Naima B. Robert – Reclaiming Our Health
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AI: Transcript ©
Welcome. Welcome to this session
in the Black Muslim Festival where we are
talking about
that wealth that we very rarely talk about,
which is our health. And I'm joined today
by Idil Farah,
who's a certified a certified everything, which he's
gonna tell you about
But we are really here to talk about
food, food as medicine. We're gonna talk about
your kitchen being your pharmacy.
And if you have been attending the conversations,
over the weekend, then you'll know that
the thinking behind this is that our health
is one of, obviously, the things we will
be questioned about and one of the things
that it really is the one of the
most precious things.
All the other wealth that people chase, whether
it is financial, whether it's fame, whether it's
power,
or none of it means anything
if you don't have your health. So I'm
excited to continue this conversation with you. I
think it's a game changing conversation for our
community.
I think it's a very empowering conversation for
our community because your health, especially through what
you eat, is something you have control over.
And you know we're all about empowerment and
taking back control.
So, Edel, tell tell us a little bit
about you, about kind of how you got
to this stage in your journey,
and then we're gonna dive right in.
Assalamu alaikum, everyone.
Hope you are well and in good health.
Thank you for joining us today. My name
is Idil Idil Faire. I'm a nutritionist
and health educator,
from Toronto Toronto, Canada. I really am a
mother.
I'm an ancestral foodie. I am continually inspired
by the power of food and its ability
to heal and help us thrive.
My life's work is really helping individuals,
take an active role in their health by
using food as their medicine and their kitchen
as their pharmacy.
And you ask I always say this kitchen
pharmacy, and I want I wanna explain that
a little bit. The idea of kitchen pharmacy
cycles back to the time when we use
the farm as the pharmacy when we used
food as our medicine,
herbs, spices, holistic ways of healing,
as the way that we took care of
ourselves. I truly believe that what you put
at the end of your fork is the
most important decision you make every day for
your health. Food is medicine. It's information.
It informs every cell in your body, and
it's the most powerful drug in the world.
It works for a 100% of the people.
It could be the most powerful medicine, or
it could be the strongest poison you put
in your body every day. Conversation
is
necessary,
not just because of what's happening in our
world, but because as Muslims, our number one
job is Ibadah and worshiping Allah. And how
can we worship Allah when we don't take
this take care of the vessel where our
soul resides. Right? You the most important thing
after our shahada is our prayers and really
performing our prayers and physically being able to
show up
is is is important. It's important to our
salvation. It's important in worshiping Allah. And,
if we can't even do that, if we
can't mentally and physically show up, then,
we really are likely to be one part
of our team. So today, I really am
excited to have this conversation.
I love it. And I just remember when
you did a workshop with us before,
and it was,
the oh, this is a Muslim self care
conference.
That's it. And, you know, you were just
talking about food
in a way that
I actually found it quite
revolutionary. And I know it's, you know, it
makes sense, you know, when you think about
it. You know, everything you're saying makes sense.
But, you know, when you you laid it
down like that and you've kind of mentioned
a couple of things, you know, such as,
you know, the food that you eat being
in the cells in your body
and and and really laying the foundations of
everything.
You know, although we know it, that biologically
that's how it is, I feel like and
this is just for myself. And guys, let
me know if in the chat if if
if this resonates with you, but I feel
like
we just don't give food that much importance
nor do we acknowledge
that food has that kind of power.
What do you think you say to that?
I agree. I I think that
we have gone sucked into this whole, like,
pharmaceutical
medicine being the way of life. Right?
That we can heal everything by taking a
pill. Right? Right.
We need to bring that back because
in our in the Quran,
there's food is mentioned so often. In the
sunnah of Rasool Allah alaihi wa sallam, there's
etiquette,
the way of eating, how to eat food,
what what foods to combine. There's so much
that is, like,
around food, and that implies how important food
is. Right? Because after
being a believer in your prayers, it's actually
eating bread. Right? Because sustenance
is important
to your, like,
Like, it you cannot really
be fully show up if you're not taking
care of your physical health. So food has
huge power, and I really look at it
as a drug. Right? Yeah. And I yeah.
