Belonging & the "Smart"

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The pull of belonging to something "smart" is strong. Some turn to plant foods because of kindness to animals. But whether we do it because we love nature and want to protect the environment or not, the simple point is our bodies digest plant foods well. 

It is common knowledge that animal flesh, milk and eggs do not necessarily digest fully. They leaving undigested foods to rot in and block the passages in our bodies. (We feel sick when the body struggles to get rid of the toxins.) 

We have eaten mainly plant foods for ages. It was not the alternative. An exotic sounding term such as "vegan" was coined only about a century ago. Those who introduced the word said their reasons for eating plant foods was mainly moral - You know, nonviolence, kindness. 

It looked like a thing, not just for "smart" people, but, those whose bodies didn't require a lot of physical energy in their daily routines. Then, people started to find out that there are prizefighters and high-performance athletes who identify as "vegan." People read that there were gladiators living on plant-based (vegan) diets battling in Roman coliseums. 

It must feel special to identify as vegan when bad food eating is being widely condemned. Some may belittle those who seem to be hooked on nicely flavored, colorfully packaged and marketed unhealthy food. Some may even feel more "conscious" than those hooked on or struggling to get over junk food. But the difference between those who eat mainly plant foods and those do not is only a split-second decision.

True, knowledge of self means understanding what's happening in and around us. It means understanding the effects of what we're putting into your body. Still, the thing is to have serious fun planning and eating particular foods because they give or help the body release specific nutrients, and not because we think we're better than somebody else. 


It's ok to answer "yes" with pride, when asked "Are you vegan?" But we are simply eating mainly plant foods because that's what's in harmony with our body. That's all. Wearing names doesn't mean very much. We are either eating healthy or we are not.

PLEASE EXPLORE OTHER SOURCES TO ENRICH UNDERSTANDINGS OF NUTRIENTS

Dairy-Free Cornbread w/ Brussels Sprout Medley Roasted Tomato Garlic Sauce

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Nutritious & Organ-Pleasing

Ingredients

Dairy-Free Cornbread

• 1 cup Cornmeal 
• 1 cup Corn
• 1 cup  Unbleached all-purpose flour
• 1 tbs Baking powder
• 3/4 tsp Sea salt
• 1/4 cup Agave
• 1 cup Almond milk
• 1/4 cup melted Coconut oil
• 2 tbs ground Flax seed mixed with 6 tbs water (as egg substitute)

Brussels Sprouts with  Roasted Tomato Garlic Sauce

• 2 cups Brussels sprouts (cut in half)
• 2 medium Tomatoes (sliced)
• 1 cup baby Carrots (cut in half)
• 2 cloves of Garlic
• 1 Red pepper (sliced)
• 1 large Onion (sliced)
• 1 tbs Olive oil
• Sea salt (optional)

Directions

Brussels Sprout Roasted Tomato Garlic Sauce

Put sliced tomatoes on baking sheet pan in oven for 10 minutes. Add tomatoes and garlic to a blender and puree until smooth. Set aside. Heat olive oil in pan and add chopped onions, red pepper and carrots. Cook for 10 minutes.

Dairy-Free Cornbread

Preheat oven to 425 degrees. Lightly coat an 8-inch-square baking sheet with olive oil

Combine flour, cornmeal,baking powder and sea salt. Add flax eggs, agave, almond milk, corn and coconut oil (add slowly as you stir ingredients). Mix just until smooth. Pour into baking sheet and bake for 20 minutes or until a knife inserted in the middle come out clean.

Some Nutritional Benefits

The almond milk in the cornbread insures bone, muscle, skin, eye, blood and heart health.

Brussels sprouts help the body produce energy from the food we eat. They nourish the heart and digestive system. They are also used as a detox, and in repairing damaged cells (to prevent swelling or cancer). The fibers help relieve constipation.

Tomatoes support the immune system and can help restore/maintain kidney health. 

Carrots are a good detox. They help cleanse the liver and colon. 

Tomatoes and carrots boost eye, teeth, bone, skin, blood, heart and cell health. 

