It’s Black History Month so we must share our stories, those of the past and ones we are creating right now, even health wise. And health wise, the African American story is not so good overall. Black women contract AIDS four times more than Latina or white women, we have a higher rate of abortions per capita, and heart disease is staggering among us. We have to make a change. That’s what “Friday Feature” is all about, helping us get a handle on our health the natural way.

The following may be somewhat graphic language, even for strong black women, but I had to give it to you straight.

While in grad school, I was working full-time, researching for a professor and excelling in my classes. I was keeping things together, but in more ways than one. One day, with penetrating pain in my belly that periodically had me doubled over in my seat, I had to leave class and go to the emergency room. After laying a few hours behind a curtain on an emergency room gurney, hearing crying and snotting beat-up Joe call and explain to relatives, police and medical workers how he got caught in a homosexual prostitution crackdown in a local park, the resident gave me the news. “You are compacted. Go to the drugstore and get a stool softener and you should be fine.”

I had left class, drove in pain, waited four hours, and heard sadly hellacious stories to be told my bowels weren’t moving. I wanted a real diagnosis, a prescription given, hospital admittance, surgery performed. I wanted to scream that my pain was because I was keeping things together that should have been moving on and out. Compared to Joe, I had a small problem, at least in that moment, but constipation can lead to more serious problems, like a perforated colon and colon cancer, and even “minor” ones, like halitosis.

My natural healthcare specialists tell me that we should eliminate waste after every meal. Hmmm, I don’t know many people who do that and I even know a woman who says it’s normal for her to handle her business once a week. Once a week may be normal for her but it is not normal. We have to flush the waste out. Otherwise, just like garbage that sits and gets smelly and moldy, our insides will get smelly and moldy. We have enough problems fighting sagging, dimpled and wrinkled skin. Let’s work to keep our insides straight.

So, like natural healthcare practitioner Sunyatta Amen says, we got to “keep it juicy,” her way of reminding people of the importance of eating foods that have lots of water so they can lubricate your body and help your food to flow through and push waste out. Nothing can replace actually drinking water, but here are some of my juicy favorites that do well giving my water an assist:

Cabbage
Collard Greens
Leafy Greens salad
Watermelon
Oranges
Apples
Mango
Strawberries
Blueberries
Squash
Eggplant

What are some of your favorite juicy foods? Share yours and if you don’t eat them raw, tell us how you eat them.