Yeah. I heard you say that. I heard
you say that, and I'd love for you
to just I'm just sitting back, guys. Yeah.
Because I'm just like
talk to us about food as a drug.
What do you mean by that?
So food is the most powerful drug in
the world. It informs
every cell. When you eat food, it's broken
down. It's digested. It is passed on to
each cell in your body.
Now
that level of information that food provides tells
your body whether to thrive or to break
down and, like,
develop disease. Right? Wow. Every 10 years, our
DNA
regenerates itself. Right? And the two factors that
affect that is our lifestyle and what we
eat. Right? So certain,
we all have, like, genetic predisposition
to disease or we have, like, all these
health
our body then decides, okay. Am I gonna
turn on, like,
the disease part of my genetics, or am
I gonna turn on the healing part and
thriving and, like, really, like, you know,
really, like, becoming, like, a powerful body, like,
a healthy, powerful body. Right? So food has
that kind of power. It informs yourselves on
what to do, and we have forgotten that.
And so it is
what the bite on the end of your
fork decide who you're gonna be next week,
a year from now,
like, 10 years from now, how you're gonna
age, what disease you're gonna develop, who you're
gonna be, your mental capacity,
your physical health, how you move, inflammation,
everything,
your mood,
I mean, hair on your head,
the, like, skin, everything is decided by what
you're eating. And if we're not aware of
this powerful drug that we're consuming
and and, you know,
then we're really signing up for disease.
Wow. Guys, give me something in the chat
boy, because I remember when I first heard
that, I was like,
stop it.
Stop it.
No. But I'm just gonna just reiterate for
myself.
What you have at the end of your
fork
determines
basically
all of these different areas of who you're
going to be in a year's time, 5
years time, or whatever. And I remember you
talking about the food that we eat today
being either like an investment
in
a healthy future
or it's almost like it's a withdrawal from
a healthy future. Talk talk about that. 100%.
You're investing in your future self. If you
think about, like, retirement,
how we put away money for we get
older so we can live
and be able to support ourself financially.
But, really, your finances
make no difference if you don't have the
health
and your well-being.
Yeah. You know, there's a there's
a saying that says health is,
a crown you wear on your head that
only the sick person sees. Right?
Wow. Hey. No. No. No. No. Say that
again, please. Say
something.
An Arabic,
you know, saying, but it's
which is the health is like
a crown that only the sick person sees.
Right? Wow. Without your health, you are nothing.
When we take it down to the most
basic of the basics, right,
you could have like, when it impact your
Ibad as a Muslim,
if that is our number one priority is
to worship Allah.
If it impacts the most basic of basic
things and if it also impacts the fact
that you can you can have all the
goals, all the financial security. But if you're
not able to get out of your bed
to accomplish these goals and thrive in your
body, then really, what difference did does any
of that make? Yeah. Even I'm just thinking
in terms of, you know, the financial goals
and the house and the pool and the
car and the kids and everything.
If we're not nourishing ourselves in a way
that allows us to to have even a
good mood
because our mood can be affected by what
we eat as well. Can't it?
Oh, 100%.
Thoughts,
your
it all starts with your brain, but our
brain and our gut connection is so strong.
There is over 90
like, there's so many, like, neurons and so
many
conversations happening constantly
that if you're not
really eating the right foods, that that could
lead to things like anxiety, depression.
It could lead into, like,
dementia, Alzheimer's, neurodegenerative
diseases. It could also lead to this, like,
foggy brain syndrome that we talk about so
much nowadays
Because there are people who look well, but
who are unable to kinda catch their thoughts,
who feel like their brain is almost broken,
and that has to do with your digestion
directly.
Wow. Okay. So let's let's make this a
bit simple. I mean, I know it's a
it's a bit simplistic, but just for for
the sake of just knowing, Keesa, when we
talk about good is there such a thing
as good food and bad food?
