{"id":7884,"date":"2023-10-03T18:14:51","date_gmt":"2023-10-03T11:14:51","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/?p=7884"},"modified":"2023-10-03T18:14:51","modified_gmt":"2023-10-03T11:14:51","slug":"eugenics-nutrition-and-racism-a-pervasive-history","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/?p=7884","title":{"rendered":"Eugenics, Nutrition, and Racism: A Pervasive History"},"content":{"rendered":"<p> <script async src=\"https:\/\/pagead2.googlesyndication.com\/pagead\/js\/adsbygoogle.js?client=ca-pub-3711241968723425\"\r\n     crossorigin=\"anonymous\"><\/script><br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div>\n<aside class=\"post-share hidden md:flex justify-center relative bg-transparent text-justify bottom-0 md:bottom-auto left-[20px] right-0 md:right-auto z-10\" data-module-init=\"post-share\">\n      <a class=\"post-share__button inline-block mx-[4px] py-[11px] text-center text-gray no-underline leading-4 border-0\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sharer\/sharer.php?u=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wellandgood.com%2Feugenics-nutrition%2F\" data-vars-event=\"Facebook\" data-vars-info=\"\/eugenics-nutrition\/\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n      <span class=\"text-sm sm:text-base icon-facebook\"\/><br \/>\n      <spann class=\"visually-hidden\">Share on facebook<\/spann><br \/>\n    <\/a><br \/>\n      <a class=\"post-share__button inline-block mx-[4px] py-[11px] text-center text-gray no-underline leading-4 border-0\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/share?text=Eugenicists%20Shaped%20the%20Pathologized%20Way%20Many%20Americans%20Think%20About%20Nutrition%20Today%20via%20%40iamwellandgood&amp;url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wellandgood.com%2Feugenics-nutrition%2F\" data-vars-event=\"Twitter\" data-vars-info=\"\/eugenics-nutrition\/\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n      <span class=\"text-sm sm:text-base icon-twitter\"\/><br \/>\n      <spann class=\"visually-hidden\">Share on twitter<\/spann><br \/>\n    <\/a><br \/>\n      <a class=\"post-share__button inline-block mx-[4px] py-[11px] text-center text-gray no-underline leading-4 border-0\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/pinterest.com\/pin\/create\/link\/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wellandgood.com%2Feugenics-nutrition%2F&amp;description=Eugenicists%20Shaped%20the%20Pathologized%20Way%20Many%20Americans%20Think%20About%20Nutrition%20Today&amp;media=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wellandgood.com%2Fwp-content%2Fuploads%2F2023%2F09%2FWG_MindsIssue_Editorial_Eugenicists-Shaped-the-Pathologized-Way-Many-Americans-Think-About-Nutrition-Today_inset-533x400.jpg\" data-vars-event=\"Pinterest\" data-vars-info=\"\/eugenics-nutrition\/\" rel=\"noopener\"><br \/>\n      <span class=\"text-sm sm:text-base icon-pinterest-p\"\/><br \/>\n      <spann class=\"visually-hidden\">Share on pinterest<\/spann><br \/>\n    <\/a><br \/>\n      <a class=\"post-share__button inline-block mx-[4px] py-[11px] text-center text-gray no-underline leading-4 border-0\" href=\"mailto:?subject=Eugenicists%20Shaped%20the%20Pathologized%20Way%20Many%20Americans%20Think%20About%20Nutrition%20Today&amp;body=Mixing%20food%20with%20morality%20has%20always%20been%E2%80%94and%20continues%20to%20be%E2%80%94a%20recipe%20for%20disaster.%20https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wellandgood.com%2Feugenics-nutrition%2F\" data-vars-event=\"Email\" data-vars-info=\"\/eugenics-nutrition\/\"><br \/>\n      <span class=\"text-sm sm:text-base icon-paper-plane\"\/><br \/>\n      <spann class=\"visually-hidden\">Share on email<\/spann><br \/>\n    <\/a><br \/>\n  <\/aside>\n<p class=\"core-paragraph block-thin text-big\" style=\"\"> If you were to flip through the March 1911 issue of <em>Good Health <\/em>magazine<em>, <\/em>you would have found a regular recipe column by Lenna Frances Cooper, one of the first American registered dietitians. In her contribution to this issue, entitled &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/2027\/mdp.39015076976508?urlappend=%3Bseq=254%3Bownerid=13510798902327942-278\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/2027\/mdp.39015076976508?urlappend=%3Bseq=254%3Bownerid=13510798902327942-278\">The Dinner Pail<\/a>,&#8221; Cooper offers practical advice for packing lunch for others, along with a few vegetarian recipes for filling said dinner pail. There is an egg and olive sandwich, stuffed figs, potato and celery salad, and more, all looking &#8220;nourishing and digestible as well as palatable and attractive,&#8221; as she says the contents of a dinner pail should be.<\/p>\n<p class=\"core-paragraph block-thin text-big\" style=\"\"> Flip a few pages and you&#8217;d come across a column titled &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/babel.hathitrust.org\/cgi\/pt?id=mdp.39015076976508&amp;seq=288\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/babel.hathitrust.org\/cgi\/pt?id=mdp.39015076976508&amp;seq=288\">Euthenics and Eugenics<\/a>.\u201d This recurring section of the magazine\u2014published by John Harvey Kellogg, MD, medical director and superintendent of Seventh-day Adventist health institution, the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/ableism-excludes-disabilities-in-wellness\/\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/ableism-excludes-disabilities-in-wellness\/\">Battle Creek Sanitarium<\/a>\u2014was devoted to promoting pillars of eugenics. As defined by the National Human Genome Research Institute, eugenics refers to the \u201c<a href=\"https:\/\/www.genome.gov\/about-genomics\/fact-sheets\/Eugenics-and-Scientific-Racism\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.genome.gov\/about-genomics\/fact-sheets\/Eugenics-and-Scientific-Racism\">scientifically inaccurate theory<\/a> that humans can be improved through selective breeding of populations\u2026linked to historical and present-day forms of discrimination, racism, ableism and colonialism.