's all about the amount. So if we're thinking about okay, are you having a whole half of your plate rice, right? Um, then yeah, let's work on maybe adding more of a balance, you know, giving you more other nutrients that you feel satiated.
Speaker 1:Oftentimes and this happens with my hispanic population right that they want to add more tortillas. Right, because they want to want to feel satiated. They're like I don't have tortillas, like I feel like I didn't eat right. Oftentimes it's most because maybe we're missing something right, like, let's look at your plate. Oftentimes it's most because maybe we're missing something right, like, let's look at your plate, let's see if maybe we're missing a food group that we can add it, and you feel more satiated. And so, instead of having six tortillas now, you have two tortillas, right.
Speaker 2:Yeah.
Speaker 1:And so that alone makes a huge difference, right.
Speaker 2:It makes a huge difference and a lot of my Hispanic and Filipino clients. Another thing that they just don't eat a lot of vegetables period. Do you find that in yours as well?
Speaker 1:Yes, maybe if they have fish, they might have tomatoes, and maybe, like iceberg lettuce or something like that, nopales we do like, we do eat nopales, like cactus. And so it is so interesting because, like, if you go into um, like if you go into mexico, right, you really see, okay, what is the, what is the nutrition of? Like, you know the, the population here. You see vegetables, right, you see chayote, you see the nopales, you see tomatoes, your salsas, um, you might not see like broccoli or cauliflower or carrots, but you see these other vegetables and so oftentimes you might think, oh, or they might think, oh, you know, I do, I have to eat broccoli. And so that's when we come in and we're like, no, you can have any other vegetables, right that?
Speaker 2:you want to enjoy.
Speaker 1:It doesn't have to be broccoli. If you hate broccoli, right, like you go into a farm, farmer's market, right, or an auction or whatever. You're going to see all these vegetables, right, so giving them a try.
Speaker 2:But you're absolutely right, I also see that, that we're not okay adding a lot of vegetables yeah, yeah, it's just so funny too because, um, a lot of my, especially for a lot of my, uh, hispanic and filipino. Another thing I, if they've immigrated here from a different country, from one of the Americas or Philippines, the thing that I pick up on is that they start gaining weight and then the environment for the fast food is more easily accessible and for a lot of my Filipino clients, since they come here, they make more money. Things are easier to get that. We have DoorDash, uber Eats fast food. It's so easy now, whereas in Philippines or some parts of Latin America it's not as easy. You know, money is a little bit harder to come by, so those things too, I forgot about that. The common thing is for Hispanic, when they put, when they come here, they gain more weight yeah, yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:it's so interesting because, you know, growing up I grew up in mexico, right, and so, um, I think they had. They had just started, like the domino's pizza, right, they just started appearing, but they were not close to my hometown. We had to take a bus to go and get Domino's pizza, bring the Domino's pizza and put it in the bus. And so, yeah, you're right, the accessibility of food plays a huge role. We had pizza places, but oh, there's this new thing, this new pizza place, and it's Domino's. And I remember one time my mom and I went like, let's go, let's get going on the bus and bring the Domino's pizza.
Speaker 1:Everybody was smelling the pizza. But, yeah, you're absolutely correct, it's the accessibility of food and, obviously, when you have more access to food, to those types of food that you're not used to, right, you're like, oh, I want to try all of them Because they're those types of foods that you're not used to, right, you're like, oh, I want to try all of them because it's so good. Right, I get so luxury, now I can afford it. Right, you're right, it's a money wise deal, and so, um, you almost feel like you have to reward yourself. Right, because you are able to afford that food now. And, yeah, and even though we know that, replacing your cultural foods, right, with these more high calorie, high calorie foods, right, that that's when we start to see.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that way you gain those related issues um so yeah, that's a great point to definitely also pinpoint so it's interesting to see that change, that acculturation right and the change of environment yeah, makes a difference it does. Yeah, and we're not here right to say, oh no, you should stop eating those foods, right, or should change the way that you consume your cultural foods, but more so, right, how can we make those foods fit in and also healthier? Right, to help you with your specific goals, whatever that is. If it's weight management, if it's more chronic condition management right.
Speaker 1:We're here to provide that support.
Speaker 2:Yes, exactly Having the strategy with your lifestyle and situation, and sometimes cultural too. Since working with a lot of Hispanics, I've kind of picked up on a lot of things and you kind of see the patterns, the same, similar patterns I'm sure you've seen too. Well, it's very similar for a lot of Right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, and I think it is nice, though, to see that change. Right, when they come to see you, especially if they are sent from the doctor's office, right, you get a referral for them to you know, for them to see you, especially if they are sent from the doctor's office, right, you get a referral for them to you know, for them to see you. They're almost coming to you like resisting, right. What are you going to tell me? Are you going to tell me not to eat my food, or are you going to tell me not to?