Really food? There is no such thing as
good food or bad food. But my whole
thing about that is if food is made
in a lab,
then it is it made in nature, or
is it made in a lab? You need
to ask yourself that question because food that
is made in nature is is
Allah's creation is always perfect in in a
way that food works synergistically.
There are nutrients in food that provide
that work together to help your body in
ways that you can never get from a
bottle. Right?
If you're iron deficient, they'll take tell you
to take iron. But iron works together with
vitamin c. Right? In spinach, you get vitamin
c, you get iron, you get fiber, you
get vitamin a. I mean, it is in
one. It's hydrating. It does so many things.
So what you find in nature cannot be
given to you in a bottle, and what's
produced in a lab can never match what's
produced in nature. So
eating food,
whole foods, real foods, foods that your grandmother
recognizes is entirely
the point of, like, food as medicine.
That really reminds me of what, brother Nadir
was talking about yesterday when he was talking
about the difference between
currency and wealth,
where currency
is basically
like the it's printed paper
with a promise to pay something something something
manufactured, basically. Whereas wealth is something tangible, which
has intrinsic value like gold or silver or
something like that. It sound this reminds me
of that where, obviously, we call it all
food,
but just like we call it all wealth.
Right? People think money is wealth just like
they think gold is wealth. But that distinction
between
food that is real food
that nourishes the body and manufactured stuff,
which, you know, tries to nourish the body
sometimes, and other times, maybe not for that
necessarily. But that's a really interesting distinction, I
think.
I think what you need to look for
me, it it it's about this. Food comes
that comes from the ground, from a healthy
soil, brings with it nutrients that then nourishes
your body and tells it how to behave.
Whereas something that's made into a lab will
have a certain effect and then will give
you side effect.
You know, it it isn't just giving you,
like it may be giving you, like, 1%
nourishment, but there's all these side effects. And
the same goes for medication.
When you eat food, it it nourishes you,
it it heals you, it helps you thrive.
Whereas in medicine,
it works only for 60 percent of the
population. And if if that because,
you know,
60%
is kind of like the cohort that was
a part of the studies that were done
around this medication.
If somebody who wasn't,
like, who who was like you was not
a part of that study, then that medication
may work for you, but it's not gonna
work for you perfectly.
Right? So but food, 100% of the people
it works
for. 100%.
Wow.
You know, as you're saying,
you know, the things made in a lab
and everything, it reminds me my father always
used to he kind of he we had
a conversation once and he was saying, you
know, that
breakfast cereals
are are just a scam. Right? And I
was like, what do you mean, dad? Come
on. And he was like,
this is just nonsense. It's not real food.
You know, it's something that was created by
the marketing industry in the states,
where they made it to be like this
really convenient
way to feed your children,
fortified with vitamins and all of this stuff.
But it's just
it's basically
not
anything compared to what we would have eaten
for you saying, you know, what we would
have eaten for breakfast, like oatmeal porridge, for
example, or as you know, you know, any
of the things that people would normally eat
when they're not having cereal, and which most
people still do eat today because they don't
have the breakfast cereal culture.
But what is the deal with, you know,
sort of these vitamin fortified and
yeah. All these things that we're told,
you know, this is great for you, that's
great for you, you know, milk for the
calcium, and this and that. I mean, like,
come on. Just just blow blow the lid
off everything.
The the whole thing is we have decided
to break food into nutrients and vitamins and,
like, minerals, whereas in and calories.
Where food is not that way. Food is
synergistic.
It works in tandem. It works together. And
we've,
like like I just said, I've mentioned spinach,
but there's so many other foods that have
multiple nutrients. Right? And so
people
are marketing to us because, you know, convenience
is the name of the game nowadays.
We are sacrificing
so
much in the name of convenience.
So much, guys. Wow. Go ahead. Sorry. I
interrupted No. But there's price to pay for
everything. Inconvenience
comes with this thing where, like, you know
I mean, if you knew the amount of
people who were marketing to you when you're
eating whatever foods you're eating, that cereal box,
everything it's telling you on the outside is
not being regulated. If it has 1
percent whole wheat 1% out of a 100,
they could claim that it has
a whole
weed item.