\u201d\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"block-thin\">\n<hr\/>\n<div class=\"experts-in-article noskim py-[24px] px-[40px]\">\n<p>Experts In This Article<\/p>\n<ul class=\"!ml-[18px]\">\n<li> <a href=\"https:\/\/yourlatinanutritionist.com\/\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/yourlatinanutritionist.com\/\">Dalina Soto, MA, RD, LDN<\/a>, anti-diet dietitian based in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. <\/li>\n<li> <a href=\"https:\/\/thedailyreason.wordpress.com\/about\/\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/thedailyreason.wordpress.com\/about\/\">Danielle Dreilinger<\/a>, Danielle Dreilinger is an American South storytelling reporter for Gannett\/USA Today Network and the author of <i>The Secret History of Home Economics.<\/i> <\/li>\n<li> <a href=\"https:\/\/history.msu.edu\/people\/faculty\/helen-veit\/\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/history.msu.edu\/people\/faculty\/helen-veit\/\">Helen Zoe Veit<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.helenveit.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" data-rich-text-format-boundary=\"true\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.helenveit.com\/\">Helen Zoe Veit<\/a> is an associate professor of history at Michigan State University and the author of <em>Modern Food, Moral Food: Self-Control, Science, and the Rise of Modern American Eating in the Early Twentieth Century. <\/em> <\/li>\n<li> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lehman.edu\/academics\/health-human-services-nursing\/health-promotion-nutrition\/fac-burt.php\" rel=\"noopener\" target=\"_blank\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.lehman.edu\/academics\/health-human-services-nursing\/health-promotion-nutrition\/fac-burt.php\">Kate Gardner Burt, PhD, RD<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lehman.edu\/academics\/health-human-services-nursing\/health-promotion-nutrition\/fac-burt.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.lehman.edu\/academics\/health-human-services-nursing\/health-promotion-nutrition\/fac-burt.php\">Kate Gardner Burt<\/a>, PhD, RD is an assistant professor at Lehman College and a registered dietitian and culinary nutritionist. <\/li>\n<li> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lvngbook.com\/about\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\" target=\"_blank\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.lvngbook.com\/about\">Shaun Chavis<\/a>, Shaun Chavis is a food journalist and former cookbook editor. <\/li>\n<\/ul><\/div>\n<hr\/><\/div>\n<p class=\"core-paragraph block-thin text-big\" style=\"\"> <em>Good Health\u2019s<\/em> feature story in this issue looks into whether hereditary factors or environmental factors are to blame for societal problems like disease, crime, and poverty. It ultimately concludes that &#8220;the real betterment of the human race is in better matings.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"core-paragraph block-thin text-big\" style=\"\"> For the modern reader, these two topic focuses that occur throughout the magazine present a jarring juxtaposition: <a href=\"https:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/2027\/mdp.39015076976508?urlappend=%3Bseq=862%3Bownerid=13510798902327942-920\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/2027\/mdp.39015076976508?urlappend=%3Bseq=862%3Bownerid=13510798902327942-920\">Peach shortcake<\/a> and &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/2027\/mdp.39015076976508?urlappend=%3Bseq=71%3Bownerid=13510798902327942-75\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/hdl.handle.net\/2027\/mdp.39015076976508?urlappend=%3Bseq=71%3Bownerid=13510798902327942-75\">The Need of Reform in Teaching Primitive Races<\/a>\u201d sharing a table of contents? But for a number of folks living in the Progressive Era, roughly the 1890s to the 1920s, eugenics was an <a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/2698847\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/2698847\/\">accepted, influential, and ingrained belief<\/a>\u2014one that indeed touched overarching life philosophies and weekly menus alike.<\/p>\n<div class=\"block-thin mt-[30px] mb-[40px]\">\n<div class=\"acf-video text-left relative\">\n<figure class=\"w-full h-full m-0\">\n<div class=\"image-2021 overflow-hidden h-0 relative !h-full\" style=\"padding-bottom: 54.957264957265%;\"> <picture><source data-srcset=\" https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/WG_MindsIssue_Editorial_Eugenicists-Shaped-the-Pathologized-Way-Many-Americans-Think-About-Nutrition-Today_inset-1_1170x643_true_75.webp 1170w,https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/WG_MindsIssue_Editorial_Eugenicists-Shaped-the-Pathologized-Way-Many-Americans-Think-About-Nutrition-Today_inset-1_1404x772_true_75.webp 1404w, https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/WG_MindsIssue_Editorial_Eugenicists-Shaped-the-Pathologized-Way-Many-Americans-Think-About-Nutrition-Today_inset-1_1170x643_true_75.webp 1170w,https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/WG_MindsIssue_Editorial_Eugenicists-Shaped-the-Pathologized-Way-Many-Americans-Think-About-Nutrition-Today_inset-1_1404x772_true_75.webp 1404w, https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/WG_MindsIssue_Editorial_Eugenicists-Shaped-the-Pathologized-Way-Many-Americans-Think-About-Nutrition-Today_inset-1_1170x643_true_75.webp 1170w,https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/WG_MindsIssue_Editorial_Eugenicists-Shaped-the-Pathologized-Way-Many-Americans-Think-About-Nutrition-Today_inset-1_1404x772_true_75.webp 1404w,\" srcset=\"\" sizes=\" (max-width:640px) 1170px,  (max-width:768px) 1170px,  1170px\"\/><img class=\"image-2021__img block left-0 top-0 object-cover w-full !h-full min-h-full inset-0 lazy !absolute\" alt=\"\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" data-module-init=\"image-2021\" data-module-immediate=\"\" data-is-vue=\"\"\/> <\/picture> <\/div><figcaption class=\"text-gray-light text-[13px] leading-[20px] text-center\"> <\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"core-paragraph block-thin text-big\" style=\"\"> In addition to breakfast cereal (which <a href=\"https:\/\/www.semanticscholar.org\/paper\/The-temple-of-health.-A-pictorial-history-of-the-Gerstner\/eb7bccf2e52a06c6552be36d300922a3fa7438ba#citing-papers\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.semanticscholar.org\/paper\/The-temple-of-health.