Category Archives: Friday Feature

Friday Feature: Back Attack

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Back pain is a chronic problem in America. According to WebMD, 80 percent of Americans will have lower back pain in their lifetime. Pills and surgeries to correct and remove spinal discs are common ways of dealing with pain, but some say nothing has given them the relief they need.

This is the brace I wore for several months to keep my neck in place so I wouldn’t put strain on my back. I didn’t want to pop pain meds for the rest of my life and my arthritic back wasn’t degenerated to the point of surgery. So I sought out natural therapies and now have my back pain under control. I haven’t had to wear that brace in more than seven years. Here are the methods that helped me (and one a friend of mine shared that helped her):

Crack my back—I am a huge proponent of chiropractic care. This is the main therapy that got me out of my neck brace. Though some see chiropractic practitioners as quack doctors, they have studied the spine’s relationship to all the body’s main systems and align the spine so those systems operate at their maximum capacity. When I go get my back cracked, more formally known as a spinal adjustment, I feel immediate relief from stiffness in my back and other limbs that have been affected from my weak back.

Stress less—The more you have stress in your life the more your back will hurt, or any part of your body for that matter. Stress has no bounds and can attack any part of the body at any time. The back, housing the spine—our connection to the body’s main systems, seems to get most of the pain.

Unstore my core—I have had to work hard to strengthen my belly, to get rid of the stored up fat. This is an ongoing process but every time I’ve slimmed my stomach there has been less strain on my back. This happens every time we strengthen our core muscles. There is less weight falling forward and bringing my back with it, making good posture hard to have.

Sit straight—Whether I was sitting or standing my mama wouldn’t let me slouch. Sit upright; walk straight with your head held high, she would say. And though her admonishments had everything to do with the appearance of confidence, her teachings have helped me seek to maintain good posture, which has supported my back. Firm, straight back chairs and elevating my feet while sitting have greatly helped my posture.

Increase Vitamin D—My friend was having so much back pain that her 42-year-old body would be bent like an old lady on a cane. Her doctor found she had a Vitamin D deficiency and after three days of her first prescribed dosage of the vitamin she didn’t feel any pain.

Of course there are other ways to strengthen your back, like stretches and other exercises, but, as always, I wanted to share with you the natural remedies that have worked to heal me. Do your own research and make sure you consult your doctor about the best methods for you.

What natural methods have you found that help with your back pain?

Friday Feature: Will for Food

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“Jesus saith unto them, ‘My meat is to do the will of him that sent me, and to finish his work.’”—John 4:34

I’m so glad this is my life verse. If it weren’t I might have had a fit on Christmas. Time didn’t allow me to cook the Christmas meal I told you about. So when I came home after going to my uncle’s for dinner (where the green vegetable and the dressing were prepared with meat and the other sides were starches) I made me a tuna nacho and a fresh juice. Yes, I skipped a traditional Christmas meal and instead had a fancy snack and a vegetable juice, something I have regularly. My meal itself wasn’t special but what was special was that I was truly okay eating it on Christmas. I was truly okay with my family not understanding that a person who doesn’t eat meat doesn’t want to eat things cooked with meat, that I don’t want a meal of potato salad, macaroni and cheese, candied yams and cornbread and that vegetarian means eating a host of vegetables prepared different ways.

I don’t expect anyone to fully understand my choice to be a semi-vegetarian. They aren’t the ones feeding me. I knew that going to my uncle’s house and I know that wherever I go. “Don’t worry about them; they aren’t putting any food on your table,” my mother would say if I was bothered by someone at school or work. And I know the same is true when people misunderstand my vegetarianism, when they wonder why my hair is locked and why we home school and the same is true for you. People may not understand where you choose to work, whom you choose to befriend, where you choose to live or the way you choose to raise your kids, but if your choices are God’s will for you, doing them—not following or giving weight to the opinion of others—is what nourishes you.

My transition to a more holistically healthy lifestyle is something God made clear I had to do. His charge to me is my food and I continue down this path, past the naysayers and those who suggest other ways to me, so that I can complete the work He put me on earth to do. As you seek a holistically healthy lifestyle I hope you will anchor that in God’s will for your life so you can complete the work that He sent you to do.

Friday Feature: Roundup Ten for the New Year

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This year has been amazing, full of growth and revelation for me. I see clearly how the paths God has had me on were leading to the ultimate path for my life, my ministry. And a lot of that clarity came just from writing my Friday Feature posts. I have a greater appreciation for the praises that have come through the perils of my health. Countless people have told me how one post or another was an answer to an unresolved health issue they were facing. So in this last Friday Feature post of 2011 I want to share with you my top five health posts and five sites that have helped me gain greater insight into my health this year (Please note that some of the sites listed are secular so take caution in what they advocate beyond direct physical health tips):

Yeast Infections
Soy No More
Food Grade Hydrogen Peroxide
Cooking on the Brand New Mommy
The Benefits of Juicing

Other notable posts include those on MSG, natural oils, cold and flu prevention and relief, help for skin problems and alternative grains to wheat. For these and more, search this blog for Friday Feature and every post ever written here will come up.