 

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Taste of Thinking

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What we're eating, drinking and thinking shape our health. The more we get used to eating certain foods, the more our taste buds recognize the patterns, the more they enjoy those foods. 

See how it we can choose to let go of acquired tastes for unhealthy "tasty" food, even if the taste buds and money make it difficult. What we became is not necessarily who we are. 

We enjoy good or bad foods based on taste, but this taste is programmed by what we are used to and the good feelings of pleasant memories that come with it - you know, that rainy night, that family reunion, that restaurant in another city, that movie, that song, that sunrise! 

Word is now out, that "experts" are paid to give bad food a blissful taste and create pleasant memory aromas to go with it. People know there are major food manufacturers mixing poisonous dyes to give food color, and unhealthy fats, sugars and salt to create and feed the feel-good taste so we keep coming back.

Then they flash "organic" and "natural" on their labels because they know people naturally want to eat healthy... conditioning us to like not-so-good food. We start to see how "That's what I like," "That's what I don't like," is conditioning. 

The body and taste buds together gradually get conditioned for real food, nutrition as we repeat good eating habits.

The body asks, "Where's my nutrition?" each time we eat or drink anything. Our organs sing happily when what we're thinking and doing is in tune with our bodies; not just pleasing taste buds.
  

Tomato Barley Soup

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Delicious, nutritious soup, and quite filling! 

Ingredients

• 1 cup Barley (or 1/2 cup according to taste)
• 3 large Tomatoes (chopped)
• 1 cup Mushrooms (of your choice)
• 2 large bunches of Baby spinach
• 1 large Onion (chopped)
• 2 Garlic cloves (diced)
• 1 red Pepper (chopped)
• 1 Carrot (chopped)
• 3 cups no-sodium Vegetable broth (or water)
• 1 Bay leaf
• 1 tsp Cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp Basil
• 1 tsp Thyme
• 1 tbs Olive oil
• Sea salt (optional)

Directions

Heat pot with olive oil add chopped onions, red peppers, carrot, garlic, mushrooms. Cook for 5 minutes. Add vegetable broth, barley, tomatoes, bay leaf, cayenne pepper, basil, thyme and salt.  Let cook until soup thickens and barley is soft. Add spinach and serve.

Some Health Benefits

Barley helps nourish cells against damaged (cancer) growtheyes. Its fibers help the body digest, absorb and eliminate the food we eat. Good for the digestive system and bodies that should lose some weight! Barley's mineral content also supports blood (against diabetes for example), bone and muscle health.

Mushrooms help the maintain healthy blood sugar levels. It assists the body to process and produce energy from the food we eat. Mushrooms are also a boost to healthy organs fighting cancerous cells especially in the prostate - making it useful against prostate cancer.

Tomatoes, like Barley and mushroom, fights cancer and enriches the blood, helping balance blood sugar (against diabetes) boost eye and skin health from inside. It nourishes the heart and helps the body prevent strokes and balances blood pressure (against hypertension). It also assists in restoring bone mass (countering osteoporosis). it nourishes and flushes the kidneys  helping to prevent gallstones and kidney stones.

Carrots also enrich the blood, support eye health and help in digestion.

Spinach boosts the immune system, the nervous system and brain health. It also shares the other ingredients properties that insure blood, eye, skin and digestive system health. Like the others, spinach is a balm for cell health against cancer and inflammation.  

Garlic and onions aid in restoring health to swollen cells (against inflammation) and cancerous organs. They help break down foods, fight toxins and unhealthy bacteria and help heal wounds and clears scars. Onions are known to help repair black people's (brown) skin where there are hypertrophic scars.    

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Catching On: Nutrition First

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The food we eat, exposure to the sun and physical activity help create healthy or diseased bodies. 

High blood pressure, heart disease, diabetes, obesity - complicated by stress - have hit black people hard since we began spending much of our time indoors, being inactive and putting taste before nutrition. 

Yes, how we respond to stress is an issue. And often, it comes down to what's sustaining our bodies. In spite of the terrible physical, emotional and psychic stress of slavery, blacks back then were generally in better shape than many of us are today. 