Speaker 1:you know, to eliminate my foods, but as you talk to them, right, they kind of change. They're like okay, okay, I can listen to you, you, they're like okay, okay, I can listen to you. You're not taking away my food, right, and I think that's how it should be. We're here, not to like be a food police right, or to be like stop eating that Like we're to give you a strategy right to help you with your goals, exactly yeah.
Speaker 1:Yeah, awesome. So how do you see your clients or patients transition right from when they start seeing you to like now that you're working with them? Right, like, how long does it take you and I know I'm sure this is different from patient to patient, but, on average, right for them to make these changes, maybe change some behaviors or add more wholesome foods.
Speaker 2:So it depends for a lot of the patients that I do. I divide them to, I try to figure out where they are and what they know, and sometimes I have to take into consideration clients or patients that have low literacy. Typically they will come from Medicaid or Medi-Cal side, so I kind of have to work with what they know, what type of access of food they have in the culture, because sometimes, whether it's Hispanic or Filipino, sometimes they live with other people and if those other people are cooking fried foods, frying the rice, whatever culture it is, it's going to make it harder. So I try to get an assessment first and then I try to figure out what is the next step, meaning that's just me, me, me asking questions and usually what I find out. Once I ask a lot of questions, themes start coming up fast food, frying foods, a lot of coke, frying meats you know those are the things for Filipinos. Fast food too, fried foods, a lot of rice, not a lot of physical activity. So with my low literacy clients or patients, or maybe the ones that don't know a lot to begin with, I will start with very, very basic ones, leonela, so I'll tell them whoever the cook in your household is.
Speaker 2:Is there a way for you guys to compromise? Sometimes I have clients or patients, if the mom is cooking, they don't want to tell their mom anything. They don't want to tell their mom to cook to change it to that because for some reason they don't. So I'll tell them. Well, if you don't want, if you're not comfortable with that, let's work on something else. Typically it's the carbohydrate portion, the tortillas we go from 10 to 8 to 6. Their tortillas we go from 10 to 8 to 6, sometimes the the rice portion. You know I'll tell them. Is there a way to to reduce that? And like, just like you said, if they reduce their tortilla or rice portion, they may not feel as satiated or they might not feel as full.
Speaker 2:So I'll ask them do you guys have a lot of vegetables and fruits? And they'll typically say they do, but they don't really eat it. So I'll try to have a conversation with them. You know that. You know these vegetables are really good for you. They help you stay full. You don't have to have a salad.
Speaker 2:So I'll tell for a lot of my Hispanic clients you can make into like a vegetable, caldo de vegetable. I'll just say that Whatever the Hispanic equivalent is can you make it into a soup? Do you like salsa?
Speaker 2:Since I've talked to a lot of Hispanic clients, I kind of know what the dishes are and then once I start doing that, their brains kind of start running because they'll think automatically oh, I have to eat salad, I have to eat bland foods. They don't have to do that because sometimes, whether it's Hispanic or Filipino, sometimes they don't like salad. So they'll tell them just do the soup and make it vegetable, or just do it the way you want it to be, just put more vegetables. I'll try to work with whatever capacity a patient or client has, because you kind of have to meet them where they're at. You know, especially for low literacy clients, I try to make it keep it simple, you know, and then every time we meet up it ranges between two to six weeks I try to add something to it, whether they've done well or they've not done so well.
Speaker 1:So that's kind of like how I approach things I love that strategy about, uh, making it like a soup type of thing right, because we definitely love soups yeah so, um, I think, adding extra veggies and I do see that actually, uh, that they eat more veggies when they're they do like caldo, right, or like some kind of soup, because they're already in there and they're like, oh, I can, it's part of it, I can eat it. So, yeah, that's a brilliant idea to like. Just make it. Add more vegetables, right it works for.
Speaker 2:For the filipino uh community because they love a lot of soups. In hispanic community because, you know, in in our area there's a lot of uh mexican restaurant and they offer vegetable dishes.
Speaker 1:They just don't eat them yeah, absolutely, and it's interesting sometimes it could also be that they've never had them right and they're like oh, what if I don't like it and I want like I wasted my money on something like that right yeah, I think they stick to their uh, what they know usually it's tortillas chicharron with guacamole, carne asada, anything fried, and that's what they're kind of like their bread and butter.
