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.

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.