Last week I spoke to a group about some of the hurdles regarding converting to plant-based eating. One of the biggest ones is maintaining family traditions. Obviously, traditions and the love that you get from your family is necessary to be well-grounded mentally and spiritually.
We all desire that sense of belonging to something bigger than ourselves. However, some traditions can be dangerous. As African-Americans, most of us have inherited a “soul food” cuisine from the days of slavery. And, on top of that, we now have a fast-food cuisine that emerged from the 1950s with McDonald’s leading the way.
The danger in the cuisines that we’ve inherited is evident. Obesity, diabetes, high blood pressure and high cholesterol are ravaging us, mainly due to what we eat. The only way to solve those problems is by breaking tradition. There’s a reason that you’re reading these words at this moment. It’s probably because you want to make a change. You probably know you can’t eat like everyone else and live a higher quality life.
The old “that’s how I was raised” excuse must be thrown out the window.
Keep in mind that much of our “soul food” cuisine developed from a necessity to survive. The genius that it took to make every conceivable part of a pig taste good is commendable (although I never got down with hog maws, chitlins and hog head cheese). Greasy, fattening and salty fried chicken with mac ’n’ cheese is something we all have craved at some time. The ingenuity of McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Chipotle and others to deliver cheap, fast food is remarkable. But, there’s a physical price to be paid for eating all of that.
If your only desire is gustatory pleasure, that’s fine. Buy, if you want superior health it ain’t all about taste. What you eat must taste good and must produce positive results.
