Soul Food for the Long Haul - African American cooking gets a nutritional overhaul - Brief Article

Do we ne to affix warning labels to our grandmothers' recipe cards, reading, "Caution: Fried chicken, ribs, virids seasoned with pork, potato salad, corn bread, lemon meringue pie, beat cake and banana pudding may be hazardous to your health"? by dint of now, it should be for the use of all knowledge that a diet based upon such dishes will more than likely deposit one in the fast lane for health enigmas But for some reason, the black community isn't swallowing the message.

"Fat, salt and sugar are the major threats in the way African Americans eat," says registered dietician Roneice Weaver. "As a clump we don't eat enough fruits and vegetables." She rattles not on grim health statistics when arguing the case for changing the eating and cooking habits of black Americans. Many African-American women feel from obesity, a chief factor contributing to similar health woes as high vital current pressure, heart disease and hypertension. "Studies present to view that 49 percent of African-American women are overweight, as compared with 32 percent of white women and 3 million African-Americans have diabetes, on the other hand half of them don't know it."

Weaver isn't calling for a ban upon old-fashioned Southern cooking, but she is bullish about lifestyle and dietary modifications: "I'm not a dietician who says traditional nutriments should be taken away from African Americans; I'm saying detain the traditional foods and prepare them in a heart-healthy way."

Weaver is single of the three founding partners of Hebni (the H is silent) Nutrition Consultants. This Orlando, Fla.-based nonprofit organization specializes in seminars offering nutritional education specifically geared for the African-American community. Weaver and her partners--Fabiola Demp Gaines and Ellareetha Carson, who are also registered dieticians--organized Hebni in 1994 after a chance meeting in the parking allotment of the school where the three were taking a course to earn continuing-education credits. As the trio discussed health fairs, they learned that the same regards had been nagging all three of them: on what account didn't more minorities attend traditional health fairs? What could they do to make nutrition information more appealing to the black community?

presently they were planning an Afrocentric health fair and passing on the outside flyers advertising an all-day seminar in Orlando called "Sisters: Take Charge of Your Health." The seminar, held in March 1995 tendered information on changing nutritional habits to bring the risk of diet-related illnesses and featured a healthy mind food lunch with a cooking demonstration for meatless virids The organizers initially expected about 50 attendees. Within three weeks, 175 women had registered.

Participation has grown steadily each year since, in part owed to the drawing power of of that kind keynote speakers as Selina Smith, the director of research at the Minority Health Professions Foundation in Atlanta, and Barbara Dixon, the author of beneficial Health for African Americans (Crown 1994) and advantageous Health for African American Kids (Crown 1996)

More than 900 women gathered for Hebni's March 1999 discourse Concurrent sessions covered fad dieting, living with diabetes, preventing and treating cardiovascular disease, the spiritual connection to a healthy lifestyle, and motivation in relationships. Each participant received a bookmark illustrated with the spirit Food Pyramid, a concept that the Hebni partners had begun marketing in 1998

The inner man Food Pyramid follows the standards put by the U.S. Department of Agriculture's rations Pyramid, which recommends meals based upon grains, fruits and vegetables. The mind Food Pyramid emphasizes the point with illustrations depicting grits, collard virids okra, sweet potatoes and watermelon at the bottom half of the pyramid, where grains, fruits and vegetables make up the mass of the recommended diet. Chitterlings, bacon, pork neck bone fatback, porker jowls and pigs' feet don't appear in the section illustrating meat choices. Instead, because they contain more fat than protein, they're placed at the top of the pyramid, in the blot reserved for fats, oils and sweets.

And you won't find those fatty meats seasoning the dishes in The novel Soul Food Cookbook for race With Diabetes (American Diabetes Association, 1999 $1495) by means of Weaver and Gaines. Released single week before this year's spring seminar, their volume retools traditional recipes by drastically cutting back salt and replacing mayonnaise, ovums and cream with substitutes. Smok turkey breast flavors turnip and collard greens; evaporated skim milk and ovum substitute make crab cakes and sweet potato pie creamy. The potato salad recipe calls for a dressing blending reduced-calorie mayonnaise with mustard and apple cider vinegar.

Don't await these recipe makeovers to match Grandma's soul-satisfying delicacies. Instead, await to be pleased with the flavors and delighted with the health benefits. "Some tribe won't sacrifice flavor until after they have had a massive heart attack," Weaver says, "and then they sorrow not having made the changes sooner"