This article outlines a biocultural approach that employs a mixed-methods research design to the study of food insecurity in the context of economic transformations in the MonteverdeSocial, economic, and environmental disadvantages are attributed to health disparities or differences in the health among two or more groups of people (www.healthypeople.gov 2020). Because of these disadvantages, structural barriers emerge, including limited access to quality nutrition and adequate health care, which facilitate widening gaps in health outcomes over time. Though health disparities are often examined in the context of ethnicity and race, other intersecting social determinants including gender, sexual orientation, mental health, and socioeconomic status are also considered important (Dean et al. 2013). Much of the research on health disparities has been done in the United States, yet with the rise of global capitalism and growing economic inequalities

This investigation examines maternal diet in rural Costa Rica in the context of recent political economic changes. Results show that increased availability of non-local food items, (i.e., pizza and processed foods) has influenced maternal dietary choices. Information pathways, which have traditionally provided women with knowledge about maternal diet from family members, are also shifting. Younger women turn to the local clinic and the media for information about maternal diet, and traditional practices, such as cuarentena (40-day postpartum period), are no longer being observed. Changing practices may be linked with shifting information pathways, as well as self-reported weight gain among women.