You have to be an inform ingredients. Know
what you're signing up for and what you're
putting in your body. If the
first five ingredients are sugar, sugar, sugar in
5 different names, then you need to know
that.
Five different names of sugar, please. Educate us
so that we can, you know, look for
ourselves.
So soufferies?
Sucrose,
fructose, fructose,
corn syrup,
you know, sucrose. There's so many different names,
but the thing is the like and the
chemicals that go in. If something is staying
on the shelf for a year,
what is what does it take to keep
that food on the shelf for a year,
and how much sodium and preservatives are in
there? Now
to have convenient foods occasionally is one thing.
But for that to be your whole diet,
it's a whole other conversation.
And the art of cooking, cooking is
you it's basically,
you know,
I call it a life skill. Right?
You need to know how to cook
because this is about survival. It's not a
man, woman thing. It is a survival thing,
and it's about taking control of what's going
on in your body. If you're taking medicine
and somebody else is really taking it's giving
you a pill, would you do that? No.
You wouldn't. But if you knew what you're
putting in your body would,
like, the oils that go in there, the
spices that go in there, all of that
has an impact. Right? So for me,
one of the messages
the reason my kitchen is my pharmacy is
because
food is my drug of choice. That's how
I look after my health. Right? It's my
primary source of health care. I like
living
whole foods are the number one on the
list.
The more green, the better because
they're the best bang for your buck, easy
to digest,
really like
nourishing, hydrating, full of vitamins and minerals, and
full of fiber so they help your body
eliminate all those toxins.
So that is my number one thing. Herbs
and spices,
that's what medicine used to be made of.
Right?
So looking back into the that medicine cabinet,
reclaiming our cultural foods,
what our grandparents ate, you know, our DNA
recognizes
3 generations back. Wow. So your
grandparents is what your DNA recognizes as food.
So margarine margarine is not really your body
is like, what is this? It's sitting
toxic.
Your cells don't recognize it. It's inflammatory
food. Your body, like, thinks this is a
foreign substance, starts to attack it. Right? Is
this not is this true?
Is this true?
Yes. It's better to eat butter than to
eat because your grandparents ate butter. They know
what
Yes.
I mean, I would I would actually say
it's better to have coconut oil, avocado oil
because these are foods that not only just
feed your brain, but they also,
like, bypass the liver and, like, they don't
really clog your systems. Right? Whereas in, like,
butter, it has saturated fat, and it's really
important to eat it in moderation. In moderation.
So I have a question here because somebody
asks about, you know, why
are whole foods and these good foods, and
she mentioned olive oil. Why are they so
expensive?
And McDonald's and other foods like that is,
like, so cheap. Like, how are we supposed
to be able to afford all this good
food? What are you what are your thoughts
on that?
Well, good. So I I I always say,
remember when chickens used to walk around
and that was the natural way of things
and they used to. Like and now
they
food is being produced in
extremely large quantities in monocultures
in, like, you know, corn is being grown,
like, one like, one thing at a time.
And it's killing not only our soil, but
it's killing,
making certain foods
more expensive than the others. Right? So in
terms of McDonald's,
it first, they get subsidies.
They're hard there's a lot of non food
at like, stuff in there that are food
additives,
right, that the FDA allows. FDA is the
regulating
body in North America, but, like, they allow
it because
in small amounts, it's not harmful. But who's
eating this stuff in small amounts? People are
eating a lot of this stuff.
Right? So you have to you have to
realize that
the the reason they make it cheaper is
because
they're producing it in large quantities. They're they're
providing these farmers,
incentives to grow their, like, the the corn.
The
Yeah. All of these.
But vegetables
and especially vegetables that are organic, that are
not sprayed with herbicides and pesticides and all
of that, are more expensive because it it's
much harder and a lot more stricter to
grow. Right?
And
so I agree with you. But I do
think as well, I think that we
I I feel like there is a limiting
belief.
I feel like
that there seems to be and I could
be wrong, but there seems to be a
limiting belief that people hold a story that
we tell ourselves that good food is expensive.