-A-pictorial-history-of-the-Gerstner\/eb7bccf2e52a06c6552be36d300922a3fa7438ba#citing-papers\">he\u2019s credited with inventing<\/a> alongside his brother, William), Dr. Kellogg was an ardent believer in eugenics. During the early 20th century, he spread the gospel through his work at the Battle Creek Sanitarium and <em>Good Health<\/em> magazine; he even hosted the 1914 <a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/proceedingsoffir14nati\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/proceedingsoffir14nati\">National Conference on Race Betterment<\/a>. One of the <a href=\"https:\/\/rmc.library.cornell.edu\/homeEc\/cases\/intro.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/rmc.library.cornell.edu\/homeEc\/cases\/intro.html\">founders of home economics<\/a>, Annie Dewey, was at the conference to introduce the concept of euthenics, which framed individual control over one&#8217;s environment as both a duty and a path to health and happiness\u2014a &#8220;sister science&#8221; to eugenics that would help &#8220;<a href=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/proceedingsoffir14nati\/page\/104\/mode\/2up\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/archive.org\/details\/proceedingsoffir14nati\/page\/104\/mode\/2up\">carry the race toward perfection<\/a>.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"core-paragraph block-thin text-big\" style=\"\"> Progressive reformers believed that food was fuel for building strong bodies and minds. Taking <em>pleasure<\/em> in eating, meanwhile, implied wrongful intentions and <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC3342754\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC3342754\/\">was not encouraged<\/a>. At this time, the U.S. was also cementing its &#8220;melting pot&#8221; status, with <a href=\"https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/classroom-materials\/united-states-history-primary-source-timeline\/progressive-era-to-new-era-1900-1929\/immigrants-in-progressive-era\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.loc.gov\/classroom-materials\/united-states-history-primary-source-timeline\/progressive-era-to-new-era-1900-1929\/immigrants-in-progressive-era\/\">immigration rates skyrocketing<\/a>. Yet, many American nutrition experts expressed <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fdli.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/FDLJ-77-2-Kracov.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.fdli.org\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/10\/FDLJ-77-2-Kracov.pdf\">wariness around the foreign dishes<\/a> gaining popularity\u2014along with dishes popular among Black Americans\u2014emphasizing that the healthiest diet was built around ingredients and cooking methods familiar to white, native-born Americans.<\/p>\n<p class=\"core-paragraph block-thin text-big\" style=\"\"> The science of modern nutrition was born deeply entwined with the ersatz science of eugenics, a tangle that mixed up morality with food choices, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/eating-the-rainbow-inclusivity\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/eating-the-rainbow-inclusivity\/\">blending &#8220;eating white&#8221; with &#8220;eating right.&#8221;<\/a> And as much as today\u2019s nutrition community would like to distance ourselves from the harmful teachings and practices of this time period, many of the ideas about dietary choices and health born during this time are <a href=\"https:\/\/www.fdli.org\/2022\/10\/eugenics-and-the-development-of-u-s-food-and-drug-law\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.fdli.org\/2022\/10\/eugenics-and-the-development-of-u-s-food-and-drug-law\/\">still alive and well<\/a>. Dig a little deeper, and you&#8217;ll understand why Cooper&#8217;s peach shortcake recipe is sitting comfortably alongside calls for &#8220;race betterment.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"next-core\/paragraph core-heading text-h2 block-thin\" style=\"\"> In the Progressive Era, what was right simply equaled what was white\u00a0<\/h2>\n<p class=\"core-paragraph block-thin text-big\" style=\"\"> The Progressive Era was marked by a zeal for \u201cpositive social change.\u201d Many of those changes targeted systems\u2014for example, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bls.gov\/opub\/mlr\/2017\/article\/history-of-child-labor-in-the-united-states-part-2-the-reform-movement.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.bls.gov\/opub\/mlr\/2017\/article\/history-of-child-labor-in-the-united-states-part-2-the-reform-movement.htm\">passing laws that restricted child labor<\/a>\u2014but individual self-improvement was also a fascination of the time. Research scientists and physicians (let alone consumers) were just beginning to understand what calories and vitamins were, and the popularity of these novel concepts contributed to the birth of the dietitian.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"core-paragraph block-thin text-big\" style=\"\"> It makes sense why many early (white American) \u201cnutrition experts\u201d like Cooper gained a following as the eugenics movement grew, and vice versa\u2014the themes of exclusion and restriction so naturally emulsified. From there came the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/services\/aop-cambridge-core\/content\/view\/8C65543385E3E082BEF0019A8AEA1F3F\/S0021875822000329a.pdf\/div-class-title-eat-your-way-to-health-a-history-of-ability-in-the-progressive-era-div.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.cambridge.org\/core\/services\/aop-cambridge-core\/content\/view\/8C65543385E3E082BEF0019A8AEA1F3F\/S0021875822000329a.pdf\/div-class-title-eat-your-way-to-health-a-history-of-ability-in-the-progressive-era-div.pdf\">concept of the &#8220;ideal diet,&#8221;<\/a> one which provided the necessary amount of calories and nutrients through plain, bland meals made up of recognizable ingredients, a diet that, by design, had nothing in common with the heavily seasoned, mixed stews, pastas, stir-fries, sauces, and other foods that were staples in the diets of many immigrants and Black people.