Meet the Latina Nutritionists at the Top of Their Game

a collage showing photos of nutritionists and health experts christy wilson, hortencia jimenez, krystle zuñiga, nicole rodriguez, krista linares and gladys saucedo over a yellow and orange background

Navigating the health and nutrition landscape can often feel overwhelming, with so many diets, health tips, and fitness regimens to choose from. Fortunately, some experts have dedicated their careers to helping people understand these sometimes complicated topics, and teach their audiences how to spot misinformation and common myths, in addition to dismantling false ideas about traditional Latino foods and problematic body image beliefs.

With a fresh perspective on wellness, these nutritionists and health experts are delivering their expert advice in easy-to-understand ways:


Christy Wilson, RDN

Portrait of the Latina Nutritionists Christy Wilson

Photo shared by christywilsonnutrition on Instagram

As a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN) of Mexican descent, Christy Wilson believes in the transformative power of food and nutrition. She’s most passionate about guiding her clients to better health through wholesome and nourishing foods. Christy's ability to turn complicated nutritional science into understandable language and useful tips sets her apart in the field.

Christy's impactful career has enabled her to serve clients in Arizona, Texas, and New York since 1997. She’s widely known for her nutrition-focused bilingual cooking classes and her consulting work with community organizations. Christy's approach always leads to informed and health-conscious choices, be it at the grocery store, a restaurant, or your home kitchen.

You can catch Christy on Instagram, where she shares delicious recipes and helpful tips that will change the way you approach your diet!

Hortencia Jimenez, Ph.D

Portrait of the Latina Nutritionists Hortencia Jimenez

Photo shared by drhortenciajimenez on Instagram

Dr. Hortencia Jiménez is the first in her family to earn a doctorate degree and she approaches her work with “an Indigenous, intersectional, social and racial justice lens.” Born in Mexico and raised in California, Dr. Jiménez's roots have shaped her passion for public service and her commitment to community development. She carries a rich experience of working in the fields during her early years, alongside her grandmother, which lent her a deep understanding of the agricultural roots of nutrition.

Her extensive work in the non-profit immigrant rights sector in the Bay Area, California, and Austin, Texas, significantly contributed to her holistic approach towards nutrition, focusing on food and the social and cultural aspects that influence our diet. As a Sociology professor at Hartnell College, Dr. Jiménez leverages her background to educate about the importance of food, its cultural significance, and its role in overall health and wellbeing.

In addition to her work in academia, Dr. Hortencia Jiménez is a certified Holistic Health Coach from the Institute of Integrative Nutrition, New York City, a certified Personal Trainer through the American Council on Exercise, and an author. Taking a holistic approach to wellness, she tailors individualized programs for her clients, integrating aspects such as relationships, exercise, career, and spirituality.

If you’re ready to embark on a wellness journey with a supportive and expert guide, you can connect with Dr. Jiménez via her website or Instagram.

Gladys Saucedo, RDN

Portrait of the Latina Nutritionists Gladys Saucedo

Photo shared by gladys__saucedo on Instagram

Las Vegas-based registered dietitian, Gladys Saucedo, offers a unique blend of clinical and cultural expertise in her work. She specializes in organ transplant nutrition, guiding her patients through drastic changes in their nutrition requirements and goals pre- and post-transplant. She’s deeply committed to her patients, helping them to reclaim their quality of life.

As a proud Latina and first-generation Mexican-American, Gladys works with Latinas outside of her clinical setting, helping them reconnect with their cultural foods. Her work is about much more than just food; it's about helping people find a balance between their nutritional needs and their cultural heritage.

Follow Gladys on Instagram for all things nutrition, culture, and community!

Nicole Rodriguez RDN, NASM-CPT

Portrait of the Latina Nutritionists Nicole Rodriguez

Image Credit: Enjoy Food Enjoy Life

New York Metro-based Registered Dietitian Nutritionist (RDN, NASM-CPT) Nicole Rodriguez is more than just an award-winning dietitian nutritionist; she's a co-founder of Step Bite Step and an advocate for food choice empowerment. Her practice served via telehealth, is a testament to her commitment to making health and nutrition accessible to a diverse clientele. Nicole is Italian with a mix of Greek and Argentinian roots. Having spent many years in the Bronx and raising a Puerto Rican and Cuban child means that Nicole has developed a unique multi--cultural understanding of how to approach nutrition with a strong cultural lens.