Because when people think of good food, they're
thinking of organic, they're thinking of whole foods
in the states, they're thinking of, you know,
like extra virgin olive oil, like like you
said, even a coconut oil, avocado oil. And
I would like to offer
that
if you go to the Asian shop,
anyone here you go to the Asian shop,
you're gonna find and it may not be
organic, so don't don't don't slice me up
for this, but you will find
a stunning array of fruits and vegetables. I
mean, I we have one local to us.
I literally can fill my whole trolley
from the fruit and vegetable aisle alone. Right?
Not to mention
the lentils, the chickpeas, the kidney beans, the
you know, and all the protein as well
that you can get in big sacks
and then the fresh spices and the dried
spices, etcetera. So do you think that we
are telling ourselves
that, a,
good food costs too much,
and b, maybe that it's it's too much
trouble maybe to even, like, go through cooking.
I know, maybe not this audience. In our
society though,
people do feel like it's just too much
trouble to cook healthy food. Like, what do
you want me to do? Percent. I feel
like there are 2 parts to this. Right?
One is, like,
how
dollar
I think it
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can get you back.
I'm trying to stop the video.
Guys, let me know in the chat what
you think while we try to get, Cecil
back on. You've been very quiet.
So what do you think? Patrice said, made
a very interesting point where she says, I
understand.
I'm all about eating good food, but my
heart pains
when I see some countries charge a lot
for these beautiful products like olive oil,
expensive,
you know, just a lot of expensive things.
So how do we, you know, how do
we maintain this daily for the good food?
So let me know in the chat or
in the comments if
you consider or you see that in your
country,
good food, natural food, whole food is actually
more expensive and maybe out of, you know,
your your your price range,
you know, compared to, like, convenience foods. Go
ahead, sis. Sorry. We lost you, and you
you were right
What made you lose? And then he was
like, bye. But I'm
back. So two things about that. 1, you
have to prioritize
what's what matters financially. Right? We all like,
our food dollars, what is more important, quality
of food
or, like, something else? I choose to prioritize
the quality of my food because I see
it as medicine. But the other thing is,
there are options here. You know, not everything
needs to be organic, right? There are certain
way, like in terms of food, you need
to choose like,
the dirty dozen that we all do. I
don't know if everybody knows about this, but
it's like foods that have thinner skin that
pesticides and herbicides
seep into.
And so those foods I would choose, like
strawberries, berries,
foods with thin skin, like apples, all of
that. Choose those,
like, on a more organic option. Or
but, like,
you could buy foods. Like me, you could
go in on, like, large quantities of food
and buy, like, the sacks and divide it
up. 2 families could do that. Right? And
then we buy things like what? Like onions,
potatoes,
Vegetables,
meat especially.
Right? Because meat is really where the quality
matters. Meat, milk,
you know, these are the things that have
the most,
think about it. It's a living carcass that
is now transferring
everything it ate in its DNA to you.
So the quality of meat really, really matters.
Right? It's really important to it's better to
eat less meat with better quality.
Right? That is food like, your chicken. It's
really important that they, like, moved around because
movement is part. It it's important to their
health. Right? That they were farm raised.
They don't necessarily have to be organic, but
choose these options that are, like, better. Always
move a step up. See how you could,
like,
pasture raised,
eggs. Right? The eggs.
Dairy. If I were to do one thing
today, I would go organic on the dairy
because
it it it Say what? Sorry? I would
go organic on, like, milk.
Right? Because it it milk has, like, you
piss,
some, like,
blood in there, some, like, a lot of
hormonal stuff that it can transmit. Like if
you're someone if you're drinking someone's breast milk.
Like, that's all. The hormones that oh my
god.
But you have to think these animals are
not only
they're getting antibiotics.
Right?
They're eating,
like, grains,
and they're not be being fed the grass
that they are supposed to be eating. They're
not moving around. They are, like, living in
inhumane conditions. Right? And it's it's important to
be, like, aware of that because what it
does, it gives information is power. Right? So
then when me and you say, okay. Today,
we're gonna go by meat. We're gonna spend
this much. Let's,
you know, get, like, half a goat or
something and split it up between our families.