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"core-paragraph block-thin text-big\" style=\"\"> For many eugenicists, a better society meant a <a href=\"https:\/\/galton.org\/essays\/1900-1911\/galton-1904-am-journ-soc-eugenics-scope-aims.htm\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/galton.org\/essays\/1900-1911\/galton-1904-am-journ-soc-eugenics-scope-aims.htm\">whiter, wealthier society, absent of people with disabilities<\/a>. At its most abhorrent, they believed Black, Indigenous, and people of color (BIPOC), immigrants, people living in poverty, and those with disabilities should not reproduce; and that practices like <a href=\"https:\/\/ihpi.umich.edu\/news\/forced-sterilization-policies-us-targeted-minorities-and-those-disabilities-and-lasted-21st\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/ihpi.umich.edu\/news\/forced-sterilization-policies-us-targeted-minorities-and-those-disabilities-and-lasted-21st\">forced sterilization<\/a> were an appropriate means to achieve that goal. Some eugenicists were more interested in exploring how to optimize life (for the white, native-born people in the room, that is).<\/p>\n<p class=\"core-paragraph block-thin text-big\" style=\"\"> &#8220;How can we make people better? How can we improve them mentally? How can we make them grow taller? How can we make them stronger? How can we make them live longer? How can we make them happier and healthier in a day to day sense? These were questions that most people cared even more about than the sort of racist, mechanical reproduction side of long-term racial change,&#8221; <a href=\"https:\/\/www.helenveit.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.helenveit.com\/\">Helen Zoe Veit<\/a>, associate professor of history at Michigan State University and author of <a href=\"https:\/\/clicks.trx-hub.com\/xid\/leafgroup_ca5e0_wellgood?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FModern-Food-Moral-Self-Control-Twentieth%2Fdp%2F1469626470%3Ftag%3Dwgtrx942-20%26asc_refurl%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.wellandgood.com%252Feugenics-nutrition%252F%26asc_source%3Ddirect%26asc_campaign%3D1209275nikemindsnutrition&amp;p=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wellandgood.com%2Feugenics-nutrition%2F&amp;event_type=click\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Modern-Food-Moral-Self-Control-Twentieth\/dp\/1469626470\" data-type=\"affiliateLink\"><em>Modern Food, Moral Food: Self-Control, Science, and the Rise of Modern American Eating in the Early Twentieth Century<\/em><\/a>, says about these Progressive Era eugenicists. &#8220;So a lot of the questions about day-to-day health, happiness, fitness, growth, and development had plenty to do with food, and this was in some ways a revelation of the early twentieth century, the idea of improving health and increasing longevity through your diet.&#8221;<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"next-core\/paragraph core-heading text-h2 block-thin\" style=\"\"> Eating habits of the healthy, protestant, and pure\u00a0<\/h2>\n<p class=\"core-paragraph block-thin text-big\" style=\"\"> Many leading health experts (including Dr. Kellogg) during the Progressive Era saw the culinary habits and ingredients <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC1129063\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC1129063\/\">prized by any immigrant or minority group<\/a> as \u201cwrong.\u201d Doctors and home economists at the time preached that \u201cmixed\u201d dishes\u2014like pasta or stew, where various food groups get tossed and served together\u2014were \u201charder to digest,\u201d especially for white people, and that the most healthful choice was a meal of <a href=\"https:\/\/clicks.trx-hub.com\/xid\/leafgroup_ca5e0_wellgood?q=https%3A%2F%2Fgo.skimresources.com%3Fid%3D104860X1561639%26xs%3D1%26xcust%3DSTMSFD-1113569%26url%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Flink.springer.com%252Fbook%252F10.1007%252F978-1-137-06170-6&amp;p=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wellandgood.com%2Feugenics-nutrition%2F&amp;event_type=click\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/link.springer.com\/book\/10.1007\/978-1-137-06170-6\" data-type=\"affiliateLink\">separate, simple, lightly-seasoned foods<\/a>. Think: a piece of bland baked meat, boiled potatoes, and bread every night for supper\u2014no spice, no sauce, no pleasure. (Little did they know that this advice would be so deeply entrenched in white culinary culture that a century later, there would be viral memes about <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/story\/white-people-food-meme-explained\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.bonappetit.com\/story\/white-people-food-meme-explained\">unseasoned &#8220;white people food&#8221;<\/a> and even a trend in China making fun of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/goatsandsoda\/2023\/07\/10\/1185780577\/this-is-not-a-joke-chinese-people-are-eating-and-poking-fun-at-whitepeoplefood\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.npr.org\/sections\/goatsandsoda\/2023\/07\/10\/1185780577\/this-is-not-a-joke-chinese-people-are-eating-and-poking-fun-at-whitepeoplefood\">sad &#8220;white people meals.&#8221;<\/a>)<\/p>\n<div class=\"block-medium font-serif py-5 w-full flex flex-col mt-[40px] md:mt-[56px] md-[24px] md:mb-[40px] justify-center items-center\" data-type=\"acf\/premium-article-image-quote\">\n<div class=\"flex flex-col w-full mx-auto justify-center ml:items-center\">\n<div class=\"ml:w-full gap-[18px] mb-[9px] flex flex-col ml:flex-row-reverse ml:-mx-[8px] xl:-mx-[9px]\">\n<div class=\"w-full ml:w-1\/2 text-center\">\n<div class=\"flex justify-center items-center h-full px-[23px] md:px-[73px] ml:px-[24px] py-[30px] min-h-[400px]\" style=\"background-color:#585dd2;color:var(--article-accent-color-2-text)\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-wg-quote block-thin flex flex-col relative mx-0 mb-0 p-0 !mt-[30px]\"><p><span class=\"text-quote !text-[95px] absolute top-[-10px] ml:top-[-30px] left-0 right-0 mx-auto\">\u201c<\/span><\/p>\n<p class=\"quote-quote text-center text-quote\">Her tone is really friendly as she falsely perpetuates this idea that Eurocentric food is more healthy than the food that is indigenous to this continent. <\/p>\n<p><cite class=\"quote-credit text-center text-big italic opacity-60\"> <\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<div class=\"w-full ml:w-1\/2\">\n<figure class=\"w-full h-full m-0 max-h-[600x]\">\n<div class=\"image-2021 overflow-hidden h-0 relative\" style=\"height: 