I ignored the signals for 20 years
By the time I was diagnosed with diabetes, I had been eating in ways that slowly hurt me for years without my realizing it. I was eating what was convenient, which usually meant processed food that was cheaper and faster. Under a food system that was designed for profit, not for nourishment. Under diet culture that told us our bodies were problems to be solved.
So I cut the tortillas. I swapped the arroz. I ate food that had nothing to do with my food memories and while it worked for a while, it never lasted. Not because I lacked discipline but a plan that asks you to leave your cultura behind, is not a plan you can live inside in.
But then I was presented with an idea, use plant-based eating to treat chronic issues my partner was having. I decided to make these dietary changes to treat my own diabetes, and that marked the beginning of a deeper journey of food and memory.
I started learning everything I could about adding plants to our plates, and found that our Mexican heritage gave us the foods we needed. I grew up in a family where food was love. Tamales at Christmas. Caldo when you were sick. Remedios from the garden. That wisdom lived in the mujeres around me — in their hands, their kitchens, their knowing.
In that journey I realized we have a relationship with food, one that I had neglected my entire life. I began to see the ultra-processed food I was eating and what it does to the gut, the brain, the blood. I reclaimed that what we eat is inseparable from our culture, our history, and our sense of self.
What I do with it now
When we emerged with a new dietary need, we found those options lacking in our community. Carlos and I co-founded El Hongo Mágico, a taqueria rooted in the philosophy that food made with plants and intention heals. Every dish we make carries that belief and cultural reflection of who we are and where we come from. The part that changed me was the customers: they came to us with every kind of need, not just ours. That's when I understood this wasn't a personal story. It was a systems story.
I built Raíces Mágicas for the mujeres who are where I had been. Mujeres who know something has to change but don't know where to start. Mujeres feeding everyone except themselves. Mujeres who had lost the thread back to their roots and didn't know how to find it again. Raíces Mágicas contains cooking classes, a free monthly círculo, in-person gatherings, a six-month cohort, 1:1 guidance, and food-as-medicine education for organizations. All of it built on the same rule: what can we add, never one thing to give up.
What I know to be true
Food is not the enemy.
What you put in your body every day is either healing or harming and you deserve to understand the difference.
Your body is talking to you
The signs and the symptoms are the language. You can learn to interpret them.
Cultura is not the obstacle
The tortilla is not why you're tired. The tortilla might be part of how you get better.
Eating is a form of self-love.
Not the only one. But one of the most grounded, consistent, and powerful ways you can show up for yourself every single day.
The framework everything here is built on
Every diet I was ever handed started in the middle. Here's the plan, follow it, report back. No one asked where I came from. Not one asked what I was leaving behind to follow it.
So I built this community to work the way you grow food, because it’s a process we've seen in nature and it works.
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Tierra · Semilla · Cosecha
Tierra — Where you come from. Your cultura, your memoria, what your plate carried before anyone handed you any rules. -
Tierra · Semilla · Cosecha
Semilla — What you plant now. Learning to read your señales. One practice. One pot. Small and real. -
Tierra · Semilla · Cosecha
Cosecha — What you sustain and pass on. Your family, your comunidad, the table your children will remember.
What I bring to this work
I am not a doctor, a registered dietitian, or a certified nutritionist. What I am is a mujer who reversed her own diabetes through whole food plant-based living, watched the same approach heal her partner's diverticulitis, and has spent years growing and practicing a whole foods, plant based living.
I bring lived experience and the kind of practical kitchen wisdom that comes from actually cooking — for my family, for catering clients, and for a community of mujeres who are learning alongside me.
I also bring co-founder experience from El Hongo Mágico, where whole-food plant-based cooking has been our north star from day one.
Raíces Mágicas is a community, a practice, and a guided journey. Always consult your healthcare provider for medical decisions. What I offer is something different — and, I believe, equally necessary. Understanding what real food is to create conscious choices for a healing relationship with you and your body.
Ready to begin?
Start with the free ebook. Come meet us in La Cocina. Or dive straight into the Despertando cohort if you're ready for the full journey.
Have a Question? Ask Away!
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