Food = Medicine

I call myself a meat-eating vegetarian because once upon a time, I used to eat the world and truth be told, that was a fun way to live. Nowadays, I realize that my stomach has quite literally turned on me. If I want to stay lean and strong and have a lot of physical energy, and if I want to sing like a bird, I simply can't eat whatever I want, whenever I want.  I came to a fork in the road: either I could eat healthfully and mindfully or I could let myself go and eat with abandon. I've chosen the former but I'm certainly not immune to the latter, especially if I'm traipsing through the Southland.

I had to rethink my relationship with food -- and because of this country's propensity towards genetically engineered foods and the industry's refusal to label them, I've had to relearn the basics. I've made a lot of mistakes along the way. I've definitely had plenty of teachable moments that had me slowing down and listening to my body and readjusting when things didn't work. Learning to eat clean is a process. It took a few times to grow good habits and make them stick, and thankfully, they are sticking. The easiest things to let go of are corn, soy, breads, white rice and junk food. The hardest things to give up are salt and sugar -- because basically, they're in everything.

I'm starting to do bits of research here and there on the free radical theory of aging -- that is, we age because free radicals damage cells over time.  Free radicals are everywhere and they damage everything. Your body produces free radicals when it breaks down food, for example.  As the theory goes, antioxidants can combat and defeat free radicals. Where do you get those? In the food you eat! There are some foods that have more antioxidants than others. They are called superfoods. Eating clean forces me to eat nothing but superfoods -- which contain everything you need for optimum health and weight loss.

Like I said, this is an ongoing process for me. I never went whole hog with fast food so it hasn't been that much of a struggle -- it's not like I had to lose 100 lbs -- but still, it's taken a great deal of effort for me to stop eating anything that's processed.  There are moments when I fall off but for the most part, I've created good habits for myself and radically changed my relationship to food and how I eat.

Onward and upward, folks.

Love the skin you're in -- or else!

Once upon a time, I was invisible -- more or less. I glided through the world, unnoticed. No jaws were dropped when I walked into a room, no readjustments were made. Black girls who were extremely light or dark were considered especially exotic and desirable, for whatever reason. I existed in that dead zone of brownness that rendered me generic at first glance. I flew below the radar -- and because I didn't know any other way to be, I enjoyed it quite a lot. This went on forever, really. This went on for my whole life.

I instinctively knew that good health was paramount to a great quality of life. What good would it do for me to conquer the world if I didn't have the energy to enjoy it? One memory that stands out from my high school years (and yes, that will probably stay with me forever) is a of a painfully on trend black girl with unspeakably horrible skin who, in a moment of clarity on a schoolbus, stopped hating me long enough to concede that my skin was so beautiful, it quite literally took her breath away. That totally freaked me out -- probably because I knew it was true.

I didn't take up smoking or drinking in high school or college, and I didn't do drugs. Those were expensive habits and I never had money. Maybe things would have been different if I could have attracted a guy to pay for all of that stuff but nope, I couldn't do that, either. I did what I had to do to stay lean and strong -- mostly running and weight-lifting -- and thanks to the heart attack Daddy had when I was 9 years old, I wasn't in the habit of eating garbage -- or junk food, which was considered expensive and a waste of money.

I didn't realize it at the time but by putting those good habits in place on automatic, I was setting myself up for success. After a certain point, they become so much a part of my everyday life, it felt wrong when I didn't do them.

Hear this, loud and clear: There was never, ever, ever a moment -- as a little kid or as an adult -- when I did not moisturize my skin on a daily basis. I used everything from Palmer's Cocoa Butter to Vaseline Intensive Care but God knows, I used something. Presenting oneself to the world with ashy skin was akin to sloth of the highest order. It simply wasn't an option. Period. When I got to college, I kept moisturizing, I wore sunscreen every day, I got facials every month and I slept in a sports bra to keep my breasts stationary. (More on that some other time.)

Relocating to New York City didn't change anything. I found a decent gym, a facialist, an eyebrowist and I got to work. Did I have money? Of course not. I was still broke as hell, living hand to mouth in an SRO on the Upper West Side and barely getting by. But I was lean and strong and healthy, and my skin looked amazing. I realized that God gave me everything I needed to maintain myself, physically. All I really lacked was discipline.  That was the real struggle.