100%\"> <picture><source data-srcset=\" https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/WG_MindsIssue_Editorial_Eugenicists-Shaped-the-Pathologized-Way-Many-Americans-Think-About-Nutrition-Today_inset-2_848x1062_true_75.webp 848w,https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/WG_MindsIssue_Editorial_Eugenicists-Shaped-the-Pathologized-Way-Many-Americans-Think-About-Nutrition-Today_inset-2_1018x1274_true_75.webp 1018w, https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/WG_MindsIssue_Editorial_Eugenicists-Shaped-the-Pathologized-Way-Many-Americans-Think-About-Nutrition-Today_inset-2_848x1062_true_75.webp 848w,https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/WG_MindsIssue_Editorial_Eugenicists-Shaped-the-Pathologized-Way-Many-Americans-Think-About-Nutrition-Today_inset-2_1018x1274_true_75.webp 1018w, https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/WG_MindsIssue_Editorial_Eugenicists-Shaped-the-Pathologized-Way-Many-Americans-Think-About-Nutrition-Today_inset-2_848x1062_true_75.webp 848w,https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/09\/WG_MindsIssue_Editorial_Eugenicists-Shaped-the-Pathologized-Way-Many-Americans-Think-About-Nutrition-Today_inset-2_1018x1274_true_75.webp 1018w,\" srcset=\"\" sizes=\" (max-width:640px) 848px,  (max-width:768px) 848px,  848px\"\/><img class=\"image-2021__img block left-0 top-0 object-cover w-full !h-full min-h-full inset-0 lazy\" alt=\"\" fetchpriority=\"auto\" data-module-init=\"image-2021\" data-module-immediate=\"\" data-is-vue=\"\"\/> <\/picture> <\/div>\n<\/figure><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n<p class=\"core-paragraph block-thin text-big\" style=\"\"> Those who did not know how to prepare such food could learn in cookbooks and housekeeping manuals that were widely published at the time, which had names like <a href=\"https:\/\/www.forgottenbooks.com\/en\/books\/TheNewCookery_10044350\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.forgottenbooks.com\/en\/books\/TheNewCookery_10044350\"><em>The New Cookery<\/em><\/a> (by Cooper herself, naturally), <a href=\"https:\/\/d.lib.msu.edu\/fa\/30\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/d.lib.msu.edu\/fa\/30\"><em>Foods of the Foreign Born in Relation to Health<\/em><\/a>, and <a href=\"https:\/\/memory.loc.gov\/cgi-bin\/query\/r?ammem\/cool:@field(NUMBER+@band(lg35))::bibLink=r?ammem\/coolbib%3A@field(AUTHOR+@band(Ellis,+Pearl+Idelia.+))\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/memory.loc.gov\/cgi-bin\/query\/r?ammem\/cool:@field(NUMBER+@band(lg35))::bibLink=r?ammem\/coolbib%3A@field(AUTHOR+@band(Ellis,+Pearl+Idelia.+))\"><em>Americanization Through Homemaking<\/em><\/a>. &#8220;These are not just cookbooks, but tools of racism, xenophobia, and cultural hegemony,&#8221; says food journalist and former cookbook editor <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lvngbook.com\/about\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.lvngbook.com\/about\">Shaun Chavis<\/a>. For evidence, just consider how <em>Americanization Through Homemaking<\/em> begins its chapter on food: &#8220;Mexican families are mal-nourished not so much from a lack of food as from not having the right varieties of foods.&#8221; Noted.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"premium-article-quote block-thin flex flex-col relative justify-center text-center mt-[37px] mb-[30px]\" data-type=\"acf\/premium-article-quote\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-wg-quote block-thin flex flex-col\">\n<p class=\"quote-quote text-quote\">&#8220;These are not just cookbooks, but tools of racism, xenophobia, and cultural hegemony.&#8221; <\/p>\n<p><cite class=\"quote-credit block font-serif text-[19px] italic opacity-60\">Shaun Chavis, food journalist and former cookbook editor <\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n<p class=\"core-paragraph block-thin text-big\" style=\"\"> Chavis points out the irony in these books villainizing traditional Mexican ingredients like tomatoes, peppers, and spices for being unhealthy: &#8220;[Bertha Woods, author of <em>Foods of the Foreign Born in Relation to Health<\/em>] encourages dietitians to persuade Mexicans to eat more cereals, baked or broiled fish, meat and vegetables, and to gradually reduce the amount of tomato or pepper until it becomes a bland dish. Her tone is really friendly as she falsely perpetuates this idea that Eurocentric food is more healthy than the food that is indigenous to this continent. Now we now know through actual science that these culinary habits are generally more nutritious than [solely eating] bland foods,&#8221; says Chavis.<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"next-core\/paragraph core-heading text-h2 block-thin\" style=\"\"> The legacy of Lenna Frances Cooper lives on\u00a0<\/h2>\n<p class=\"core-paragraph block-thin text-big\" style=\"\"> Though the advice was published over a century ago, it sounds very familiar to registered dietitian <a href=\"https:\/\/yourlatinanutritionist.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/yourlatinanutritionist.com\/\">Dalina Soto<\/a>, RD, founder of <a href=\"https:\/\/yourlatinanutritionist.com\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/yourlatinanutritionist.com\/\">Your Latina Nutritionist<\/a> and author of the forthcoming book <em>The Latina Anti-Diet<\/em>. She still sees the harmful effects of these deeply entrenched <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/anti-diet-dietitian\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/anti-diet-dietitian\/\">xenophobic messages around food choices<\/a> in her work with Latine clients. &#8220;Whenever I&#8217;m working with my clients, the foods they grew up eating are always considered \u2018cheating\u2019,&#8221; Soto says. &#8220;There is this idea of: <em>I&#8217;m being \u2018good\u2019 all day when I&#8217;m eating &#8216;healthy foods,&#8217; and when I want to let loose and cheat on my diet, then I can <\/em><a href=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/eating-from-our-roots\/\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/eating-from-our-roots\/\"><em>have those cultural foods<\/em><\/a>.