I am thrilled to be able to share a recent interview we did with Queen Afua, author of Heal Thyself and Sacred Women and many other books that have been powerful catalysts for change for many people. She had so much to share and I don’t want to leave anything out so this interview will be in three parts. Here is part 1. For Part 2 go to Interview With Queen Afua Part 2. For Part 3 go to Queen Afua And The Seven Kitchens Of Consciousness
Ama: Thank you for taking time out to speak with us. I was so excited when I heard you were coming to Atlanta because I have had a number of people request that I do an interview with you. Also quite often when people talk about how they got interested in vegetarianism they mention you as being the one who opened their eyes in the first place.
Queen Afua: Thank you. I appreciate it. Timing is good.
Ama: How do you eat? What is your diet like?
Queen Afua: Actually, I sent my son when he was sixteen to go to the south to go with his family, because he was in the New York City streets. And I raised all my children as, well at that time it was called vegetarianism. I really stared hearing about veganism about 10 or 12 years ago. And so when he went away, he heard everything I ever told him. Then he came back a year later. He said he was a chlorphyllian. I said “Really! Where did that come from?”
Well, he would be on the campus and be around nature at lot more. And because he was away from me everything connected for him. He said it came from his own vision. And that’s how he’s been living, that’s how he’s been surviving for the last year, as a chlorophyllian.
Ama: Which means?
Queen Afua: Which means? That’s my question, to this 17 year old. He said that means 90% chlorophyllic foods. This is Super Nova Slom, hip-hop medicine man.
Ama: Right. I follow him on Facebook
Queen Afua: So he said 90% of the time chlorophyllic foods. And then he said the other 10% is nuts and seeds and your water and all. And so within a few months I became a chlorophyllian. And that’s what I am now. I mean I had greens for breakfast and I had my green life formula as my breakfast and that’s pretty much how I eat.
Fruits and vegetables, not a lot of nuts, because I have a history of allergies and sinus congestions and all of that so I don’t really get into nuts like most live foodists do. I will never have a pate. And if I do I have to really have a lot of greens, and my lemon water. I have to prepare for it as if I am really eating something extreme. So that’s pretty much my lifestyle, green foods and fruits and water and tea and movement.
Ama: What started you on that path?
Queen Afua: Well I started this when I was 16 or 17. I really was coming to be an artist. I was dancer. And I had a small dance company. Then another larger dance company took me in and I became part of their dance company. I remember dancing at the Metropolitan Opera for an Aida. And then I had a doo op group back then I was one of the lead singers, with two brothers and a band. So my whole world was being an artist. And I studied with the Demi-Gods and you had to audition, and Joseph Walker, he did a play on Broadway, and then with his money he created these Demi-Gods. So I was with them for maybe a year. And it was all about the art.
And I was still sick. I had asthma, chronic asthma, and the doctors didn’t have any answers for me. You know it was like they went to the most extreme form of medication. I was getting my bi-weekly injections. And then what ended up happening, I was getting progressively worse.
And then I had eczema, from head to toe. When the weather was hot I was scratching, when it was cold my lungs were congested. So I couldn’t come in the air conditioning. I couldn’t go out when it was hot. I just couldn’t be in the world. And then I couldn’t go to the grass and trees because then the hay fever would jump off. It was miserable. And then every month I had PMS and I was bed ridden. Chronic PMS. I had headaches that would last for hours. And then I would sleep for 10 hours and wanted to go back to sleep.
So I was in a state that I needed help. I was invited to go on a retreat for 3 days, which changed my entire life. And it really changed my life in 1 day. Because I got off the bus and I had no medication. I was in a panic because the asthma kicked in, the grass and the trees.
I went into the place to put down my bags and I heard the voice for the first time. I didn’t have a way to identify what this voice was at the time. But I heard this voice from inside of me say to me “fast” and then said “eat grapefruit, lemons and oranges.” And I did. And I took rose hips tea and had warm water all day.
I heard this master herbalist Dr. Johnny Moore talking about the power of the plants and all the miracles that came through his work. He was master herbalist of over 50 years. I was amazed by all his stories and testimonies. Then I heard no one else. It was like everything went blank cause the wheezing was still there.
So that night everyone went to bed and I propped up on some pillows and went to sleep in front of the fireplace. Well that night, that fire, I didn’t realize that that fire was part of the healing. No more than I realized that I was fasting on all these liquids. This citrus was a part of my fast. And this healing that was coming for hours in my lungs was melting away with the citrus and the water.
Next I did a detox. I didn’t know it was a detox. Everything I put together years later I realized. I said “wait a minute” that was a fast. That was a detox. That was a sweat lodge. That was my new beginnings.
So the next day mucus was coming out of my eyes, my mouth and my nose when I woke up. After that hour, that was the asthma that drained out. The allergies, the hay fever because it never came back.