Speaker 2:They're familiar with it.
Speaker 1:So sometimes it takes a lot of convincing for me to tell them it's okay if you go, if you cut the portion in half, it's, it's gonna be fine yeah, absolutely, that's a lot of um, like you said, meeting them where they're at right and they've been able to be okay with that and going at their own pace. Like it's okay this is your plan, this is your journey. I'm just here as a guide, as a mentor, so it's okay, we're going slow. There's not a race right, Nobody's racing against you.
Speaker 2:Exactly, exactly. It's pretty good.
Speaker 1:Has there been a Filipino dish that you found that changing it made it healthier in a way, but it still kept that flavor.
Speaker 2:Yeah, there's a dish. I don't know if you have a laptop in front of you, but there's a dish called pinakbet P-I-N-A-K-B-E-T n? A, k, b e t. If you look it up, it'sa, it's a, it's a filipino stir fry. Uh, vegetable dish. It's like a. If you look at it, it's.
Speaker 2:It can be colorful yeah, there's lots of colors there yeah, problem is for a lot of filipinos they use a lot of oil to fry it. That's number one. Number two is the meat. They put it's pork belly number that's number two. And that's not that. And then when they do the pork belly, they fry the pork belly and so they fry the vegetables, they fry the pork belly and they put a lot of shrimp paste. We use shrimp paste to make it salty, to give it that umami flavor, so that frying the vegetables, frying the pork belly, using a lot of shrimp paste adds the calorie density of that dish. So when you order at a restaurant or like a fast food place in a Filipino place, often it's really greasy because most people, most Filipinos, they just pour, you know. So a 100 calorie dish becomes a 400, 500 and it's just this small, you know.
Speaker 2:So I tell a lot of my filipino patients and clients. It's like do you pick? Do you want to pay attention to your oil? Do you know how much oil you're putting in? Like, is there a way you can avoid pork belly and one of the things they resist? Oh, because pork belly is so good, it's crispy, it's like chicharon, you know. So I tell them. You know, instead of frying your pork belly, can you? Is this the way? You can just not fry it. You know, man, they'll say, oh, but it tastes so good, crispy, it tastes this and this. So you know a lot of those changes, a lot of those things that they bring up, similar for my hispanic clients, because the pork belly is chicharon.
Speaker 2:In the mexican, in the hispanic side, filipino, we have chicharon, we just don't dip it in guacamole, we dip it in in vinegar. You know. So, um, I have to kind of tell them that this, this, this pork belly, it's already fatty enough and then if you fry it, plus you fry your, your vegetables, that really makes your, your vegetables, your, your food, very high calorie. Tell them you don't have to do that, just make sure you pay attention to how much oil you use. You know, and the key really is for a lot of my Hispanic clients, they just don't use too much oil, like, stop using so much oil. You know, I tell it in my head. Sometimes I get frustrated, but I have to kind of calm down yeah, let me take a break here yeah, yeah, yeah.
Speaker 2:Cutting back in the oil or at least paying attention, because a lot of them, don't, you save a lot of calories. And I only talk about calories because, let's just face it, it's part of the how much you're eating. So when I start convincing them, they start making some progress. It's like oh, it's not really too bad. I didn't know that I was putting half a cup of oil instead of two tablespoons. So that's kind of like how I approach it For the Filipino dishes. I tell them to cut back on the oil and be more wiser with type of meat. Instead of pork belly, can you just do chicken, maybe tofu, maybe shrimp, maybe something else other than the pork belly right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, I can definitely see that resistance for a first right, like what do you mean? Like uh, and it's not about like, eliminating it, right, I'm sure all of it. But if it's something that we consume on a consistent basis weekly basis, daily basis or whatever, and things add up, right and then, specifically, we're, let's say, we're trying to lower our cholesterol, right, all that definitely plays a huge role yeah, the oils, and then the added fat um saturated fat, right in the meats too.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah. And for a lot of my and I tell a lot of my Filipino clients and patients, tell them, hey, for when you, when I talk about overweight or obesity for the Asian population, you don't need to be quote, unquote big to develop all these risk factors. In fact, I tell them, you know, if you know something about the BMI or the weight, for a lot of my Filipino or Asian population they don't need to be overweight compared to other groups Hispanic, black, white For a lot of my Asian clients, you can be a tiny bit overweight and have these high cholesterol, high blood pressure, type 2 diabetes, prediabetes. And I tell them, just because you're skinny doesn't mean that you're guaranteed that you're going to be okay, because it doesn't take that much weight. And a lot of them don't know that, that you don't need to be very, very overweight or obese to develop all those issues that other groups at that body weight or BMI is experiencing, and a lot of them. It's new information to them.