&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"core-paragraph block-thin text-big\" style=\"\"> As a Dominican American, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/dalina-soto-nutrition\/\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/dalina-soto-nutrition\/\">Soto understands all too well<\/a> how such rhetoric can take hold in a person, though. Her nutrition schooling had originally swayed her to try and change her family&#8217;s food choices; she had told her mother that they needed to switch from eating white rice to brown rice, and she also wondered if they should eat fewer plantains. But the more she learned about nutrition science, the more Soto came to appreciate how deeply <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/introducing-dominican-family-plant-based-eating\/\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/introducing-dominican-family-plant-based-eating\/\">nutritious Dominican ingredients<\/a> and dishes are. That reality still hasn\u2019t reached <em>so<\/em> many folks.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"core-paragraph block-thin text-big\" style=\"\"> &#8220;People see a dish that their mom made or their grandma made, and it&#8217;s automatically \u2018unhealthy\u2019 because she made it\u2014<em>plus<\/em> she made it the way that she learned to make it in her country. That&#8217;s doubly \u2018bad,\u2019\u201d Soto says of her clients. \u201cBut they&#8217;re not seeing all the nutrition that&#8217;s in it, <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/diversity-in-dietetics\/\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/diversity-in-dietetics\/\">because nobody is taught that<\/a>. Not even us [dietitians].&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"core-paragraph block-thin text-big\" style=\"\"> According to Veit, prior to the Progressive Era, meal-planning and dietary choices were based on other factors like cultural norms, accessibility of ingredients, and personal preferences, and did not require outside expertise. The discovery of calories and vitamins, and a better understanding of the functional roles of carbohydrates, fats, and proteins in the diet gave the Progressives something to count and quantify.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"premium-article-quote block-thin flex flex-col relative justify-center text-center mt-[37px] mb-[30px]\" data-type=\"acf\/premium-article-quote\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-wg-quote block-thin flex flex-col\">\n<p class=\"quote-quote text-quote\">&#8220;People see a dish that their mom made or their grandma made, and it&#8217;s automatically \u2018unhealthy\u2019 because she made it\u2014plus she made it the way that she learned to make it in her country. That&#8217;s doubly \u2018bad&#8217;.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p><cite class=\"quote-credit block font-serif text-[19px] italic opacity-60\">Dalina Soto, RD, registered dietitian and founder of Your Latina Nutritionist<\/cite><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n<p class=\"core-paragraph block-thin text-big\" style=\"\"> The icing on the proverbial cake for Dr. Kellogg and the eugenics agenda? Because dietary information wasn&#8217;t readily available to all, a new class of nutrition experts was needed to step in to tell ordinary people the &#8220;right&#8221; way to eat.<\/p>\n<p class=\"core-paragraph block-thin text-big\" style=\"\"> Enter Cooper: She was, in many ways, the original \u201cwellness influencer.\u201d Dr. Kellogg gave her a regular nutrition advice platform in <em>Good Health<\/em> magazine, and made her chief dietitian of the Battle Creek Sanitarium and the director and dean of the Battle Creek Sanitarium School of Home Economics. She taught nearly 500 dietitians in her tenure at the Sanitarium, and in 1918 she was appointed first supervising dietitian for the U.S. Army. Cooper went on to work for the U.S. Surgeon General, launch the Department of Dietetics at the National Institutes of Health (NIH), and pen <em>Nutrition in Health and Disease<\/em>, a dietetic and nursing program textbook that was referenced, globally, for decades that followed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"core-paragraph block-thin text-big\" style=\"\"> &#8220;Lenna Francis Cooper was driven by a desire to improve people&#8217;s health, and driven by a desire to improve society,&#8221; says <a href=\"https:\/\/thedailyreason.wordpress.com\/about\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/thedailyreason.wordpress.com\/about\/\">Danielle Dreilinger<\/a>, American South storytelling reporter for <em>USA Today<\/em> and author of <a href=\"https:\/\/clicks.trx-hub.com\/xid\/leafgroup_ca5e0_wellgood?q=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.amazon.com%2FSecret-History-Home-Economics-Trailblazing%2Fdp%2F1324004495%3Ftag%3Dwgtrx942-20%26asc_refurl%3Dhttps%253A%252F%252Fwww.wellandgood.com%252Feugenics-nutrition%252F%26asc_source%3Ddirect%26asc_campaign%3D1209275nikemindsnutrition&amp;p=https%3A%2F%2Fwww.wellandgood.com%2Feugenics-nutrition%2F&amp;event_type=click\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.amazon.com\/Secret-History-Home-Economics-Trailblazing\/dp\/1324004495\" data-type=\"affiliateLink\"><em>The Secret History of Home Economics<\/em><\/a>. &#8220;She had this classic home-economist optimism that we could make the world so much better, and we can make people&#8217;s lives so much better and so much healthier if they&#8217;re just eating the right things.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"core-paragraph block-thin text-big\" style=\"\"> In 1917, Cooper co-founded the American Dietetic Association, now known as the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics. Since its inception, the organization has been <a href=\"https:\/\/www.vndpg.org\/about\/academy-co-founder-lenna-frances-cooper-a-pioneer-in-vegetarian-nutrition-and-dietetics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.vndpg.org\/about\/academy-co-founder-lenna-frances-cooper-a-pioneer-in-vegetarian-nutrition-and-dietetics\">openly proud<\/a> of its ties to the early dietitian, despite her close personal and professional relationship with eugenicists. That said, Dreilinger spent a lot of time researching Cooper for her book, and never found a record of her personal feelings about eugenics. Her recipe column in <em>Good Health<\/em>, though, is a statement of its own, appearing in every issue alongside arguments for race betterment.