By Caroline Buia

Whether you stop at the pupusería on your way home from the club or scarf a plate of empanadas after a night on the town, after dark is the worst time to eat. If you're risking starvation (or at least a killer hangover), go ahead and indulge your craving. A few words to the wise:

-Fill up on water or caffeine-free tea before so you'll eat less.
-Keep the food portions small
-Eat slowly
-Out with friends? Share your plate so you're only having half the amount of food.

Buen Provecho!
Related: Fall Inspired Cocktails

A Yen For Mexican

NIX:

Burrito

738 cals/86g carbs

Chicken quesadilla
563 cals/37g carbs

SWAP FOR:

Burrito bowl with greens, beans, cheese, chicken and pico de gallo (skip rice) 340cals/30g carbs

Quest For Cuban

NIX:

Ham croquetas
280 cals/30g carbs

Tostones
139 cals/21g carbs

Flan
471 cals/77g carbs

SWAP FOR:

Sopa de pollo
172 cals/14g carbs

Baked sweet potato fries
140 cals/23g carbs

S

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A holiday that began as the celebration of two cultures-Indians and Pilgrims-coming together to share a

table, has also joined Latinos and Americans into one family.

Growing up in Puerto Rico, we get the opportunity to celebrate many of the traditional US holidays, but I have to say that one of my favorites is Día de Acción de Gracias, or Thanksgiving, as it is known in the mainland. Just imagine having turkey, pumpkin pie and mashed potatoes, along with Puerto Rican yellow rice, roasted pork and coconut-based desserts in 80+ degree weather. Every year our friends and relatives would join together to sit at the same table to laugh, talk and say a prayer of thanks-in Spanish, of course. It was the type of gathering beautiful memories are made of.

Once we moved to the states, and as my brother and sisters began to marry, the families they married into became integrated with our holidays. Soon, our table started showing signs of new traditions. There was a broccoli casserole neat

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Red lips are definitely in for the holiday season. Learn how to pick the right shade for your skin tone, and get the look in my video tutorial.

By Charleen Gonzalez for Shine Latina

Red lips are a holiday staple. I personally love wearing red lips all the time, and a good, basic red lipstick should be in every woman's makeup collection. Even though I adore red lipstick, it can be a pain to apply if you don't do it correctly. If you take the time, and follow my five steps to perfecting a the look, you'll be able to have a flattering, lasting lip color that everyone will love!

Red-orange lipstick for Latinas
If you have an olive skin tone, then you have the luxury of being able to pull off any red color. It is true, however, that red-orange lipsticks look the best on olive complexions and really stand out against yellow undertones. I have a few favorites I like to use; I love By Terry's Rouge Terrybly in 21 VD which is the perfect shade of red-orange and Bite Beauty's Matte High Pi

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By Liliana Moyano for Shine Latina

My brother in law, David, went to culinary school about 10 years ago. While my college homework consisted mostly of writing papers and studying for exams, David's included cooking recipes for the entire family. We always managed to find one or two nights during the week to gather around the kitchen to watch him working on recipes for school. One of his famous, signature dishes is a Cilantro and Plantain Chicken soup that the entire family has enjoyed since the moment he first made it. We kept asking him to make the soup and to make enough to last for a few days. Now, more than a decade later, we still make the soup during family gatherings and lunches. The big difference is that while we used to cook and eat whenever we wanted, now we have to consider a new generation. We have kids that range from seven months to five years old running around the house during the day, with parents trying to get them into bed early so they can make it to school t

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By Liliana Moyano for Shine Latina

While Thanksgiving is one of the most important holidays of the year in the United States, it's just another day in Latin America. My family didn't celebrate the holiday when we first moved to the US, but we couldn't help feeling left out. All the neighbors and friends spent days in the kitchen preparing for this all-American holiday.

A couple of years later, a guy from North Carolina- David- started dating my sister. When he met our family, he came upon a very joyful group where every evening was filled with dinner parties and wine-tasting nights. Since his family lived out of town, and we partied like no one else, he decided to come over on Thanksgiving expecting a big feast. You can imagine his shock when he arrived with a big, cooked turkey, and he found us in the kitchen making a simple ham and potato salad. We had no idea what a green bean casserole, sweet potato souffle or pecan pie was, let alone that these were traditional holiday d

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