22 Natural Ingredients Latinxs Love That Are Good For You
We love Latinx food because it’s part of our culture, feels and tastes like home, and is simply delicious
Photo: Unsplash/@lmablankers
We love Latinx food because it’s part of our culture, feels and tastes like home, and is simply delicious. We often forget that it is made up of so many healthy ingredients! There’s a reason why those traditional recipes have survived time, passed down generation after generation. It’s partly because they describe meals that provide sustenance and good health for our families.
Since we love to deconstruct things about our culture that we are so used to that we often don’t take the time to analyze, we wanted to take a look at 22 ingredients us Latinxs love that have several health benefits. Now you’ll know that by eating foods with these ingredients, you are not only eating some yummy meals, but also doing wonderful things for your salud! As with all helpful information, read it, learn it, and pass it on!
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Allspice
In addition to providing flavor to the Caribbean, Latin American, and Middle Eastern meals, allspice also has several health benefits. It’s filled with antioxidants, as well as anti-fungal, anti-inflammatory benefits. It also helps boost immunity, aids with digestion, and helps in the prevention of cancer. It’s incredible that you get all these positive effects from one spice!
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Cilantro
Cilantro is another ingredient we use quite a bit in Latin food. The herb, which originates from the coriander plant, has quite a few health benefits. It contains Vitamin K, reduces menstrual cramps, detoxifies and heals skin, is a heavy metal cleanser, and boosts the mood, among other pluses.
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Banana
We know that bananas are a great source of potassium, but the health benefits from the fruits don’t end there. Bananas also lower the blood pressure, reduce the risk of cancer, give you energy, power the brain, reduce depression, ease constipation (when they are ripe), reduce symptoms of nicotine withdrawal, fight depression and anxiety, and more.
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Lime
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Limes are used in Latinx food a lot, adding that extra oomph to so many dishes, such as tacos, and ceviche. But did you know they come with various health benefits? Limes improve digestion, help with weight loss, prevent peptic ulcers, provide stress and anxiety relief, boosts immunity, and lowers blood sugar, and more.
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Avocado
Avocados are just heavenly. Not only do they taste amazing, but they’re actually good for you! These power fruits are a good source of healthy fats, lower bad cholesterol, raise good cholesterol, improve your mood, promote weight loss, help with digestion, and more. Why not make that healthy homemade guacamole you’ve been wanting to make?
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Cumin
Known in Spanish as comino, cumin is a spice with a variety of benefits to your health. It improves digestion, improves your immunity, prevents anemia, helps with cold symptoms like congestion and cough, is anti-bacterial, regulates the menstrual cycle, protects the liver and heart, and much more.
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Onion
Onions add flavor to so many different foods, but they also offer a variety of important health benefits. They are antibacterial, help control blood sugar, lower your cancer risk, improve lung function in those people who have asthma, help detoxify the body, lower triglycerides, protect the brain, and purifies the blood.
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Beans
Beans are a staple of Latinx food, whether they are red beans, guandules, or lentils. They’re also great for you! Beans are a good source of protein, reduces your cancer risk, increases heart health, contain folate, help cut cholesterol, and more. Although they are often served with meat in Latinx dishes, beans also make a good substitute to create yummy vegetarian and vegan meals!
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Chamomile
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You may already know that a cup of chamomile tea is said to calm and soothe and that Mexicans and other Latinxs have been lightening their hair with it for ages (we call it manzanilla). But there are more health benefits to this herb. It reduces menstrual pain, prevents and treats cancer, helps fight colds, reduces inflammation, and more.
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Corn
Corn, also known as maize, has been a part of our lives and culture since it was first cultivated in Central/South Mexico over 7,000 years ago. It is still a bit part of our cuisine, and we’re happy to report that it is chock-full of health benefits! Corn lowers cholesterol, lowers blood sugar, has antioxidants, helps with weight gain, helps with vision, boosts energy, and more.