And now?  My routine hasn't changed. I still take care of my skin religiously. I still hit the gym, hard. My body has changed, so I'm better off if I eat clean. The really weird thing is, all of a sudden, everyone can see me -- which kind of makes me wonder if I was ever invisible in the first place.

Whatever it takes. I'm not giving up. I'm not going to let it drop. I'm going to fight for my good health all the way down the line.

For me, that starts with my skin.

Black Don't Crack, Part Three: Yes, it does -- if you drink alcohol!

Wrinkles! There isn't a soul on the planet that's looking forward to getting those creases all over their bodies  -- but there are very few of us who are willing to do the work that it takes to make sure they don't show up in the first place.  Doing the work means ridding your life of all toxins and carcinogens and taking exercise seriously enough to do it every day.

You're probably thinking, sure -- everybody drinks and gets trashed once in awhile. Everybody smokes cigarettes, smokes pot, smokes all kinds of stuff. Everybody eats fast food. Everybody has a personal list of vegetables that they just don't like -- and even if you don't, it's not that easy to eat healthfully or organically.  Except that's not true -- everybody doesn't do those things.  Some people never do. If you happen to be one of those people and if you exercise and slather yourself with sunscreen and antioxidants -- and eat your antioxidants, too -- congratulations are definitely in order. You have stopped the clock.

In Black Don't Crack: Part One, I emphatically declared that the world should wear sunscreen. In Black Don't Crack: Part Two, I stated the obvious and said don't smoke.  Here I go again, stating the obvious: DON'T DRINK ALCOHOL.

Surprise! Alcohol -- even in moderate amounts -- isn't good for your skin or the rest of your body, either. You probably already knew that but look at it this way: your skin is your largest organ, so if there's something wrong with you, its probably going to show up on your skin first. Alcohol -- in moderate amounts, believe it or not -- depletes your body of essential nutrients, like vitamin A for example, which helps to make collagen and new skin cells.  A lack of vitamin A means less collagen -- the stuff that makes your skin beautiful -- and that means your skin will look older and age faster.

And while you're at it, you might want to lay off the soda and sugary drinks, too.

I don't drink. When I was in high school, it wasn't an option.  When I was in college, I never got trashed every weekend. I just wasn't that girl. When I first got to New York City, I had a drink -- and I didn't like it.  Last fall, I had my first beer after a gig in Stuttgart. I didn't like that, either -- but that didn't keep me from taking the glass home as a souvenir.

Yeah, and MPB is an ex-bartender. Go figure.

Explore more infographics like this one on the web's largest information design community - Visually.

Next? Antioxidants and why you need them in my last blogpost in this series Black Don't Crack, Part Four: A Parting Thought -- Eat (and topically apply) Your Antioxidants!

Black Don't Crack, Part One: Yes it does -- if you don't use sunscreen!

There are some who desperately need to believe that the saying black don't crack! is true.  I can't even begin to tell you how many white women have gushed over my skin and told me their age in an effort to get me to tell mine (and of course i don't tell them any such thing) -- all while declaring emphatically that age doesn't matter, and demanding to know my secret: Why does my skin look so good?

After all, there should be a very simple reason as to why none of us are that old -- and yet some of us have way too many wrinkles and some of us don't have any.

The truth is, black really doesn't crack -- but actually, yes it does.

As it turns out, if those with black skin aren't careful, that skin will most definitely cave in on you.  There are a garden variety of relatively young, scabbed over, rachet-faced black drug addicts all over creation that prove my point -- like the gentleman below.

As this picture clearly shows, t doesn't matter how much melanin you have if you don't take care of what you've got. So what's the deal? 

My secret is, there is no secret.  If you want wrinkle free skin, you must eat clean, live clean and find some form of excercise you love and let it wear you out every single day.  That's right: you have to get all -- and I mean ALL -- toxins and carcinogens out of your life and you have to work that body on a daily basis, hard. And that's pretty much it.


Everybody can pull it off when they're young for the most part but after a certain age, I realized that if I wanted to look a certain way, I'd have to work for it.  This commitment to my physical well-being has required a great deal of sacrifice, effort and discipline. Thankfully, my COGIC upbringing gave me a great foundation for clean living. That, combined with the necessary maintenance and upkeep of a performing artist and voila!  Solid results.

And another thing...