Speaker 1:Yeah, that's a really good point, right, something to definitely consider because, you're absolutely right something when you think about these chronic conditions, but you think, oh, it's only for someone that it has a bigger bmi or bigger body weight um yeah, absolutely it could be lower weight. But because of genetics or you know, whatever the case may be, even having a normal bmi right, exactly, you could have those issues already.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, yeah absolutely Okay.
Speaker 1:So I have to ask this question because sometimes I get asked this question too, as Mexican right how becoming a dietitian has changed the way that you eat? You know more of your traditional foods.
Speaker 2:I could ask that too, the biggest thing that I do. There's a couple of big things On social events. I am pickier with what I eat. They know I'm a dietician so I'm more mindful with what I eat. So typically in Filipino dishes everything's heavy meat, fried foods, a lot of rice and I'll see my plate and it's not as big. You know, that's number one in social settings. Number two I am way more mindful in how I make my food. So a lot of oil. I don't do that. Frying stuff. It's rare, extremely rare when I fry foods. Even when I fry, I'm still mindful of what I do. Air fryer is a big thing for me now, since I've been frying a lot of stuff and then I pay attention to how much vegetables I eat every single meal, and usually people are not like that. I'm curious to see how dietitian for you has changed.
Speaker 1:Yeah, the same, um, the same, the same. I don't do a lot of tortillas either, maybe one. Um. I do eat gorditas which are made out of like masa. Right, my mom makes them and they're so good so I can eat two or three of those I add. You know, I add vegetables and I add tofu, in my case, and salsa or avocado. So, the same way, I'm mindful of. Okay, how does my plate look like? Do I have a balance here? Do I have more vegetables?
Speaker 1:And I see that with my mom too, right, even when she's making more of these, these traditional meals, she's not frying things anymore right so she's only like measuring the oil or she's like, okay, I'm just gonna put a small amount just to get things you know cooking not to like deep fry them, right, so, and she adds more vegetables, so, uh, it's, yeah, it's pretty interesting to see that absolutely by your environment plays a huge role in how you are going to develop these habits. But having that support to you, right, and and I think that also plays a huge role as well so now she's not like frying the the beans. She still mashes them right to have like refried beans quote unquote but they're not, you know, we're not adding lard or we're not adding like extra oil, right, it's just a small amount.
Speaker 1:Mash them up and then, and then they're still really good what about social settings, leonela, like when you go to events yeah, that's a tough one because I'm not only a dietitian mexican but I'm also vegan and so, yeah, that's a tough one for me. So usually they're not going to have, um, a lot of options, but you know if there are, you know, frijoles alawia, so just boiled beans, right, I have boiled beans, and sometimes the rice is iffy because it might have chicken broth, right, or it might have, or it might be fried with lard. So a little bit more cautious there. Uh, definitely no protein for me. So usually, you know, I already know myself and I think this is another thing that I also tell my clients Depending on what your goals are, right, and depending on how you want to approach this social event, if it makes more sense to eat ahead of time and maybe just go and socialize, and if they're going to have something that you know that you really want to have, then you'll share that experience, right.
Speaker 1:But if you go into the event hungry and there's nothing for you, most likely you're going to be miserable, right, you're not going to enjoy it. So I usually know that for me and I tend to eat ahead of time, right. So if I go, I can just socialize and that's okay. But it's not as easy for some people.
Speaker 2:Yeah, definitely. I see a lot of that too for my Hispanic clients. Sometimes they feel they have to eat, they feel food equals socializing and if they don't eat it's kind of not socializing. And it's kind of hard to break the social norms, whether you're Hispanic or Filipino. So it does take a of hard to break the social norms, whether you're hispanic or filipino.
Speaker 1:So it does take a long time to to break apart right, yeah, and um, I recently just learned uh, not learned but I heard a client say, you know, I'm establishing my boundaries, like with, like social events, right, if someone, if I don't want to eat, something, right, and someone offers, say, I just say no, thank you, you know I already had some. Or like, if they're more, they're having more of these goals, right, they really don't want to have that food. They're just stay, stay, stand their ground, right, um, which is great. I think it's so important and it's difficult and like more of our minorities, more on our hispanic population, speaking from experience, to establish your boundaries right.
Speaker 1:Like hey that's not okay, like I don't want to do that right.
Speaker 2:I noticed that a little bit yeah.
Speaker 1:You just like go along and you're like I'm suffering here, but you know you have to do it so.