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Annatto
Known as achiote in Spanish, annatto is a condiment/food coloring which comes from the seeds of the annatto tree. It’s used in Latinx cuisine, and has some of the following health benefits: aids with fluid retention helps with vision, helps treat diabetes, strengthens bones, and more!
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Garlic
Garlic is so flavorful and takes so many dishes to the next level. But it is also incredible for your health. Garlic helps detoxify the body, kills a lot of different infections, has medicinal properties, prevents dementia, prevents blood clots, can aid in ending hair loss, reduces the risk of stroke and heart attack, and so much more.
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Lemon
When life gives you lemons, you make lemonade, and then reap the benefits of them! Lemons (and don’t forget to drink lemon water!) treat rheumatism and arthritis, cure throat infections, balances your pH, reduces fever and helps fight a cold, lowers your blood sugar, prevents kidney stones, stops internal bleeding, purifies the blood, and more. Add some lemon to your water to partake in these benefits while also keeping hydrated. Or use them to add a touch of tart to several dessert options. Squeeze it over your soups and salads to add a punch — there are endless ways to enjoy delicious and tart lemons!
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Cinnamon
Whether it’s one of the many ingredients in mole, or sprinkled on top of some arroz con leche, canela is a definite part of Latinx culture and cuisine. And it also is good for you! Cinnamon can help manage PCOS, is anti-bacterial, boosts memory, helps treat infertility, and more.
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Tomato
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When you’re making that healthy guacamole, why not add in some tomato? Tomato is another fruit that is super healthful and full of health benefits. It lowers the risk of cancer and heart disease, is good for your hair and skin, improves your vision, helps digestion, helps to reduce migraines and much more.
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Oregano
Oregano is another herb used to flavor Latinx food. In addition to making meals taste more elevated, it also has a plethora of benefits for your health. It is high in antioxidants, anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, aids in digestion, helps prevent heartburn, and is high in Vitamin K, among other benefits.
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Coconut
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Coconut adds so much flavor and richness to Latinx food, and contains a multitude of health benefits. It contains iron, manganese, and copper (among other nutrients), helps to regulate thyroid function, alkalizes the system, boosts brain function, boosts energy, contains fiber, and more. There are also beauty benefits to consuming coconut, as well as using coconut oil on hair, skin, and teeth.
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Orange
The orange is a fruit that has a pretty good reputation for protecting our health. We are encouraged to consume it to fight off colds, due to its high amount of vitamin C, but these citrus fruits are also good for teeth and bones, are full of fiber, help balance the body’s pH, are good for the eyes, and have a whole range of other health benefits.
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Carrot
You’ve probably heard over the years that carrots are great for your vision, but the orange root veggie also has many more healing properties. Carrots keep your heart healthy; stimulates hair growth, while also reducing the falling of hair; ease menstrual cramps; protect the arteries; are antiseptic and antibacterial, and boost your immunity. These are just some of the benefits of eating carrots!
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Cassava
Also known as yuca, cassava is another food vital to Latinx food and culture. While it is tasty, did you know that it also has a bunch of health benefits? Yuca is rich in vitamin C, helps lower cholesterol, contains antioxidants, reduces the risk of Alzheimer’s, and more. It is also gluten-free, fat-free, has zero sodium, and is free of cholesterol! Just don’t ever eat it raw and also don’t eat too much of it during pregnancy!
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Mango
Another fruit with both flavor and an array of health benefits is the mighty mango. Mangoes prevent cancer, clears skin, improves digestion, cleanses the blood, delays aging, improves memory, lowers cholesterol, is high in copper, and has many more health benefits. Try adding mango to your healthy smoothies, or as a sweet balance to a yummy salsa!
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Plantains
The final Latinx ingredient we are going to take a look at is the tasty plantain. It is a fixture in Latinx culture and adds a touch of deliciously fried gold to a plate of rice, beans, and other Latin food. Also known as cooking bananas, platanos are rich in vitamins A, C, and B-6, fiber, potassium, and magnesium; and are also cholesterol-free, low in sodium, and low-fat.
