What diabetes care gets wrong about cultural foods (holiday edition)
Diabetes Digital Podcast by Food Heaven
Wendy Lopez, Jessica Jones
4.9 • 2.4K Ratings
🗓️ 24 December 2025
⏱️ 31 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
In this Christmas Eve episode, Jess and Wendy chat with dietitian Krystal Martinez to debunk a major diabetes myth: that you have to give up your cultural foods to manage blood sugar.
Krystal, a first-generation Mexican-American specializing in prediabetes and type 2 diabetes, shares why staples like tortillas, rice, and beans belong on your plate. She offers practical tips for balancing meals during the holidays and beyond, covering portions, protein, fiber, and healthy fats.
We also go into the white vs. brown rice debate, the harm of cutting out entire food groups, and how to enjoy Nochebuena without guilt. Happy Holidays!
If you're living with diabetes or prediabetes and want personalized support from a Registered Dietitian Nutritionist covered by insurance, visit diabetesdigital.co to connect with our culturally aware and weight-inclusive team.
And if you love the show, don't forget to rate and review us on iTunes or Spotify—it makes a huge difference! For additional resources and show notes, head to diabetesdigital.co/podcast.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | Welcome to another episode of the Diabetes Digital podcast. |
| 0:04.1 | Today, we are joined by one of our D.D. dieticians, and her name is Crystal Martinez. |
| 0:11.8 | I'll get into her bio, but just want to give you guys a sense of what we're talking about on today's episode. |
| 0:16.5 | So one of the things that comes up a lot in the work that we do with patients is this idea of |
| 0:22.7 | nutrition feeling very one-dimensional and almost European in the recommendations that are given |
| 0:30.1 | and how to incorporate somebody's cultural foods throughout the entire year, including within |
| 0:35.2 | the holiday season. |
| 0:36.5 | I think there's a lot of guilt and shame |
| 0:38.4 | around foods that we grew up with and maybe they're not healthy, but that is a lie. And |
| 0:44.8 | we're going to unpack that today with Crystal, which we think is the perfect episode for Christmas |
| 0:50.0 | Eve as you head into the holidays. We thought it would be really good to have a conversation about |
| 0:56.6 | this, like how can we still incorporate our favorite foods throughout the holidays and the whole year. |
| 1:02.8 | So our guest today is Crystal Martinez, as I said. She is a dietitian with us and she helps |
| 1:08.2 | clients build a peaceful and powered relationship with food |
| 1:11.3 | and their health. She specializes in pre-diabetes, type 2 diabetes, PCOS, and digestive |
| 1:17.1 | health, offering a compassionate, culturally grounded approach that keeps the favorite foods like |
| 1:23.1 | tacos on the plate. As a first generation Mexican-American, living with autoimmune arthritis in sojourns, |
| 1:30.5 | Crystal understands the realities of navigating chronic conditions and making sustainable changes. |
| 1:36.2 | Her work is rooted in empathy, humor, and real world in real world guidance that helps people find |
| 1:41.3 | balance without restriction. So Wendy, what are we covering today? |
| 1:45.0 | Yeah. So we are going to be talking with Crystal about some common myths around incorporating |
| 1:51.3 | cultural foods and also just practical guidance on how people can incorporate some of their favorite |
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