Nicole's dedication goes beyond her practice, as she also co-hosts the Food Bullying podcast to further promote positive messages about food. She also recently did a 30-day McDonald’s challenge experiment to see if the health outcomes could disprove common misconceptions about what it means to eat “healthy.” Turns out that fast food can actually fit in a healthy diet, and she shared her experience and the results with the Luz Community.

The reality is that you can be healthy and also not buy into the misconception you have to restrict food labeled as “bad” foods from your life forever. Rodriguez educates her audience to encourage unlearning, re-learning, de-stigmatizing, and de-shaming when it comes to our food choices.

She offers an array of services, including grocery store tours, meal planning, one-on-one nutrition coaching, and even personal fitness training, all tailored specifically to individual needs, lifestyles, and budgets.

Stay updated with insightful and relatable food advice by connecting with Nicole on Instagram or Twitter.

Krista Linares, MPH, RD

Portrait of the Latina Nutritionists Krista Linares

Photo shared by latina.dietitian on Instagram

Krista Linares is quite a transformative figure in nutrition, bridging the gap between health and cultural heritage for the Latina community. After her personal journey with PCOS and food allergies led her to confront the cultural disconnect within standard nutrition guidelines, she decided to return to school and become a Registered Dietitian. She aspired to guide Latinos in their health journey while preserving their ties to their culture, emphasizing PCOS management. Krista proudly dedicates her practice to the unique nutritional benefits intrinsic to Latin American heritage foods.

Through her private practice and her initiative, "Nutrition con Sabor," Krista primarily assists Latina women grappling with PCOS. She offers a specialized "PCOS for Latinas" program and creates nutritional guides spotlighting Latin American heritage foods. Her mission pushes the boundaries of traditional nutrition perspectives, advocating for recognition and respect for cultural foods. By challenging the outdated idea of cultural foods as problems to solve, Krista encourages an inclusive approach that values the unique nourishment Latin American food culture has to offer.

To keep up with Krista's insightful nutrition advice and her ongoing work, you can follow her on Instagram or dive into the Nutrition con Sabor website!

Dalina Soto, MA, RD, LDN

Portrait of the Latina Nutritionists Dalina Soto

Photo shared by your.latina.nutritionist on Instagram

Dalina Soto is a registered dietitian and advocate of positive health. She has a Bachelor’s Degree in Nutritional Sciences from Penn State University, completed her Dietetic Internship, and got her Master's Degree in Nutrition Education at Immaculata University. She calls herself a Latina anti-diet dietitian because her focus is on helping Latinas reclaim “the joy of diet-free living.” She’s a food lover and understands that people’s relationships to food can be complex and nuanced.

Dalina is the founder of Your Latina Nutritionist, where she helps Latinas ditch the narratives of restriction and denial that are keeping them from their food heritage and from achieving true well-being. Her work is focused on building new, healthier narratives about the foods Latinas grew up eating and reclaiming their enjoyment of them. To do that, she works with a team of other Latina dietitians, nutritionists, and health experts.

If you want to start embracing your culture, health your relationship with food, and eat without guilt, follow Dalina on Instagram or work with her.

Zariel Grullón, RDN, CDN

Portrait of the Latina Nutritionists Zariel Grull\u00f3n

Photo shared by loveyourchichos on Instagram

Zariel Grullón is a first-generation Dominican American dietitian who pursued this career to learn more about Latino cultural foods and how they can impact our well-being. She graduated from Ramapo College of New Jersey and Montclair State University and completed her Dietetic Internship at the CUNY School of Public Health. She explored nutrition deeply and learned to think about the Latino cultural foods she loved so much as something to be celebrated rather than avoided.

Today, she’s part of the Your Latina Nutrition team, founded by Dalina Soto. Her approach as a dietitian is based on a desire to help Latinas reclaim the foods they love and leave diets behind. Zariel is weight-neutral about her work because she believes there’s more to health and well-being than the numbers on the scale. Her main focus with clients is to help them reconnect with their bodies and learn to trust them so they can adopt more realistic and sustainable eating habits outside of diets. Zariel is also very open with her experience with endometriosis, providing visibility and raising awareness for it.

