Vegan Vibes

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As educators, advocates, parents and professionals, we tend to take care of everyone else. Who then gets ignored? Yep, we do! We fail to take better care of ourselves. And what price do we pay? Well check the stats and facts! From hypertension and diabetes to high cholesterol and obesity, we're dying daily and prematurely. What do I mean? 

Well, studies continue to find how varying conditions and diseases are increasingly preventable. Think about that! Some diseases are found to be as high as 70-80% preventable. Simple measures like walking, exercising for 30 minutes a day and minimizing intake of unhealthy foods can help reduce our conditions. 

As African - Americans, our plight is heavier. The plot thickens when you consider the added societal stresses we endure daily and generationally. Please be clear: I'm not a medical doctor, yielding any form of medical treatments, suggestions, cures nor remedies. But what I am is a Black woman who decided to change her lifestyle in totality! I lost 75lbs and I've kept it off. I've had a VEGAN DIET for 15 years now and no longer take medication for my health issues. *This is well documented in my book, Champions Break Chains*. I made a conscious decision to not just fight for social justice, void of what I deem food justice for our bodies. What good is eradicating incarceration issues in our communities if we fail to also address our own personal incarceration to and with food? How can I protest educational inequities, void of addressing the fullness of inequities around disease and health, which often stem from the food we choose to eat in our communities? It's mind-boggling to see so many of us forego our own health, all while working diligently to help save and preserve others. At some point you gotta get real about what you're eating and drinking and why? Truth is this: The planet is changing drastically and our choices and consciousness around such is moving far too slowly. 

Dr. King, in his analysis of America's response to racial justice, said, "The nations of Asia and Africa are moving with jet-like speed toward gaining political independence, but we still creep at horse and buggy pace toward gaining a cup of coffee at a lunch counter." To that I respectfully assert a modern-day remix: the planet is moving with "jet-like speed" in shifting for the worse, but we still "creep at horse and buggy pace" in making it and our health better! Don't take my word for it. Do your own research and finally decide as I did, there's simply no 'good tasting' food worth staying sick over and dying for! And there's certainly no food in the universe worth sacrificing our children's health over. If we truly believe they're our future, then it's time for us to reverse this food curse and create their better future today. We can't afford to maintain this love affair with unhealthy food in our communities no more than we can accept unhealthy behavior in our classrooms. We're paying a serious cost and it really is a matter of life or death. I decided to LIVE and I welcome you to my ministry and journey of the food and attitude that I invoke daily!