More than just a diet plan, The Hot Latin Diet offers a new outlook on what it means to live well, feel great, and look fabulous. Dr. Manny, senior health correspondent for FOX News and one of America’s leading OB-GYNs, introduces the 7 Latin power foods and reveals how incorporating these savory and satisfying cuisines to their diet can help women stay slim and maintain those sexy, natural curves. With everything from delicious recipes from leading Latina chefs to effective tips on balancing exercise, health, and nutrition, this fun and practical weight-loss plan reveals the simple secret to an enjoyable, healthy lifestyle and a dream bombshell body.
Introduction
One of the reasons I came up with the Hot Latin Diet has a lot to do with being an ob-gyn for over thirty years. Throughout my career, I’ve had hundreds of mommies—and soon-to-be-moms—coming through my office door. What I’ve noticed is that over the past few decades, moms have been gaining significant weight during their pregnancies, and then they haven’t lost that weight—in fact, they have gotten heavier after just two years. We’ve seen an epidemic of obesity in children and type 2 diabetes in females. The rules for pregnancy weight gain have had to change; we used to say gain twenty-five to thirty pounds during pregnancy, but today most moms start overweight, so these numbers have dropped to an average of twenty to twenty-five pounds. I try to help moms limit their excess weight gain, but this is tough. What this tells me is that we’ve gotten out of control with eating in this country—and that is true not just for women, but for all of us.
I am disturbed by the alarming growth (yes, literally!!) of the entire American population. The statistics speak for themselves: chronic diseases (cardiovascular disease, cancer, and diabetes) are now among the most prevalent, costly, and preventable of all health problems, yet they affect the lives of more than 90 million Americans (not to mention the cost of health care); 1.7 million people die annually as a result of chronic disease, which translates into the deaths of seven out of ten people. And despite the fact that chronic diseases are perhaps the most common and costly of health problems, they are also among the most preventable. They can simply be prevented by what we put in our mouths.
In addition to studying the eating habits of people in the United States, I have also noticed that most families who immigrate from the Caribbean Basin and other points of Latin America are fit and trim when they arrive in the United States; however, if you look at this same community three years later, they’re usually overweight. I’ve experienced this with patients time and time again. I know of one little girl, for example, who moved with her parents from the Dominican Republic. She arrived here at age twelve as a perfectly fit prepubescent teen. Now this girl is eighteen years old, and weighs three hundred pounds. What happened?
Well, what happened to this girl is indicative of what happens to so many of us in America: we’re bombarded by marketing that presents us with foods that we “must” have, when, in reality, they’re not the right choices; we live in a fast-paced society that discourages good habits and priorities like walking, exercising, and even relaxing, and most important, this fast-paced lifestyle has led to the desire for fast food, which doesn’t just mean McDonald’s anymore. Today’s fast foods are also meal bars, on-the-go shakes, and prepackaged foods, which contain high levels of sodium and preservatives that wear down our muscle tissue, slow down our metabolism, make us gain weight, and may even shorten our life span.
We can look back not too long ago to see how we’ve all changed in terms of our relationship with food and fitness. When my parents were young, life was very different; their priorities and focuses were also different—food was essential and respected, activity was part of work and daily life, and home cooking with natural ingredients was the norm. Today, our time is very limited and there has been a shift in priorities and goals—while food is essential, it’s not so respected, activity is modest, and eating out or eating packaged meals has become the norm. What we need to do is return to the outlook that food—and activity—is essential; this is the way we can eliminate the many fatalities caused by disease, increase our feeling of well-being and energy, and live a longer and better life. We need to get back to our parents’ approach!
Determined to address my patients’ weight issues and our country’s booming increase in preventable disease, and inspired by the positive things I saw growing up, I went back to examine my own culinary roots, and as a Cuban American, those of my Latino brethren. I was amazed to find high levels of life expectancy and low levels of obesity in a culture almost defined by its food. I was also surprised to find that many Miss Universe winners are actually of Latin American heritage—the same winners who claim to “never diet.” I knew that there had to be an underlying common thread in our diet to explain this, and I was resolved to unearth the key ingredients and factors associated with this remarkably healthy lifestyle. After careful study, what I discovered became the backbone to this diet and the source of a healthy lifestyle--the seven Latin powerfoods. They are tomatillos, garbanzo beans, avocado, garlic, cinnamon, chiles, and cilantro.
The nutritional and antioxidant components found in the seven Latin powerfoods will help your body become strong and nourished. Incorporating these foods into your diet will also help you feel full while staying healthy. You’ll quickly start to notice how you no longer feel heavy and sluggish after meals—instead you’ll find that you have more energy than before! Overall, the three major benefits of these powerfoods are that they help your body:
- function at an optimal level by flushing out the toxins from your cells, allowing them to operate more efficiently;
- enhance metabolic function, speeding up weight loss;
- boost key fat-burning vessels—adding strength, muscle mass, power, and stamina.
