Decolonize Your Diet

International Latino Book Award winner, Best Cookbook More than just a cookbook, Decolonize Your Diet redefines what is meant by "traditional" Mexican food by reaching back through hundreds of years of history to reclaim heritage crops as a source of protection from modern diseases of development. Authors Luz Calvo and Catriona Rueda Esquibel are life partners; when Luz was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2006, they both radically changed their diets and began seeking out recipes featuring healthy, vegetarian Mexican foods. They promote a diet that is rich in plants indigenous to the Americas (corn, beans, squash, greens, herbs, and seeds), and are passionate about the idea that Latinos in America, specifically Mexicans, need to ditch the fast food and return to their own culture's food roots for both physical health and spiritual fulfillment. This vegetarian cookbook features over 100 colorful, recipes based on Mesoamerican cuisine and also includes contributions from indigenous cultures throughout the Americas, such as Kabocha Squash in Green Pipian, Aguachile de Quinoa, Mesquite Corn Tortillas, Tepary Bean Salad, and Amaranth Chocolate Cake. Steeped in history but very much rooted in the contemporary world, Decolonize Your Diet will introduce readers to the the energizing, healing properties of a plant-based Mexican American diet. Full-color throughout. Luz Calvo and Catriona Rueda Esquibel are professors at California State East Bay and San Francisco State University, respectively. They grow fruits, vegetables, and herbs on their small urban farm. This is their first book.

Mexican cuisine has emerged as a paradox of globalization. Food enthusiasts throughout the world celebrate the humble taco at the same time that Mexicans are eating fewer tortillas and more processed food. Today Mexico is experiencing an epidemic of diet-related chronic illness. The precipitous rise of obesity and diabetes—attributed to changes in the Mexican diet—has resulted in a public health emergency. In her gripping new book, Alyshia Gálvez exposes how changes in policy following NAFTA have fundamentally altered one of the most basic elements of life in Mexico—sustenance. Mexicans are faced with a food system that favors food security over subsistence agriculture, development over sustainability, market participation over social welfare, and ideologies of self-care over public health. Trade agreements negotiated to improve lives have resulted in unintended consequences for people’s everyday lives.

2022 NATIONAL INDIE EXCELLENCE AWARDS WINNER — LGBTQIA NONFICTION "The author offers an empowering perspective for people whose identities are often marginalized in the health and wellness industry." —Manhattan Book Review Become the healthiest and happiest version of yourself using wellness tools designed specifically for BIPOC and LGBTQ folks. The lack of BIPOC and LGBTQ representation in the fields of health and nutrition has led to repeated racist and unscientific biases that negatively impact the very people they purport to help. Many representatives of the increasingly popular body positivity movement actually add to the body image concerns of queer people of color by emphasizing cisgender, heteronormative, and Eurocentric standards of beauty. Few mainstream body positivity resources address the intersectional challenges of anti-Blackness, colorism, homophobia, transphobia, and generational trauma that are at the root of our struggles with wellness and self-care. In Decolonizing Wellness: A QTBIPOC-Centered Guide to Escape the Diet Trap, Heal Your Self-Image, and Achieve Body Liberation, registered dietitian and nutritionist Dalia Kinsey will help readers to improve their health without restriction, eliminate stress around food and eating, and turn food into a source of pleasure instead of shame. A road map to body acceptance and self-care for queer people of color, Decolonizing Wellness is filled with practical eating practices, journal prompts, affirmations, and mindfulness tools. Ultimately, decolonizing nutrition is essential not only to our personal well-being but to our community’s well-being and to the possibility of greater social transformation. This is a body positivity and food freedom book for marginalized folks. It’s a guide to throwing out food rules in exchange for internal cues and adopting a self-love-based approach to eating. It’s about learning to trust our bodies and turning mealtime into a time for celebration and healing. It’s also a love letter to those of us who struggle with our bodies and a gentle plea for us to do the work it takes to accept, trust, and love ourselves.