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"core-paragraph block-thin text-big\" style=\"\"> The silent complicity of Cooper\u2019s work says something, as does the silence from the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics on the topic. And while the organization <a href=\"https:\/\/www.eatrightpro.org\/leadership\/honors-and-awards\/national-honors-and-awards\/distinguished-lecture-award\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.eatrightpro.org\/leadership\/honors-and-awards\/national-honors-and-awards\/distinguished-lecture-award\">changed the name of the award previously called the Lenna Frances Cooper Memorial Lecture Award<\/a> to the Distinguished Lecture Award in 2021, it did not release a public statement on the reason for the change, or address the co-founder&#8217;s complicated legacy.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"core-paragraph block-thin text-big\" style=\"\"> &#8220;There is nothing individually shameful for the Academy of Nutrition and Dietetics,&#8221; says Dreilinger. &#8220;Organizations [at that time] had people in them, and had people leading them sometimes who were known to have racist and xenophobic views.&#8221; It is what the organization&#8217;s leadership chooses to do now that really matters, she continues: &#8220;They&#8217;re doing better work if they just face up to it, talk about it, and try to elevate and uncover people of color who were doing great work at the time, who have gotten forgotten from the histories.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"core-paragraph block-thin text-big\" style=\"\"> Maybe it\u2019s time for a <a href=\"https:\/\/extension.umn.edu\/family-news\/flemmie-pansy-kittrell-hero-history-home-economics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/extension.umn.edu\/family-news\/flemmie-pansy-kittrell-hero-history-home-economics\">Flemmie Pansy Kittrell<\/a> Memorial Award instead. (Dr. Kittrell was the first African American woman to receive a PhD in nutrition and one of the most influential historical advocates for nutrition, health, and racial equity. Her work on child development and low-income, underrepresented families living in small towns transformed the field of home economics.)<\/p>\n<h2 class=\"next-core\/paragraph core-heading text-h2 block-thin\" style=\"\"> Racist undertones of today\u2019s mainstream \u201cwellness movement\u201d<\/h2>\n<p class=\"core-paragraph block-thin text-big\" style=\"\"> Unfortunately, not so much has changed since the early 20th century with regard to mainstream society\u2019s <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/danger-wellness-diets\/\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/danger-wellness-diets\/\">endless pursuit of the \u201cideal diet.\u201d<\/a> When we create a model (or a <a href=\"https:\/\/www.myplate.gov\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.myplate.gov\/\">plate<\/a>) for &#8220;eating right\u201d that centers western eating habits, those whose cultural preferences don&#8217;t fit in that box are\u2026 &#8220;eating wrong&#8221;? You\u2019d think we\u2019d know by now that mixing morality into our food makes a bad dish.\u00a0<\/p>\n<div class=\"premium-article-quote block-thin flex flex-col relative justify-center text-center mt-[37px] mb-[30px]\" data-type=\"acf\/premium-article-quote\">\n<blockquote class=\"wp-block-wg-quote block-thin flex flex-col\">\n<p class=\"quote-quote text-quote\">When food is stripped of its cultural context, reduced to a set of numbers, and seen as a means to an end\u2014whether that end is self-improvement or &#8220;race betterment&#8221;\u2014we lose the simple joy of eating for pleasure, without shame or guilt. <\/p>\n<p><cite class=\"quote-credit block font-serif text-[19px] italic opacity-60\"\/><\/p><\/blockquote><\/div>\n<p class=\"core-paragraph block-thin text-big\" style=\"\"> Today, the Mediterranean diet is considered the gold standard among many nutrition experts and consumers. And though it is not identical to the bland recipes Cooper featured in <em>Good Health<\/em>, it nonetheless promotes a false hierarchy of \u201cright and wrong\u201d eating that harkens back to the Progressive Era. &#8220;The general public is ultimately receiving the same message, decade after decade: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/eating-the-rainbow-inclusivity\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/eating-the-rainbow-inclusivity\/\">[Western] foods are the solution<\/a>. Sometimes they\u2019re the problem, but more often, they\u2019re the solution,&#8221; says <a href=\"https:\/\/www.lehman.edu\/academics\/health-human-services-nursing\/health-promotion-nutrition\/fac-burt.php\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.lehman.edu\/academics\/health-human-services-nursing\/health-promotion-nutrition\/fac-burt.php\">Kate Gardner Burt, PhD, RD<\/a>, assistant professor at Lehman College, registered dietitian, and culinary nutritionist who\u2019s heavily researched the <a href=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/debiasse\/files\/2021\/03\/Burt_MedDiet.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/sites.bu.edu\/debiasse\/files\/2021\/03\/Burt_MedDiet.pdf\">Mediterranean diet through the lens of critical race theory<\/a>.<\/p>\n<p class=\"core-paragraph block-thin text-big\" style=\"\"> Following the Mediterranean diet is probably a healthy way to eat. But is it a <em>uniquely<\/em> healthy way to eat? <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/problem-mediterranean-diet\/\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/problem-mediterranean-diet\/\">Is it the <em>best<\/em> way to eat<\/a>? No, says Burt. She points out that other cultural dietary patterns, such as the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/what-is-mozuku-seaweed\/\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/what-is-mozuku-seaweed\/\">Okinawan diet<\/a> or <a href=\"https:\/\/cdnsciencepub.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1139\/H10-008\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/cdnsciencepub.