Everyone has melanin. It gives your hair and your eyes their color and it protects human beings from the sun's harmful UV rays. The more melanin you have in your skin, the more protection from the sun you get.  If you don't have any and if you need it, your skin will supply it for you. That's basically what a tan is: your skin in panic mode, struggling to create melanin to protect you from the sun.  Believe it or not, a tan is a sign of damaged skin.  The deeper your tan, the more protection you needed in that sun-drenched moment of panic, the more damage you've got. If you're in the George Hamilton camp and enjoy a deep, dark tan year-round, don't be surprised when your skin takes on the look of a well-worn leather handbag before you hit 40.

My first rule of thumb is, I WEAR SUNSCREEN.

The sun causes 90% of skin damage. The other 10% is due to aging. That's right -- skin cancers, fine lines, coarse wrinkles, brown spots, freckles, loss of elasticity, dullness, sallowness, that leathery texture -- all of that comes from sun exposure. Spending time in the sun with no protection from UV rays is just plain toxic. So are tanning beds.  And don't let those fancy skin cream companies fool you.  Once the sun damages your skin, it cannot be undone.

 Yes, you need sunlight to process vitamin D in your body -- but according to experts, only 20 to 30 minutes a day will do the trick.

The best way to prevent sun damage? Sunscreen.  I started wearing sunscreen fastidiously in the oppressive Texas heat as an undergrad in Austin.  Truth is, I was probably the only black girl on campus that did so, and black folk made sure they gave me hell for it.  I didn't care. I knew the benefits and I stuck to my routine.

I still slather it on all the time -- whether it's summer or winter, whether it's sunny outside or completely overcast.

Knowing basic facts about how the sun could age me made me take care of my skin religiously and fight to stay out of the sun. Starting early and being ultra-disciplined about skin care is key. After all, its the human body's largest organ -- and if something is wrong with you, that's usually the place where it shows up. 

The photo on the left displays the subject under normal lighting. The photo on the right is using ultraviolet lighting, revealing subsurface spots and skin damage.

If you haven't seen this picture, take a good long look: A 69-year-old man presented with a 25-year history of gradual, asymptomatic thickening and wrinkling of the skin on the left side of his face. The physical examination showed hyperkeratosis with accentuated ridging, multiple open comedones, and areas of nodular elastosis... The patient reported that he had driven a delivery truck for 28 years. Ultraviolet A (UVA) rays transmit through window glass, penetrating the epidermis and upper layers of dermis. Chronic UVA exposure can result in thickening of the epidermis and stratum corneum, as well as destruction of elastic fibers. This photoaging effect of UVA is contrasted with photocarcinogenesis.

Of course, the other part of this is that I use excellent moisturizers, creams and anti-aging products on my skin that contain plenty of antioxidants. I also eat my antioxidants, too -- and high-octane vitamins.  (More on that in my next post.)

Run for your life!

I buy the same size clothes every season. If what I have is doesn't fit anymore, I simply lose weight until they do. That's how I do a diet regimen. For some reason, I have to work harder than ever to get back into all the clothes in my closet these days. I don't care. I'm getting back into my clothes.

 I hate, hate, HATE running -- but I love the way it makes my body look.  I also love to eat -- so there's that.

My goal is to run a 10 minute mile comfortably, and to run at least 5 miles a day. So far, I'm getting my mileage in and I can run that 10 minute mile uncomfortably. It's definitely making me a better pugilist. I'm not faster yet and I don't have enough stamina but I have way more endurance than I did a few months ago.  And believe me, that's progress.

Baby steps.  If I were doing this 8+ hours a day -- like an actor that's training to play a fighter in a movie, for example -- this would be an entirely different conversation. 

The number one reason why I run? Exercise relieves stress.  And believe it or not, stress is almost as much of a factor in the aging process as the sun. Or smoking. When you're stressed out, your body pumps the hormones cortisol (otherwise known as the stress hormone) and norepinephrine (responsible for increasing your heart rate and blood flow, amongst other things) into your bloodstream -- and with that, BOOM! Your blood pressure goes up and your immunity goes down. 

Chronic stress could mean that your body doesn't heal the way it should, your arteries harden and the areas of your brain involving learning, memory and mood shrink drastically.  If you stay stressed, that could lead to depression, obesity, sleep disorders, skin problems, digestive problems and heart disease.  All of that is minimized drastically when you exercise.

Wow. And with that, I just described way too many black people that I know.

There's no real way to get rid of stress completely so clearly, its important to learn how to manage it. You don't have to run -- but for the the sake of your quality of life, please do something.