But it didn’t come back because I picked up a book. And that was Dick Gregory’s book Cooking With Mother Nature. I didn’t have anyone to guide me. I had this book. I went through a lot of crisis because I didn’t have any other information.
But I did hear other healers talk about what I have been doing all these years now. Talking about colon health, talking about food as medicine, herbs of course and yoga and mediation. And I went back home with a whole new life. I went back what they would call cold turkey. I never touched another piece of animal flesh. I never touched another bit of dairy or sugar or white flour products or fried foods. I let everything go right then because it was life or death. It was my very breath.
I went on what I would consider two 21 day cycles, because, I reflected back on my journey, and my home became my healing center. I wasn’t calling it a healing center but I was very social, people would come by my house all the time. When they would come I would say. “Don’t bring no brown bags in.” Everything was alcohol and drugs. Only what I have in my kitchen. If you want to bring in what I have in my kitchen, which is vegetables and fruits and tea, fine.
Then someone called me from the hospital and he said, “I’m getting ready to have my kidney removed.” My father had several properties in Brooklyn, and he said, “I heard about you through your father. Maybe you can help me.” I said, “Well it’s possible but you getting ready to have surgery tomorrow.” He hung up the phone. He ended up at my doorstep an hour later with the hospital gown on, open in the back, with the jeans on! He looked like a crazy person. And he said, “Can you help me?” I said, “Ok, alright.” I went into my kitchen and I created some stuff for him. I got what was in my kitchen. I got some lemons, I got my green formula, and some bitters, and some cider vinegar, and I told him what to do with it. These were some of the things I was doing in my own life. And he did it and years later he said, “Thank you so much, I saved my organ. I didn’t have to get the surgery and I am fine.”
When I got well I became what some people would call an evangelist of healing. I told everybody. I said, “Do you realize that you don’t have to be sick?”
I would talk to a stranger. I would call up my mother’s friends. I called up every body I knew. They thought I was crazy. I was born again in wellness. And the fact that I didn’t have those sicknesses, it was like the most miraculous thing in the world to me.
It just led me and I became a certified colon hydro therapist and a polarity practitioner and a holistic practitioner and a yoga teacher. Everything I learned I put into practice immediately. I just lived it.
People say I lead a disciplined live. I don’t think I have begun to be disciplined. I just don’t eat certain things. And I don’t have certain conversations. I don’t do any gossip. And some things I just don’t do because it goes against nature and a holistic lifestyle and our Afrikan culture.
So that’s pretty much my journey. And it’s been the same for over 47 years.
Ama: That initial juicing that you did on the retreat, that was something that just came to you? Nobody there told you that’s what you should do?
Queen Afua: The first one? No one told me. I heard it from within. And that is why my motto is, when I close every consultation I’ll say to everyone, “The power to heal is from within and you have the power to heal yourself.” All that came from my own war. It’s not like I got any information outside of myself.
But then I started to get more information outside of myself. I started to read and to share the readings with others. So that’s how it started to happen. But no one gave me a formula to follow. What I heard more was testimonies.
Somethings go into your subconscious and you just take it in and you are not always aware of the impact. But later I became a colon hydro therapist. They had a colon hydro therapist there. Later I started really getting into plant life. An herbalist was there. My specialty is food as medicine and so that was my first imprint. So I walk with those inspirations.
Ama: Do you eat 100% raw?
Queen Afua: I would say 90% raw. And when I am in warm weather like this, that’s all I want. In the cold I might have something warm, maybe some broccoli. But pretty much that’s how I’m living.
Ama: Now you don’t have any of those problems anymore? No eczema, no asthma.
Queen Afua: No. What I am doing now is, my goal is strengthening my eyes. My eyes have been feeling better since I’ve been here in Atlanta. And my time is different. Even though I am working just as hard it’s just different. And I have more sunlight. And I have always been chasing sunlight. Even though I have been in the cold and winter a lot. But this winter was my best winter bar none.
I set my office with my desk by the window where the sun would come in. And in the middle of the winter, it would be snowing and I would be sweating. I felt like I had tapped into magic. Because it was like the window protected me from the cold but the heat came in. So I had the best winter, I had the greatest health, the most positive state of mind, everything. So the sunlight really spoke to me and gave me everything I needed.
So being here that’s what I’ve been doing. And I have been grateful.
Go To Interview with Queen Afua Part 2!
You can find out more about Queen Afua at http://www.queenafua.com.
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I had my first consultation with Queen Afua about 14 years ago and she transformed my view on food. While I am still a work in progress with regard to my health and diet, I am constantly working toward a more raw more vegan diet. And I honestly always feel best when I eat that way so I know it’s the right way to go.
What a blessing to for you and your health Aisha. The power of what we eat is something we really need to experience to believe. Keep up the good work!