We're gonna choose a higher quality meat,
and we're gonna eat less of it.
You know, use it to flavor our food.
And if you look at how our grandparents
ate, they weren't eating meat all day long.
Like, they were eating meat in special occasions.
They were putting it in sauces and soups
and things to flavor things up, but then
everybody got a little taste, but not a
whole lot. You know? And so
that's why they were able to live healthier,
longer, and, like, better quality of life.
So I'm just okay, guys. So I'm what
I'm hearing
is,
I'm just thinking of a cow.
Yes. Think of a cow. Just how
how much
trauma
our cows go through now,
where, obviously, they're raised,
you know, in in these huge, like, warehouses.
And, you know, they're they're they're kept there.
They get pregnant,
and they give birth.
Baby's
taken away.
All the time?
Every time,
which must be there must be some trauma
there. Trauma. Yeah. 100%. There, percent. Over there,
because that's not natural.
Unless, of course,
through the generations,
cows have become
used to that. You know? I don't know.
We will probably never know. I mean, some
someone's probably done a study somewhere. But just
that thought of, you know, basically, they're giving
birth to these calves, calves are being taken
away, and then they're being milked and milked
and milked and milked.
And whatever that cow, as you said, is
experiencing, whether it is the trauma, whether it
is the, you know, the the just just
that environment,
and then we're drinking their milk.
It's it's a lot. It's a lot. It's
a lot. It's it's actually it's a lot.
And when you see those pictures of, like,
chickens on
battery farms,
it really, really makes you think,
like, as human beings, like, what what have
we done? You know? And it's you're always
told it's because
we need this. There's such a huge demand
for it. We have to do it this
way. Otherwise, we won't have enough food to
eat.
You know, what what's what is the solution?
The thing is, you when you said about
the cows, it's nature versus
nurture. Right? But your nature is always
what matters. Right? Because how
as humans, we need certain things, like, you
know, to eat water, to move, to kind
of keep on going. Right? Same for them.
Right? So when you take certain things that
are important to your nature, then there are
consequences.
Not only why they have to give them
chemicals and give them, you know, all this,
antibiotics and all this kind of thing to
stop them from getting sick and to make
them grow big. I think we've all probably
seen those horrible horrifying images of, of, you
know, these bulls that are just, like, oversized
because of, you know, hormones and that kind
of thing. Because that hormones are an issue
too, aren't they? They really are because they're
growing them at a higher speed. You've we've
all bought chicken
with the legs, like, with chicken legs where
the legs are broken, you know, with, like
yeah. That means that little chicken was like
it it grew too fast, right, for its
body to support it, and it was the
use of hormones. And we're seeing it in
our kids. Younger and younger kids, especially girls,
getting their periods
at 8, at 9, which means their body's
producing estrogen and it's producing it at a
higher rate, and this has a direct relation
to your food. Right? Women with hormonal issues,
infertility,
fibroids,
endometriosis,
having all of these things
are all related. They are not we're not
living in a vacuum. Cancer,
all of these things are related to the
stuff that we're eating and what's going on
with our environment. But there's a solution, right,
to everything.
So the goal is how can I take
charge and be accountable for what I'm eating
and putting in my body? Yeah. I think
that's really important because
I'm having a moment,
because it's so there's so much. And, you
know, I I you know, we we we
we think about
the kind of things that we've become used
to, you know, you know, obesity in children,
for example.
You know, as you said, you know, even
even things to do with, you know, like
you said, early, puberty,
cancer,
and Diabetes.
Diabetes.
Hypertension.
Just like so so so much so much.
And as you said, almost every one of
them is linked to food.
Yes. And I I want people to know
anxiety and depression are also very much linked
to food. And this is a conversation I
am dying to have. I think I'm gonna
focus the whole month of November on that
because we forget how much our food like,
our mental health is not separated from our
physical health, and the food we eat
directly impacts all of that. Right?