Speaker 1:I think that is important, too, as well. So I think it's, yeah, it really learning about yourself right and learning what you want, how you want to approach the situation. Some other tips that I have given my clients right Is that, if you feel comfortable talking to the host right Whoever is going to be the host of the social event or the party and asking them can they bring a dish right, A dish that you know you're going to be able to eat and you're going to feel comfortable and that's, you know, something that can help them as well, and maybe someone else will try it right, but at least you'll have something that you'll have on your plate.
Speaker 2:Good idea. Actually, I've never thought of that.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 2:Is that what you do? You bring your own food sometimes.
Speaker 1:I've had some, I've added that.
Speaker 2:Okay, nice.
Speaker 1:More so, like in a family that I feel comfortable with and they know how I eat and they're like yeah, sure, no problem.
Speaker 2:I see it's a smart one.
Speaker 1:Yeah, thank you. Awesome Smart point yeah. Thank you Awesome. Okay, john. So we talked about just to recap quickly, right? We talked about how cultural foods right can still fit in, even when you're trying to reach your goals right, specifically, more so, how to not feel like you have to restrict them right or eliminate these foods that you have grown up with, but adding more nutrition to your meals.
Speaker 1:We talked about extensively how reducing the oils, reducing the frying, can really benefit. And now we have the air fryer. I use the air fryer a lot too. It cuts down time. You don't have to add extra oil. It's a great tool to have. So, using those gadgets, right and yeah, just adding more nutrients to our meals. What else would you like to add? What other tips would you like to give to your Filipino population to help?
Speaker 2:them with their meals. I see this too for a lot of not just in the Filipino one, but I point out the Filipino, because they're very family oriented with the same thing with the Hispanic that when they go to parties sometimes they'll not eat all day, all afternoon, and then when they get there they're ravenous, they're hungry, they're hungry. You know, I said if and I and I tied to tell them I tried to give them like a talk, like hey, if you're having these events a couple times a week and there's no movement, your blood sugar, your weight, and you're going all out with your meals, like, have you thought about eating before you actually go, actually not skipping meals and having a meal before? And I think you you touched on that in a lot and some of the things I frequently I hear is because, oh, I don't want to eat, because I want to, because all the food there is is good, it's delicious. I don't want to eat because I want to make sure I eat there.
Speaker 2:And I I tell them that you know, if you go all day not eating and you go there, it's going to be harder to make those decisions and if it's hard for you to make those decisions, there's a chance that you're overeating, and they really equate eating with having fun, you know. So they have to equate that all the time and it's kind of like a like a, so like a cultural thing, because I, I, I picked up a lot. Eating is bondings. Uh, especially for the ones that are very family oriented, if you don't eat, you know, there seems kind of a shame to it too. So I have to reframe their mind, and sometimes that's hard to change this the mindset telling them it's okay to eat. It's not like you're not going to talk to your relatives, you can eat something small in that celebration, you're being more mindful, since you're not going hungry. And over time it does kind of pick up on that. And that's with a lot of my Filipino clients because they're very family-oriented.
Speaker 1:Yeah, absolutely, that's absolutely true, right that, if you don't eat all day and you're hungry and you're just pushing that hunger. It's harder to make those healthier decisions right when it comes to the event, or the social event or the party you're just so hungry, right, and you're like who? Cares, and if we're distracted right, because we're talking, we're socializing, we almost forget that we're eating and then we end up eating more right more than otherwise.
Speaker 1:We'll have um. So yeah, great points there, absolutely so. Don't go all day without eating right, because it's not that you're not going to enjoy the food right. You might enjoy even more because you're not so hungry. Looking to you know be, there and just eat, so you're gonna have that time to really savor the food right exactly exactly good point yeah, awesome. All right, john, where can the listeners find you? Where can they reach out to you if maybe they want to make an appointment or just follow?
Speaker 2:follow you on social media yeah, so they can follow me. I have my Instagram handle, johncanlisrd, and they can follow me there. My website is also johncanlisrdcom. You can actually book an appointment there, since I accept majority of insurance and Medi-Cal Cal. So Instagram and the website are the two main ways to reach out to me. My contact information, my fax, if the doctor wants to refer to me. It's all kind of laid out in my website at johncanlisardcom.
Speaker 1:Awesome, and I'll make sure to add those details in the show notes. But thank you so much for coming back and do and to do another episode with me. Um, I appreciate your time and I will talk to you very soon. Thank you, everybody. Remember to stay strong and stay safe, and then I'll talk to you in another episode.
Speaker 2:Bye-bye for now.