Follow Zariel on Instagram to get useful insights, tips, and advice, and stay up-to-date with her workshops and services.

Isabel Vasquez, RD, LDN

Portrait of the Latina Nutritionists Isabel Vasquez

Photo shared by isabelvasquezrd on Instagram

Isabel Vasquez is a second-generation American of Puerto Rican and Dominican descent. Having been influenced by American, Puerto Rican, and Dominican cultures, she has a multi-cultural approach to nutrition. She got a Bachelor of Science in Nutrition at La Salle University and completed her Dietetic Internship, making her a Registered Dietitian.

Isabel is no stranger to healing from food and body struggles, so her approach is informed by her own personal experience as well as her education. One of her main focuses is to help clients make empowered decisions by teaching them how to break away from diet culture and become more in tune with their bodies. She understands how central food is to everyone’s lives, especially Latinas, and is committed to helping people improve their relationship with food.

She’s part of the Your Latina Nutritionist team as well and she’s known for her weekly blogs on health and nutrition. Her articles are very insightful and helpful, so it’s no surprise she has been featured in publications like Health.com, Well+Good, Self, EatingWell, and more.

Follow her on Instagram to stay up-to-date with her and keep an eye on the Your Latina Nutritionist blog to catch her articles.

This Viral Video Game Is Changing the Face of Voter Outreach

In 2024, voting campaigns have evolved greatly, to say the least. Creativity is now the name of the game and tongue-in-cheek humor is expertly leveraged to drive action. One example of that is Bop the Bigot, a revival of a viral game created in 2016 by Bazta Arpaio, an Arizona activist group, as part of a campaign to unseat Maricopa County’s Sheriff Joe Arpaio. Arpaio lost his re-election to Paul Penzone that year.

The game has now been updated for the current election cycle and relaunched by On Point Studios, with new features added to enable players to find out what’s on their ballot, confirm voter status, and register to vote.

Much like its former 2016 version, the game allows users to take out their political frustrations by virtually “bopping” GOP candidates in the head. It’s very similar to whack-a-mole, except the mole is replaced by former President Donald Trump, Ohio’s Senator J. D. Vance, and Kevin Roberts, President of the Heritage Foundation, which is spearheading Project 2025.

cartoon renditions of Donald Trump and J.D. Vance around a Bop the Bigot logoPromotional image provided by On Point Studios.

B. Loewe, Director of On Point Studios, came up with the concept for this game when working as the Communications Director at Bazta Arpaio in 2016, and is the executive producer of this revamped version. In the first version of the game, Bop the Bigot players used a chancla (flip flop) to “bop” the characters, tapping into Latino culture by leaning on the childhood experience of being set right by a flying chancla from a fed-up mother or grandmother.

This year, the chancla is replaced by a more current element, a green coconut, referencing Kamala Harris’ coconut tree meme. There are also side characters like “the couch,” cat ladies, and more coconuts. All references to jokes about Vice-Presidential candidate Vance, or insults Vance has made about women on the campaign trail.

Another new addition is that Harris’ laugh is immortalized as the game-over sound effect, an unexpected detail that adds even more humor and levity to the game.

cartoon renditions of Donald Trump, Kevin Roberts, and J.D. Vance around a Bop the Bigot logoPromotional image provided by On Point Studios.

Bop the Bigot, which is playable on desktop and mobile, is intended not just as a way to vent political frustrations, but also as a tool for activism and securing voter engagement.

For example, the game supports the work of Mexican Neidi Dominguez Zamorano, Founding Executive Director of the non-profit organization Organized Power in Numbers by using the “game over” screen to prompt players to donate to it and support their efforts.

Organized Power in Numbers is focused on empowering workers in the South and Southwest of the U.S. through collective action and comprehensive campaigns. Their mission is to create a large-scale movement that challenges the status quo and advocates for workers' rights, and racial and economic justice.

Currently, Dominguez Zamorano is leading worker outreach to 2 million working-class voters in the South and Southwest through doorknocking, texting, and calls with the help of local groups in North Carolina, Arizona, New Mexico, and more.

“We have been blown away by the enthusiastic reception for the video game. We knew we wanted to be part of its creative approach because our movement needs more fun and laughter. We need more ways to connect with nuestra gente so we can feel joy among all the absurdity we witness every day,” Dominguez Zamorano shared with Luz Media via email.

