Why “What I Eat in a Day” Misses the Mark for Black Communities
How to rethink nutrition through culture, context, and Black food traditions
As I scrolled through The Washington Post’s trending stories,” one headline made me stop, and not in a good way. A new piece titled “At 89, she’s a top nutrition expert. Here’s what she eats in a day,” had me questioning if that’s really the best we can do now?
Listen, I don’t have anything against Marion Nestle. She has decades of influence in the field of nutrition and has made significant contributions to public conversations about food. But reducing her entire expertise to a rundown of coffee, Shredded Wheat, terrace-grown greens, and a dinner of eggs, crackers, and cheese?
Between this and the New York Times asking if liberal feminism ruined the workplace, I think many of us have had about enough with the journalism world’s hot takes on women.
Regardless of how I feel about the title of the article, the real issue that’s raised for me is why we keep pretending that knowing what an “expert” eats in a day is somehow the roadmap to better health.
This is especially relevant considering that those lists rarely reflect the cultural foods that many Black families grew up eating and continue to consume. How many “What I Eat in a Day” posts include collard greens, sweet potatoes, okra, or black-eyed peas? Nutrient-dense foods, packed with flavor, and an essential part of the traditions that have sustained us for generations?
When nutritional expertise overlooks culture, it overlooks context, and if I’m being honest, it overlooks the truth that there really isn’t one “healthy” way to eat.
Meg Bowman said it best in her piece for Nutrition Needs Nuance:
“When we stop obsessing over what people eat and start getting curious about how they can eat in a way that works for them, the whole tone of a nutrition session changes.”
Read that again, because that’s the entire point.
Nutrition isn’t about pushing people toward a plant-based Pinterest aesthetic or assuming that “healthy eating” has to look the same for everyone. For Black communities, nutrition is about honoring the historical, regional, and cultural foods that already nourish us.
That doesn’t mean making assumptions about what Black people eat. It means understanding that cultural foods are not obstacles to wellness, but part of the foundation of wellness.
The real work for nutritional experts is not providing another list of “eat this, not that,” but learning how to support people in making choices that feel culturally aligned, emotionally satisfying, and actually sustainable.
I promise you that if the recommendation requires someone to abandon their entire food identity, it’s unlikely that they will maintain it in the long term.
If nutrition professionals want to make a meaningful impact on people across the African diaspora, they must intentionally practice cultural inclusion. That means keeping staple dishes on the table, not eliminating them because they don’t fit a generic template.
Here are a few ways to do that:
Incorporate culturally familiar vegetables and fruits into traditional dishes without stripping away the dish’s authenticity.
Offer alternative cooking methods, like baking, steaming, or sautéing, to help enhance nutrient absorption while preserving flavor.
Recommend herbs and spices rooted in cultural traditions that elevate meals rather than dilute them.
Stay curious about what people grew up eating and what foods make them feel connected, grounded, and satisfied.
When nutrition feels like an extension of someone’s real life, rather than a replacement for it, everything becomes more doable, more enjoyable, and more supportive in the long run.
What would it look like to focus less on what you “should” eat and more on what foods you truly enjoy?
Nutrition experts have opinions, but you are the expert on your body. Being the expert of your own body means not depending solely on external factors, but trusting your own innate wisdom to know what works well for your body and what doesn’t.
If this message spoke to you, I’d love to hear your thoughts. Let me know below.
This article comes at the perfect moment; your brilliant point that those 'expert' daily logs often miss the real cultural algoritm is such a refreshing take.
Yes, Tomesha! Exactly. I have been saying this to my clients for the last 20 years. You start from your own comfort zone of culture. What do you usually eat? That's the starting point, always. Who are you and what does "good food" mean to you. Indian food is the same in terms of a cultural orientation with nutritional choices that no Western diet could hope to understand. But it works and has for thousands of years. Nutritional imbalances and diabetes started with colonialism and that's a book for another day. I totally agree, ladies. Don't jettison what you eat or what brings you comfort for someone else's culturally based idea of "healthy".