For many, Mexican food is thought of as a treat, that delicious splurge that throws off your daily caloric intake leaving you feeling guilty.

But celebrity chef and certified nutritionist Chef LaLa is fighting that stigma as she creates healthy recipes without abandoning her Latino heritage and flavors.

The chef’s cookbooks “Latin Lover Lite” (Spencer Publications, 2004) and “Best Loved Mexican Cooking with Chef LaLa” (Publications International, 2008) are aimed at creating healthy ethnic cuisine.

But now she has taken it a step further by partnering with Merck, a global health care company, to launch Sazone Su Salud, an educational campaign designed to educate the Latino community about type 2 diabetes and to offer diabetes-friendly recipes.

“My part as a chef and certified nutritionist was to be able to speak about my experience,” says LaLa, whose birth name is Laura Diaz. “My position, personally, is not only of understanding what it is to live with a family member who has diabetes, but also of one that I have to take special precautions because I understand I’m predisposed to diabetes.”

Read more at the Long Beach Press Telegram