Black Don't Crack, Part Four -- A Parting Thought: Eat (and topically apply) Your Antioxiants!

 "There are no ugly women -- only lazy ones." - Coco Chanel

Let's review, shall we?

With Black Don't Crack Part One, I told you to wear sunscreen if you want beautiful, wrinkle-free skin. In Black Don't Crack Part Two, I told you not to smoke.  (Anything!)  And in Black Don't Crack Part Three, I told you not to drink alcohol. There's more stuff I could have mentioned -- like how chronic stress ages you like crazy and so does ghetto miasma for that matter -- but I wanted to cut to the chase and hit the highlights.  Correct me if I'm wrong but I think I've done just that.

With a minimal amount of toxins and carcinogens actively damaging your system and a daily intake of antioxidants improving your overall health by leaps and bounds, you're on your way to agelessness -- the point at which you (subconsciously) pick a year (35, let's say), hit your stride, stop the clock and maintain that ageless equilibrium for the rest of your life.  The choice is entirely yours.

I don't believe that I have to get a heart attack when I reach a certain age or that I have to slow down when I get old.  I don't think that cancer is inevitable.  I don't think wrinkles are inevitable, either.  There are moments when I feel as though I'm fighting against my physical self -- like when I'm learning something new in boxing class and my arms just won't obey me -- but the truth is, my body is not my enemy.  Or at least, it doesn't have to be. If I take care of it, it will take care of itself and ultimately, it will take care of me.

This is the level of discipline as a way of life that Eartha Kitt lived with such conviction. She wasn't about getting it together when she got cast in a role. She was every inch the star and she lived it every day -- but then again, she smoked cigarettes and drank socially.  Joan Crawford was another star whose self-discipline was legendary, and who also smoked cigarettes and enjoyed her martinis. For me, there's Annette Larkins -- my number one eat clean inspiration. I am in awe of her.

My skin doesn't look this good because I'm black. It looks this good because I work at it.

I've spent my whole life not drinking, not smoking, staying out of the sun and steering clear of eating fast food and garbage. Don't get me wrong -- I love to eat all that stuff, but it doesn't love me. I have taken care of my skin religiously since college -- with excellent products, monthly facials and gobs of sunscreen. I have fought the good fight and hit the gym on a daily basis so I wouldn't all of a sudden turn into a giant lard ass.  Every season, if I can't get back into the clothes I've got in my closet, I pretty much work out obsessively until I can wear all of it. I'm getting restless, though. Time to find another hobby to physically exhaust me. (Hm. Maybe gymnastics!)

The bottom line is, I want a great quality of life. For some people, that means drinking, smoking, sunbathing and doing some pretty fun drugs. For me, that means that I'll give up those things to have a healthy, lean, strong body to run around in -- and someday when I'm 60, the world will assume that I couldn't possibly be any older than 32.  Apparently, I'm off to a great start.

Now stop wondering how old that black woman is -- you know, the one whose body is so lean and fit, and whose wrinkle-free skin looks so incredible whenever you see her --  and get to work.

 

My #1 Eat Clean Inspiration: Annette Larkins

lean, strong, vibrant, healthy - with a glowingly pretty, wrinkle-free complexion and plenty of energy to spare. who wouldn't want that? then again, i suppose the real question is, would you be willing to give up eating garbage to have all of this?

the first time i saw this story in the video below about mrs. annette larkins, it freaked me out so much, i didn't eat meat for a week. i'm not the kind of person that can't make it without a hamburger ever other day but if what little meat i consume is damaging me as much as i think it is, i'm ready to make the jump - if not to veganism, most definitely to eating clean. as a matter of fact, i stumbled onto the eat clean program after i saw this. it's been slow going since then but thankfully, i haven't looked back.

this 70 year old lady - a resident of miami/dade county, by the way - has maintained a raw vegan lifestyle for 27 years. she grows what she eats in her backyard - everything from nuts to aloe - which she calls her fountain of youth. she simply doesn't eat anyting that's cooked.

absolutely no cosmetic surgery whatsoever. amazing, right?

here she is with her husband of 54 years.

people usually assume that she's his kid. he takes medication for diabetes and high blood pressure daily. he looks like he's falling apart - especially in comparison to her.

i honestly believe that after a certain age, you can't eat and drink whatever you want without paying a high price for it - especially nowadays when so much of what we consume has been genetically modified and is loaded to the absolute hilt with salt, fat, sugar, additives, antibiotics, preservatives and lots of other colorful and interesting things that our great-grandparents would never consume.  they'll put anything in food these days. anything.

i'm growing towards eating clean and after 3 very solid go-rounds, i'm very nearly there - totally over starches like rice and potatoes, carbs like pasta and fast food like mcdonalds. i can even keep salt and sugar and fat at arms length without freaking out too much. i do have a permanent weakness, however, for chicharones. (God help me.)

don't get me wrong. i've always stuck to a pretty healthy regimen. the thing is, i've hit a fork in the road, so to speak. i have to work harder to maintain it all and i feel myself giving way sometimes - eating the wrong things, not hitting the gym for a week, falling off in one way or another. when this happens, i see and feel it almost immediately. 

i can't slack off anymore. i've got to get a grip. i mean, seriously. look at annette!