So What kind of food leads to kind
of low mood or leads to anxiety or
depression?
Really, it starts with our digestion.
SubhanAllah. Even in Adeem, like the all disease
starts in your digestion is a real thing
and you need I I think everyone needs
to take that seriously. For me,
as a nutritionist,
like, I did my 4 years of university
and then,
my internship, and then I went and worked
in the field. And it didn't it took
me getting sick myself and really, like, having
digestive issues
to shift how I looked at food. Because
when you really feel that pain, you know
it it comes from a place of, like,
there's there's it's it's very different because it
took 2 years for my doctor to say,
you know, really it's about changing how you
eat. And I was like, what?
When did day 1, I told you what
I did for a living. You asked, and
here you are. It took you 2 years
to tell me this information.
And
our doctors are not trained in nutrition. They
have they are meant to put, like,
Band Aids on problems. They treat symptoms.
They don't go to the root cause. Wow.
It's
quite important for us to start taking charge
and advocating for ourselves and taking charge of
our health. And when I say going back
to the like, our roots, I'm talking about
really embrace your cultural foods. Think about how
your grandparents ate. Really start asking questions about
that because eating in an ancestral
or in a way that really supports our
DNA tells our body digest this food very
differently.
So for me, I'm from East Africa.
Foods like sorghum,
millet,
you know, eating things like,
more more grains and vegetables,
eating less portions because we were nomads, so
foods were not being eaten all the time
in large portions.
These things are the ways my body recognizes.
Right? Eating
eating with, like, my circadian rhythm, which means,
like, getting up early in the morning after
salah, like, really because as nomads, if you
think about it, we move from place to
place. Up in the sun. Yeah. And you
did things in the morning. You didn't go
like, you followed the sun where we're not
eating in the middle of the night.
You know?
Really. And,
so these things are really important if you're
someone from Asia, from Pakistan, or from India.
Really look at the foods that you cultural
foods that supported
and, like, your
your your ancestors ate because that is what's
gonna heal you. Right? And that's a good
place to start. But really, you question on
this, please. Sorry. Just to jump in. No.
Go ahead. But so many,
people who are, you know, in this festival,
part of this festival who are from the
diaspora. So they their ancestral food, for example,
in the case of African Americans, their ancestral
food would be what is known as soul
food. Right? Yes. People argue
is is slave food,
and not like what original original, you know,
would have eaten, but also acknowledging that soul
food as it is eaten today
is actually not healthy.
You know, that it it's it's it's high
in saturated fats. It's high in in in
salt and all that kind of thing. Lots
of sweet dishes, lots of butter, and that
kind of thing. So what's your advice
for people who are saying, okay. But 3
generations back,
like, this is what we were eating. Is
is is there something that they should be
looking for in that diet? Maybe the more
nutritional sides. What are your thoughts on that?
Well, if we're looking at slavery and slaves
and where they came from, from Africa, West
Africa in particular,
the slaves when they were coming in these
ships, sowed,
seeds in their hair
so they can bring it over.
And the the things that we see in
particular in the south, like,
you know, the sweet potato,
the squashes,
the it's a lot of and the grains,
a lot of hearty vegetables
that are eaten by by by these original,
you know, slaves that were brought. These are
the things that,
we should be aiming for, like amaranth and
palaloo and, like,
collard greens and those vegetables without the like,
having to cook them in butter and, like,
having them saturated with, like, because we're so
used to we have to remember our, taste
buds have changed. Like, when we've been eating
so many, like,
you know,
modified foods. Our
we cannot replicate what's been made in a
lab. Like, fructose,
corn syrup
is, like, so high in sugar and it
hits such level of sweetness that natural food
does not match.
You Speak to that, actually. Because a lot
of people do feel like when they try
to start making the kind of whole food
journey or healthier eating transitioning,
it's
tough because they it just doesn't taste that
good. So why do we feel so happy
and fulfilled
It
It's gonna take some real detoxing of
our palate and making changes. And it's like
when people who smoke, when they stop smoking,
it's like such a hard thing. But we
have to recognize sugar is a drug. And
these,
manufacturers, you are a customer. You are a
dollar sign walking. And so if I am
going to man like, market to you, I'm
gonna give you flavors that you are going
to be addicted to and keep coming back
for. So things like MSG in soy sauce,
MSG
hits levels of, like, umami that, like, really
no other food in nature can hit. Right?
