Dalina Soto’s 'The Latina Anti-Diet' is a refreshing and much-needed addition to the conversation around intuitive eating, particularly for those in the Latine community. This book offers a culturally affirming guide for anyone who has followed Soto’s Nutritiously Yours platform or felt frustrated by the rampant misinformation about nutrition. Soto brings the warmth of abuelas’ kitchens to her approach, celebrating staples like arroz, habichuelas, and plátanos while rejecting the restrictive norms of diet culture.

With her CHULA method, Soto empowers readers to embrace intuitive eating that honors both their health and cultural heritage. This book speaks directly to Latine individuals from New York, Philly, and beyond who grew up surrounded by the love and tradition of home-cooked meals. It's an essential resource for those seeking to rebuild their relationship with food in a way that prioritizes both nourishment and joy.

Thank you NetGalley for the e ARC. This book helped me so much. I was actually feeling all the things she wrote about: going to the gym every day, watching everything I ate. Thank you for showing me I am not alone

This was super helpful. I read it and immediately went to follow Dalina on Instagram for more of her content. I found the book to be spot on with my feelings about diet culture and BMI. I also quickly took to Dalina's CHULA method. Brilliant! Thanks to NetGalley for the ARC.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with an early copy of this book.

Quick disclaimer: I follow Dalia Soto on Instagram. Hopefully, I was able to give an impartial review.

The writing style is easy and conversational which made me think that I want to read a food history book by Soto. There's an emphasis on using fat in a neutral way which I love while also using "obesity" in quotation marks (like I did here).

I will say that some of the stuff requires the reader to have some knowledge of Soto's platform. This doesn't take away from the book or what it's saying, but I noticed it.

Part 1 lays the groundwork of nutrition and why a cultural perspective is needed. As Soto writes (and this may be different in the published copy), "people will eat and care about nutrition when the food is something they know and understand." Part 2 introduces her CHULA method which is a different approach to thinking about nutrition. Each chapter in this part breaks down the CHULA acronym.

The book puts a lot of effort into citing sources with chapters providing notes and a bibliography. At the end of each chapter, there is a TLDR of the chapter, a "Chula Practice", and endnotes.

In all, this book really proves that we have to listen to professionals and not influencers. I really enjoyed it and think it should be on reading lists for nutritionists.

I really liked this book! It was a very positive message about diet culture and how certain cultures deal with that. There’s a lot of good tips and tricks, and lots of sound advice in this book. it was well written, and I enjoyed reading it.


Thank you to NetGalley, to the author, and to the publisher for this complementary ARC in exchange for my honest review!!!