Plants on Your Plate: Simple Steps to Healthier Eating in 2025

Join Registered Dietitian Diurka Sotomayer and Mary Galindo from Rooted Santa Barbara County for an interactive workshop designed to make healthy eating easy, delicious, and sustainable!

Discover practical ways to bring more veggies to your plate without sacrificing the flavors you love. Through a live food demo, you'll learn simple techniques for adding more plant-based ingredients to everyday meals. This session is all about meeting you where you are; we’ll help you identify the next best step toward your health goals and create sustainable changes that last the whole year.

Leave feeling inspired, with tasty tips that fit your lifestyle and nourish your body!

Diurka Sotomayor (Dee) is a Registered Dietitian, Certified Diabetes Educator, and Nutritionist with ample experience in Chronic Diseases and Sport Nutrition. Dee has been working for more than 14 years with clients of multiple backgrounds and conditions to achieve their nutrition goals. She loves to stay informed about the latest scientific studies and applies all that knowledge to her program. Dee obtained her Bachelor of Dietetics and Nutrition at Florida International University. Currently, she is working with Ventura County, developing medically tailored meals to help participants manage their health conditions. Dee is a lead educator at Rooted Santa Barbara County developing a bilingual plant-based nutrition education program for community members, community health workers and healthcare providers.

Rooted Santa Barbara County is mobilizing our county to grow health equity and resilience through whole food plant-based nutrition education and support. Our community-based nutrition and food skills programming and resources fill a critical gap. Rooted equips county residents with the knowledge, confidence and resources to prioritize, prepare and enjoy whole plant-based foods to build health equity and resilience, reduce medical expenses and medications, and grow quality of life. As a collaborative hub, partner, and resource for healthcare practitioners and direct service organizations serving our community members with the greatest barriers to good health, we do this through:

Low to no cost, bilingual, plant-forward nutrition and food skills education programs, tools, resources, and support,
Healthcare and community health worker training, and
Community collaborations to ensure accessibility and belonging, healthcare community engagement, healthy food access, and culturally relevant support to improve health outcomes county-wide.

We’re on a mission to reduce the burden of chronic disease, optimize health, and help our County residents eat to thrive.

This project was supported in part by the U.S. Institute of Museum and Library Services under the provisions of the Library Services and Technology Act, administered in California by the State Librarian.

Disclaimer(s):

Participants in this event may be photographed by Library staff. These photos may be used in promotional or educational publications, including in print, social media, and presentations. Please see staff if you do not consent to having your photo taken. Staff will obtain individual, signed photo releases of photographs that contain only an individual as opposed to a group.