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1139\/H10-008\">traditional diets from various regions in Africa<\/a>, also <a href=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC5403516\/?ncid=APPLENEWS00001\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/pmc\/articles\/PMC5403516\/?ncid=APPLENEWS00001\">have research to support their healthfulness<\/a>, but nowhere near as much as the Mediterranean diet. &#8220;It&#8217;s been able to just kind of slide under the radar, and move forward as better than every other,&#8221; Burt says.<\/p>\n<p class=\"core-paragraph block-thin text-big\" style=\"\"> When food is stripped of its cultural context, reduced to a set of numbers, and eaten as a means to an end\u2014whether that end is self-improvement or &#8220;race betterment&#8221;\u2014we lose the simple joy of <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/not-all-emotional-eating-is-bad\/\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/not-all-emotional-eating-is-bad\/\">eating for pleasure, without shame or guilt<\/a>.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"core-paragraph block-thin text-big\" style=\"\"> &#8220;For Americans, the idea of eating for pleasure [can] sound like giving in to hedonism,&#8221; says Veit. &#8220;One thing that nutrition science did in the early 20th century is tell people: <em>Don&#8217;t trust yourself. Don&#8217;t assume that you know what you&#8217;re doing. How could you know what you\u2019re doing when you didn&#8217;t even know about vitamins? You don&#8217;t even know how many calories your meal contains. You have to look to experts to know what to eat.<\/em>&#8221;\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"core-paragraph block-thin text-big\" style=\"\"> That lack of trust in our own instincts is a legacy of early nutrition science, Veit says\u2014and of the time period in which it emerged. Maybe it\u2019s time to turn our backs on that legacy, and learn to trust ourselves again.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p class=\"core-paragraph block-thin text-big\" style=\"\"> Some ideas to get started with helping to build a more diverse future for nutrition? Support <a href=\"https:\/\/www.diversifydietetics.org\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.diversifydietetics.org\/\">Diversify Dietetics<\/a>, which is a community for students, professionals, and educators dedicated to increasing ethnic and racial diversity in the nutrition and dietetics profession. You can also learn more about the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.nobidan.org\/about-us\/history\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.nobidan.org\/about-us\/history\">history of Black dietitians<\/a> via the National Organization of Blacks in Dietetics and Nutrition. And finally, follow nutrition and health professionals of color <a href=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/woc-fighting-racism-wellness\/\" referrerpolicy=\"no-referrer-when-downgrade\" data-vars-event=\"body text\" data-vars-click-url=\"https:\/\/www.wellandgood.com\/woc-fighting-racism-wellness\/\">who are working to dismantle racism in wellness<\/a>. Only by first unlearning will all members of society be able to work toward fully understanding the inclusive reality of what it means to nourish oneself\u2014body and mind.<\/p>\n<p class=\"core-paragraph block-thin text-big\" style=\"\"> <em>Citations<\/em><\/p>\n<p class=\"core-paragraph block-thin text-big\" style=\"\"> <em>Well+Good articles reference scientific, reliable, recent, robust studies to back up the information we share. You can trust us along your wellness journey.<\/em><\/p>\n<ol class=\"core-list block-thin premium-list premium-list-ordered\">\n<li><em>Allen, G E. \u201cEugenics and American social history, 1880-1950.\u201d\u00a0Genome\u00a0vol. 31,2 (1989): 885-9. doi:10.1139\/g89-156<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Gerstner, Peter. \u201cThe temple of health. A pictorial history of the Battle Creek Sanitarium.\u201d\u00a0Caduceus\u00a012 2 (1996): 1-99 .\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Reed, Danielle Renee, and Antti Knaapila. \u201cGenetics of taste and smell: poisons and pleasures.\u201d\u00a0Progress in molecular biology and translational science\u00a0vol. 94 (2010): 213-40. doi:10.1016\/B978-0-12-375003-7.00008-X\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Caplan, A L et al. \u201cWhat is immoral about eugenics?.\u201d\u00a0BMJ (Clinical research ed.)\u00a0vol. 319,7220 (1999): 1284-5. doi:10.1136\/bmj.319.7220.1284<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>H\u00e9l\u00e8ne, Delisle H. &#8220;Findings on dietary patterns in different groups of African origin undergoing nutrition transition.&#8221;\u00a0Applied Physiology, Nutrition, and Metabolism.\u00a0(2010): 224-228.\u00a0<\/em><\/li>\n<li><em>Willcox, Donald Craig et al. \u201cHealthy aging diets other than the Mediterranean: a focus on the Okinawan diet.\u201d\u00a0Mechanisms of ageing and development\u00a0vol. 136-137 (2014): 148-62. doi:10.1016\/j.mad.2014.01.002<\/em><\/li>\n<\/ol><\/div>\n<p><script async src=\"\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><br \/>\n<br \/><div data-type=\"_mgwidget\" data-widget-id=\"1675549\">\r\n<\/div>\r\n<script>(function(w,q){w[q]=w[q]||[];w[q].push([\"_mgc.load\"])})(window,\"_mgq\");\r\n<\/script>\r\n<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Share on facebook Share on twitter Share on pinterest Share on email If you were to flip through the March 1911 issue of Good Health magazine, you would have found a regular recipe column by Lenna Frances Cooper, one of the first American registered dietitians. In her contribution to this issue, entitled &#8220;The Dinner Pail,&#8221; &hellip;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":7885,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-7884","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-health"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7884","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=7884"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/7884\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/7885"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=7884"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=7884"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/loudhdtv.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=7884"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}