Food For The Soul and the work that Nana Kwaku Opare, MD, MPH, CA does with his patients is all about doing our part to help build a healthy Afrikan or Black community wherever we are in the world. Much of what we do is focused on the role that diet and food has on our health.
We recognize however that how we eat is only part of the picture. Dr. Opare often says to his patients and when he speaks publicly, “You can’t eat your way to health. But you CAN eat your way to the grave.” In other words, what you eat is very important for good health but there are other aspects of a healthy lifestyle that you must include as well. This is the focus of his book, The Rule Book And User Guide For Healthy Living.
I decided to call this site Food For The Soul with the recognition that the food we need for our souls includes what we eat, think, do, feel, believe etc. The topics covered here in this blog, while primarily focusing on food, from time to time also cover other “soul food” topics such as in the posts The Three Faces of Ama, Sankofa-Go Forward By Looking Back.
Ultimately this site is for you. Each of you have different needs. Some of you are new to veganism, others are more experienced. Some are focused on eating raw, others are not. Some of you may be comfortable in the kitchen and with experimenting with recipes, while others feel intimidated.
So tell me. How can I best serve your needs? What questions do you have? What topics do you want to have us cover? Are there recipes you want to see? Ingredients you want to know more about?
Send us an email. Leave a comment below. Find us on Facebook. Send us a Tweet. Go over to the member only forum section and post it in the feedback section. Sound off and we will do our best to help. We will respond to all of your questions with either a blog post, an email, a comment reply or a video.
So lets hear it!
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Thank you for creating this site. It is an awesome resource and provides a wealth of information. What suggestions do you have for someone who is G6PD deficient and therefore unable to consume beans of any kind, including soy?
Nicci, thanks for your question. Here is what Dr. Opare had to offer:
G6PD deficiency is a genetic disorder in which the body and most notably the red blood cells has increased susceptibility to oxidative stress. People with this disorder suffer from anemia and can have acute hemolytic crises that can if severe lead to death.
Oxidative stress occurs as a consequence of consumption of high fat especially animal fat, refined carbohydrate, and toxic drugs such as nicotine and smoking other things and other drugs. Proper diet therefore has a major role for people with this genetic disorder.
It is well known that beans and other legumes such as peanuts, and soy are to be avoided by persons with G6PD Deficiency as well as certain food colors, sulfites, synthetic vitamin k, added vitamin C, menthol, quinine, bitter melon and a few different medicinal herbs.
What is however seldom mentioned in the standard media is how bad animal products are in causing oxidative stress. Eating animals is the major source of oxidative stress for the average USA resident And increasingly throughout the world. The fact that this inherited trait is more common among Afrikan people is even more evidence as to why a vegan diet is optimal and natural for Black folks..
A raw vegan diet with plenty of cruciferous veggies such as kale and broccoli with fresh berries (which are powerhouse antioxidants) as often as possible (try every meal) is very powerful in reducing and ultimately avoiding the anemic crises and accumulated oxidative stress in this disease. Eat your veggies and eat them raw.
http://nutritionfacts.org/video/antioxidant-rich-foods-with-every-meal/
http://g6pddeficiency.org/wp/living-with-g6pd-deficiency/g6pd-deficiency-foods-to-avoid-list/#.Ux3EQZK9KSM
Remember if you can’t eat it raw just say naw!
Nana Kwaku Opare, MD, MPH, CA
Thank you. I’ll look for your recipe.
Is there a vegan or organic brand of grits that you know of and would recommend? Thanks.
Ani, I use Bobs Red Mill brand. It is the yellow variety, also known as polenta. It can be used both as polenta and served like grits. This may have to be my recipe for the week! This was one of the first things Nana Kwaku made for me when he introduced vegan food to me.