My favorite five health sites for 2011:

Simple Organic
Living Maxwell
Natural News
The Garden Diet
Keeper of the Home

As you make and seek to keep your 2012 resolutions, undoubtedly some concerning your health, I hope you refer to these links to help you accomplish your goals. God bless you in 2012!

Friday Feature: Digest This

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I’m big on digestive health and think you should be too. Most of you know this. You know how I struggled with regular flow, one extreme time landing me in the emergency room. I thought I must have needed surgery for something that was surely coming apart in my insides. The issue was not a torn hernia or appendicitis but excessive compaction. That’s right. I had eaten too many non-juicy foods that made their way through only half of my intestines then stopped. That traffic jam had my system backed up and had me bent over all because of what I chose to eat. And this is the case for most Americans. In fact just this week one of my mom’s doctors said that 75 percent of all Americans would get diverticulosis, a condition that my mom has where out-pouches have formed in her intestines from foods struggling to pass through. He said “this is an inevitable part of growing old, except for those who take in fiber.”

So 75 percent of all Americans DON’T HAVE to get diverticulosis whose problems range from discomfort from food and feces getting stuck in the out pouches and inflaming the intestines (changing the condition while inflamed to diverticulitis) to life threatening bacterial infections forming from festering waste that didn’t pass through. To avoid the horror of this condition, all we have to do is add fiber to our diet. Following are some of my favorite foods and their fiber content to help you get in your daily recommended allowance of 25 grams for a woman on a 2,000 calorie diet and 30 grams for a man on a 2,500 calorie diet:

½ cup of (uncooked) pinto beans=18.8 grams
¼ cup of yellow split peas=12 grams
1 cup cooked chickpeas (garbanzo beans) =12 grams
¾ cup of cooked broccoli=7 grams
3 (unpopped) tbsp. popcorn=6 grams
1 baked potato=5 grams
½ cup of oatmeal=4 grams
1 medium apple=4 grams
1 cup of brown rice=3.5 grams
1 medium orange=3.1 grams
¼ cup of almonds=3 grams
¼ cup of raisins=2 grams
¼ cup of pumpkin seeds=2 grams

Not to dampen your Christmas cheer, I just want you to make sure you add some fiber to your mix as you are getting your grub on. I’m not talking about drinking some fiber supplement but getting fiber in throughout the day with food. If you do this, and drink plenty of water to push the fiber through, you may be okay doing some damage at the dinner table this weekend. You will even be preserving your body, the temple of the Holy Spirit, to offer to Jesus as a living sacrifice to Him. What a perfect gift to give our Savior in celebration of His birth.

Merry Christmas! How do you plan to add fiber to your holiday food mix?

Friday Feature: Holiday Dishes

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You probably already have your Christmas meal all planned out and you are probably going to lay it out like you always do: Glazed ham; rich macaroni and cheese; candied yams; greens with a hunk of meat; cornbread and dressing made with meat fat; and sugary sweet desserts. Well, I want you to consider trying a new recipe on a classic dish or adding a new, healthier choice along with your classics.

  • Try my famous greens made without meat.
  • Use Daiya cheese instead of dairy cheese.
  • Use agave instead of white or brown sugar.
  • Use olive oil instead of meat fat.
  • Eat only sides and no meat.

June 6, 2011 marked my start on a no meat and very little seafood diet. Because I love a variety of fruits and vegetables and even cook a few of my favorite Mediterranean and Ethiopian dishes, my transition to no meat wasn’t that difficult. But some of you, who have been slathering fat and smothering food in meat for years, need to take it slow, just one dish at a time. I understand; I used to love me the Thursday special of ham hocks and pinto beans at Steve’s Soul Food in Detroit. In one season, I was there every week. So, take it slow, one dish at a time, and I hope you decide to make a change this Christmas. You will be able to share your dish with your family and perhaps get others to consider making a healthier choice when they taste how amazing your food is. I’m considering making my egg plant stew, candied yams with agave, my famous greens, and cornbread with rice milk, agave, olive oil and no egg. I make all these items regularly except the yams. That will be my new dish. If I make it, I’ll be sure to tell you how it turned out. Make sure you share in the comments section about your change.

Here’s to your good health and a better body for the Body of Christ!