English: Are Latinos Teaching Children about Nutrition?If I were asked I would say that most are not. Don’t get me wrong it’s not because we don’t care about our children, it’s just that we have been shaped culturally. But changes need to be made quickly as there are many concerns regarding the obesity epidemic among Hispanic children.I would say the first step would be the understanding of “why”. Why aren’t we teaching them to eat healthier? It’s all very mental, we tend to repeat what our parents say or do. We must remember that they came from a different generation and believe things such as: a plumper figure equals to health and vitality, and being skinny is associated with having poor health or starving. They constantly say things like “mija estas flaca, tienes que comer”, meaning “your skinny you need to eat”. Another example when a Latino family serves a plate to someone, if serving rice usually the rice portion takes up half the plate. I know that was just not in my household. Whatever the reasons may be we need to start re-thinking how and what we feed our children and we must start this at a young age.We need to make sure that in our Latino tables and fridges we are introducing more greens, veggies and healthy options and stop giving our kids juice and sodas, give them water, and plenty of it. The way I see it, we are basically giving our children a recipe for heart disease, diabetes, and high-cholesterol and many other known side effects to eating poorly. I always say it’s all about “balance”. You may eat rice, tortillas, etc, but you must control the portions. Parents if you love your children teach them the importance of their health, but don’t forget you must practice what you preach.