Decolonizing the Diet challenges the common claim that Native American communities were decimated after 1492 because they lived in “Virgin Soils” that were biologically distinct from those in the Old World. Comparing the European transition from Paleolithic hunting and gathering with Native American subsistence strategies before and after 1492, the book offers a new way of understanding the link between biology, ecology and history. Synthesizing the latest work in the science of nutrition, immunity and evolutionary genetics with cutting-edge scholarship on the history of indigenous North America, Decolonizing the Diet highlights a fundamental model of human demographic destruction: human populations have been able to recover from mass epidemics within a century, whatever their genetic heritage. They fail to recover from epidemics when their ability to hunt, gather and farm nutritionally dense plants and animals is diminished by war, colonization and cultural destruction. The history of Native America before and after 1492 clearly shows that biological immunity is contingent on historical context, not least in relation to the protection or destruction of long-evolved nutritional building blocks that underlie human immunity.

The Decolonizing Diet Project (DDP) Cookbook features a collection of Indigenous food recipes from the Great Lakes Region. These recipes were produced by the research subject participants, staff, and volunteers of the DDP. All of the ingredients in these recipes either existed in the Great Lakes Region naturally, or were brought by Indigenous peoples to the Region prior to 1600.

The book that started a revolution in the way Americans eat The extraordinary book that taught America the social and personal significance of a new way of eating is still a complete guide for eating well in the twenty-first century. Sharing her personal evolution and how this groundbreaking book changed her own life, world-renowned food expert Frances Moore Lappé offers an all-new, even more fascinating philosophy on changing yourself—and the world—by changing the way you eat. The Diet for a Small Planet features: • simple rules for a healthy diet • streamlined, easy-to-use format • food combinations that make delicious, protein-rich meals without meat • indispensable kitchen hints—a comprehensive reference guide for planning and preparing meals and snacks • hundreds of wonderful recipes

Ayurveda is a holistic healing tradition from India whose history is linked to the development of yoga. It is an ancient system in which physical and spiritual well-being comes from a number of sources, including a healthful diet based on one’s individual constitution. Ayurveda is about achieving a physical and spiritual balance through a number of means, including yoga, aromatherapy, and diet. This all-vegetarian cookbook based on Ayurvedic traditions features delectable and nutritious recipes that appeal to particular doshas, which are one’s personal constitution based on physical and mental characteristics: fire (pitta), air (vata), and earth (kapha). (The book includes a dosha questionnaire so readers can determine their own.) And while the recipes are authentically Ayurvedic, they feature easy-to-find ingredients and modern-day cooking methods appropriate for busy schedules. The book also includes yoga postures, cleansing programs, and information on aromatherapy, color therapy, and Abhyanga massage. There are also suggested meat substitutions for non-vegetarians. (Ayurveda is not exclusively vegetarian, although this book is.) Written with both converts and beginners in mind, The Modern Ayurvedic Cookbook is a twenty-first-century approach to a five-thousand-year-old tradition that will restore your health, energy, and sense of well-being.

An Inspired Collection of Time-Honored Mexican Recipes Follow along with Jocelyn Ramirez as she transforms the traditional dishes she grew up making alongside her Abuela into wonderfully flavorful plant-based meals everyone will love. With only a few simple and affordable substitutions, you can capture all the spicy, earthy, savory deliciousness of authentic Mexican cooking, and help friends, family and even the die-hard meat-eaters enjoy a new side of Latin cuisine. Amaze your taste buds with healthier versions of kitchen staples like Queso Fresco (Fresh Cheese), Chile de Árbol y Tomatillo (Árbol Chiles with Tomatillo) and Tortillas Hechas a Mano (Handmade Tortillas). Then make hearty, filling mains that carnivores and vegans alike will come back to again and again, such as Tacos de Yaca Carnitas (Jackfruit Carnitas Tacos), Sopa de Tortilla con Crema (Tortilla Soup with Cream) and Mole Verde con Champiñones (Mushrooms in Green Mole). With these 60 recipes you’ll be cooking the foods you love with better-for-you ingredients.