Culturally relevant foods, EFOR Press, Press

well + good: Why Eating Foods That Are Culturally Relevant to You Is Profoundly Important for Your Health, According to an RD

January 24, 2023

By Maya Feller, RD
January 24, 2023

Each of us has patterns of eating that are, in many ways, routinized and repetitive. In addition, we have all adopted our own ideas about what foods get categorized as “healthy” and often have binary thinking about “good” and “bad” foods.
Our ideas are shaped by cultural norms. In the United States, dominant wellness culture centers Anglo-American and Anglo-European foodways in relation to healthy eating.

When I was studying to become a registered dietitian, our textbooks used the plate method as the gold standard for eating: We were trained to encourage patients to build a plate that was 50 percent non-starchy vegetables, 25 percent lean protein, and 25 percent starch. The images of the ideal plate were often of brown rice, grilled chicken, and broccoli. Objectively, there is nothing “wrong” with this plate; it does have a nice macronutrient balance and would supply fiber along with vitamins and minerals.

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Maya Feller

Maya Feller, MS, RD, CDN is the founder and lead dietitian at Maya Feller Nutrition. In her practice, her team provides medical nutrition therapy and nutrition coaching for cardiovascular disease, diabetes, mood disorders, developmental disabilities, disordered eating, and more. Maya believes in providing inclusive nutrition education from an anti-bias patient-centered, culturally humble approach to help people make informed food choices. Maya shares her approachable, food-based solutions with millions of people through regular speaking engagements, writing, her social platforms, and as a national nutrition expert on Good Morning America, is a Healthline Medical Advisor, and on the advisory board for SHAPE and Parents, as well as appearing on TODAY Show, Tamron Hall, and in The New York Times, mindbodygreen, Well+Good, Food Network, Martha Stewart, Real Simple, Good Housekeeping, Cooking Light, Eating Well, Prevention, Glamour, SELF, and more. She is the author of The Southern Comfort Food Diabetes Cookbook: Over 100 Recipes for a Healthy Life and Eating from Our Roots: 80+ Healthy Home-Cooked Favorites from Cultures Around the World (goop Press, January 24, 2023).

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