The Hot Latin Diet is the first plan to unveil the top seven Latin powerfoods, helping you to include them in your everyday life. This diet is built on the foundation of one of the most basic of Latin philosophies: Life must be enjoyed! Therefore, quality of life is a huge consideration in this diet. Of course, quality includes probably the most fundamental component: eating well. In fact, I’m not going to tell you to take fat completely out of your diet; I can’t live without my olive oil—and a few others! (Okay, sometimes many others....) But I will say that it’s all about balance (and totally not about excess). This means great culinary variety—with depth of flavor, including plenty of spice (and I’m not talking hot! I’m talking taste!). Deprivation, unhappiness, and disappointment—especially with oneself—do not enter into this realm of thinking.
The seven Latin powerfoods are also bursting with flavor and full of the nutrients your body craves and needs. Having these powerfoods at your disposal also means great culinary variety. The Latin American diet is now a brilliant amalgam of many different cultures and ingredients. With millions of immigrants from Latin America (including Mexico and Brazil) and the Caribbean, we’ve been blessed here in the States (and Canada) with a plethora of foods and ingredients that even as recently as fifteen years ago couldn’t be found in our markets. What’s happening today in the Latin American food world is that we’re getting the best of the best! We’re sharing our culinary secrets—and the results, as you can see by my recipes, are a combination of fabulously flavorful and healthful ingredients.
Now I didn’t create these recipes and this diet alone. These wonderful recipes were contributed by the world-renowned Latina chefs Xiomara Ardolina, Michelle Bernstein, Daisy Martínez, Zarela Martínez, and Sue Torres. In addition, Kena Custage, a board-certified nutritionist and holistic health practitioner (as well as a licensed psychotherapist, breath and meditation therapist, and Reiki master) was instrumental in designing these meals and charts, as well as providing all the accompanying nutritional advice. Finally, I wrote this book along with chef Arlen Gargagliano. She inherited her passion for food from her mom and honed her skills with the Colombian-born chef Rafael Palomino, whom she’s worked with for the past twelve years. These women are all amazing! They’re as talented as they are passionate about their craft. What I hope you’ll get from these chefs is not only inspiration but also many, many ideas. As you look through their recipes, you’ll discover different ways of combining ingredients, foods, and spices in your everyday life.
I will also tell you this from the start: the Hot Latin Diet is not a fad. Most people in this country are obsessed with losing weight and with diets promising to help them shed pounds in mere weeks. Sure, they might work at first, but the reality is that most people quickly gain those pounds back. Why? Because most of these diets are fads. What they don’t teach you is that losing weight isn’t just about a diet change and following the motions; it is, instead, about lifestyle changes.
I know that getting started is often the hardest part, so here’s what I’m suggesting. First, since you’ve obviously made the decision that there are going to be some changes in your life (which, I hope you realize, is one of the biggest decisions of all!), you need to remember that any change should happen slowly: one bite at a time, if you will. But even now you need to remember to be patient with yourself. Second, read this book one time through, so that you have an idea of what steps you need to take, and how you’ll get there. Third, keep coming back for more! You should go back and consult pages that you’ve already read, for both information and support.
Not only will I be giving you general suggestions and tips, I’ll also be giving you specific ones based on your age group. In my book The Checklist, I outlined what you and your family need to know, according to each decade of your life, to live long and healthy lives. Here I’m going to give you specifically tailored instructions to help you do the same—but based on your diet. But remember, if you really want to lose weight, you have to do two things: eat fewer calories and burn more calories.
The goal of this book is to inform and motivate you. There’s a lot of information here, and you can’t possibly absorb it all at once. As you know, inspiration is not a one-shot deal, so I encourage you to go back and find the information that most stimulated you into moving toward your goal (and it’s my goal to furnish you with a lot of tools that you can reach for when you need that extra push to keep on going and following your dreams). Finally, find what works for you, and keep at it. Again, it’s all about balance: feeling good always leads to looking good.
In our quest for balance, it’s interesting to me that everyone—myself included—may have a different reason for getting into shape. Ironically, the main reason, being healthy, doesn’t seem to be in the forefront. Some reasons you may recognize are:
- Vanity—You want to look better! You want to wear a cocktail dress (and look like you should be wearing it), or not be embarrassed in a bathing suit, or shorts, or anything you’d like to wear.
- Changing a particular area (or several areas!) of your body—legs, hips, chin(s)—because they’re too big or bulky as they are right now. You want them narrower, stronger, leaner, and meaner!
- Making someone else happy—You know your significant other likes you a bit slimmer, or you want your kids to be proud of you, or you want that cute guy across the hall to pay more attention to you.
Whatever your reasons are, I want you to consider something. The Hot Latin Diet is a lifestyle change. This is going to be different from what you’ve done before, and it’s going to help you achieve your weight goal—regardless of your motivation. However, I would also like to contribute to your understanding of the importance of the health reason, and remind you—as I’ll continue to do—that if you feel better, my friend, because of a new diet, new exercise, and your new attitude, you will look better. But before we move forward, I have a request: I want you to make a commitment to focus on the new.
In a nutshell, the Hot Latin Diet is a base for a long, happy, and healthy life. This book will teach you how to incorporate the seven Latin powerfoods into your everyday diet, the reasons behind weight gain and how to prevent it, and how to set your weight-loss goals and achieve them, not only for a summer, but for life.