Much of what is called food today looks good to the eyes and tastes "good" on the tongue, but is bad for the body. Fortunately, the awareness of the effects on families and the economy are forcing people to put natural eating and good nutrition first once again.

The pace and scope of this change might make it all feel like a passing fad. TV commercials and programs, doctors and politicians are increasingly promoting healthy foods. There's votes to win and money to make when you put "Nutrition first." 

You know health foods are in high demand when Walmart promotes it. You know it's what's on when Tops, Wegmans and Price Rite are selling it - and when some food industry giants are labeling their "tasty" unhealthy food as "healthy" and/or "natural" to get in on it. 

Don't be surprised if a health food store pops up in your area. Watch out, Lori's and Abundance! Those prices better come down, now. Shoo', we need neighborhood-run health food stores in the 'hood! People want to eat healthy. 

It is no longer cool to reject healthy food because it looks like some hippie, "alternative," white people thing. And healthy eating is not supposed to be boring, Google "health food recipes." You'll be flooded with more tasty recipes than you can handle. It's an excellent time to be get creative.

Blacks as a people have been known for living in harmony with nature. (And the world ate healthier before the "free market" profit overdrive.) Remember, our closeness to nature was an Enlightenment era justification for slavery. The "civilized" world is now catching on to it.

Red Beans & Curry Brown Rice

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Easy-to-make and nutrient rich

I enjoyed putting this homemade dish together. It was surprisingly easy to make!

Ingredients

• 1 1/2 cups Red beans
• 2 large Tomatoes (chopped)
• 1 large Onions (chopped)
• 2 Garlic cloves (diced)
• 1 Green pepper (chopped)
• 1 tsp Cayenne pepper
• 1 tsp Chili powder
• 2 Bay leaves
• 1 tsp Basil
• 1 tbs Olive Oil
• 2 cups Brown rice
• 1 tsp Curry powder
• Sea salt (optional)

Preparation

Cook brown rice with curry powder. Set aside when done.

Slow cook beans a day before in a slow cooker (do not drain water once beans are done).  Heat olive oil in pot. Add onions and peppers. Cook for 5 minutes. Add cooked beans with water, tomatoes, garlic, cayenne pepper, chili powder, bay leaf and basil. Cover and cook for 30 minutes or until mixture thickens. Serve over curry brown rice.

You are going to love this healthy dish ... and it's even better the next day!

Some Known Nutritional Benefits*

"Rice & Beans" is, historically, a common healthy, easy-to-prepare dish among Black people worldwide. What's in it for us? First, the ingredients of the red beans gravy (the beans, tomatoes, spices and herbs):

Red beans is a well known rich source of protein and iron for muscle and blood health.

Tomatoes also increase bone health. Tomatoes also help prevent and fight against cancer, DNA damage, inflammation and degenerative diseases. 

Cayenne pepper helps blood circulation.

Garlic and onions are useful antibiotics. Both help fight infections. Garlic, obviously, is more potent.

Bay leaf is known to help fight infections, some ulcers, bleeding, arthritis, bronchitis, flu symptoms, some ulcers and urine retention. It does more: It stimulates appetite, digestion, absorption, elimination of the foods we eat. It helps improve blood iron content, blood pressure, heart health, brain cell and nervous system health.

Basil boosts the skin and hair health, digestive tract health, and immune system health, bones' connective tissue and harmful bacteria.

Brown rice is rich in fiber. Fiber counters constipation and helps absorb and eliminate what we eat. Brown rice's high magnesium content supports bone health and helps produce the energy our bodies derive from our meals. Brown rice's zinc helps prevent and fights cancerous cells, heal wounds and shore up the immune system. This whole grain's Vitamin B-6 secures nerve and blood cell health.

Curry combines well with brown rice not just for color and flavor, nutritionally, it also boosts the immune system. Another similarity is it counters cancer cells and inflammation. Curry also nourishes heart and brain cells.

Serve this recipe with a salad or dark green vegetables.

*PLEASE EXPLORE OTHER SOURCES TO ENRICH UNDERSTANDINGS OF NUTRIENTS