“Our people are gente trabajadora and we deserve to feel uplifted even in our toughest moments. We are deeply involved in the South and Southwest so we know what’s at stake in this election and we’re happy this can be a resource to mobilize, raise spirits, and get out the vote," she concluded.

Dominguez Zamorano is a committed activist for immigrants and workers' rights, known for her strategist skills and expertise. She played a key role in the campaign to win DACA and has also held roles in major campaigns, including as Deputy National States Director for Bernie Sanders' 2020 presidential campaign. In addition to her work with Organized Power in Numbers, Dominguez Zamorano is serving as a Senior Advisor to Mijente’s Fuera Trump Initiative.

Grassroots efforts like these have taken on new life in 2024, with Bop the Bigot adding to the larger, ongoing fight against political apathy and disinformation. Just as it did during the 2016 race, the video game uses humor to soften the serious task at hand—getting people to the polls.

"We want the game to be a fun and comical outlet for anyone who’s been insulted, frustrated, or harmed by Trump in the past and everyone who is ready to move forward as a country after election day," explained Loewe in a press release. "The proposals in Project 2025 and the beliefs of Trump and Vance aren’t just weird, they’re truly harmful. We wanted to give people a humorous and peaceful way to smack down their racism and sexism. We hope it makes people laugh and also feel empowered and motivated to get to the polls on or before election day."

With a mix of satire, sharp political critique, and nostalgia, the game is a call to action. The upcoming election, which is getting closer by the minute, has sparked fierce activism and creative yet grounded initiatives like these aim to ensure voters are engaged, especially young Latinos and disenfranchised groups.

hands holding up yellow protest signs that say Hands Off Our Bodies
Photo Credit: Gayatri Malhotra via Unsplash

Originally published in Common Dreams. Reprinted with permission.

The Latino electorate will prove decisive in securing reproductive freedom and abortion access through ballot measures around the country, particularly in states where Latinos are a significant portion of the electorate.

In November, abortion rights measures will appear on ballots across ten states, including Arizona, Colorado, Florida, Nevada, and New York, where Latinos make up a significant portion of the electorate. For decades, pundits and politicians have recycled long-held misconceptions about Latino voters and abortion access, citing our conservative and religious beliefs.

Anti-abortion extremists have long fueled these misconceptions through misinformation and disinformation campaigns targeting Latino communities with egregious lies and inflammatory rhetoric about abortion. Yet, polling, focus groups, and direct interactions with Latino communities have debunked these outdated tropes.

The Latino electorate will prove decisive in securing reproductive freedom and abortion access through ballot measures around the country, particularly in states where Latinos are a significant portion of the electorate.

For Latinos, the freedom to decide, a pillar of our American democracy, is critical. Meanwhile, Latinos are being hit directly with anti-abortion efforts that take away that freedom such as the six-week abortion ban put into effect by the Florida Supreme Court and the 1864 abortion ban upheld by the Arizona Supreme Court. In the wake of the Dobbs decision, people of color and Latinas have felt the impact of a lack of abortion access, an element of basic healthcare.

A 2023 report by the National Partnership for Women and Families estimated that nearly 6.5 million Latinas, or 42% of all Latinas of reproductive age in the country, live in a state that either had or was likely to ban abortion. Ironically, it will be abortion access and anti-choice efforts to restrict freedom of choice that will mobilize Latino voters this election.

In a poll conducted by three national reproductive justice organizations, 87% of Latinas named abortion and women’s rights as one of their top priorities as they head to the polls. Another battleground poll conducted by Somos PAC and BSP Research found that 61% of Latino registered voters expressed a more positive/favorable view of Kamala Harris after hearing that she will protect abortion rights, versus only 19% of Latinos who said they had a more negative view of Harris after hearing that.

In key states to secure the White House and both chambers, Latinos make up large chunks of the electorate: Arizona (25%), Colorado (15%), Florida (20%), Nevada (20%), and New York (12%). In the face of unprecedented attacks on basic healthcare access and targeted attempts by extremists to mislead and divide our community on this issue, this November Latinos will be key deciders on abortion access across the country.

Mari Urbina, Managing Director of Indivisible, Battleground Arizona Lead and former Harry Reid advisor.

Héctor Sánchez Barba is president and CEO of Mi Familia Vota (MFV).