So it keeps you coming back for that
salty, sweet, like, taste that is, like, you
know, hits so many of your taste buds.
Right? So the goal
is to to the more natural foods you
include in your diet,
the more vegetables,
the more foods, in particular vegetables, the more
vegetables,
the more your taste buds would naturally start
changing, and you're gonna start tasting
the unnatural sweetness of these foods. Right? So
if I'm eating a salad before every meal
or, like, before with lunch and dinner,
I am going to now start to, like,
crave less and less of that sugary stuff.
And when I eat it, it's gonna be
too sweet for me. Right. It's like if
you give up sugar for a for a
little while, if you give up sugar and
then you start reintroducing
sugar. Maybe before you have 3 spoons of
sugar in your tea and it was yeah.
Give me another one. Right? But if you
detox from sugar for a while and you
try to have a cup of guys, try
this. Yeah. Just try to go 7 days
sugar free,
and then try to have your tea or
coffee the way that you had it before.
You will you will not be able to
stand it. I'm gonna give you an example.
This is, green juice. It has kale.
It has spinach.
It has celery, cucumber,
and, like, I put an apple in there.
To me, this is very, very sweet because
of the apple. Because I'm used to drinking
it without the apple.
Right? The first time when I did I
did to to have my body transition,
it was during Ramadan.
Right? Because you're fasting and,
like, I really wanna emphasize the importance of
fasting. And
a lot, like, never
never does anything for, like, one reason. It's
always multiples.
Right?
You know, it teaches you how to be
humble, how to, like,
be, you know,
to be, like,
self
to to sort
of control the self and the nefs. Right?
I'm the word that I'm looking for escaped
me.
Self regulation is the word. Right? How to
regulate yourself, how to become, you know, how
to,
get closer to Allah, all of that. But
what it does for the physical body is
incredible.
Right? It helps your body heal. It helps
your digestion
actually, like, heal itself. When you fast, your
body starts to break down.
After the first 8 hours, it starts to
break down all the fat cells. Right? And
fat cells is where all our toxins are
stored. So when these toxins are it put
helps push the toxins out of our body.
It regulates our blood sugar. It helps push
out the cholesterol
from our our our body. Right? It breaks
it down. And then it also what it
does, all the protein buildup in our brain,
all the, like, toxic protein buildup, it helps
really break that down. So it helps with
people with neurodegenerative
diseases.
But it there's something called autophagy. It's a
process of, the body healing itself. So the
cells, they start to eat up the bad
part and then regenerate.
Right? And all of that happens during fasting.
Right?
But that healing process that happens
is really important for the body because we
are not meant to be eating all the
time the way we are right now.
You know, that
ate only to satisfy hunger, to stay
to keep his body strong,
it to keep his back straight. Right?
And if you the hadith that says,
you know, break your
stomach into thirds.
Right? A third for water, a third for
air, and a third for food. All of
that is about portion control, and it's about
giving the digestion, not overwhelming your digestion.
Right? So it kinda comes back. It's always
a full circle thing. But for me, what
I did was during Ramadan, I only you
only eat, like, 2 meals. So during those
2 meals, I made sure that I was
eating a lot more vegetables, soups,
that are easy to digest, full of vegetables,
full of grains, and it really helped
my palate transition.
Yeah. Because if you think about it, it
takes 21 days to form a habit. 30
days, you're cementing these habits. Yeah.
So, initially, it was hard.
I was like, oh my god. True. But
after the the 30 days drinking coffee, it
tasted like soap.
I could never go back to eating, like,
chocolate bars from the store because they're too
sweet. Yeah.
So, you know, there are ways that we
can help our body
transition,
but not everybody's able to fast. Right? And
to fast for
the 30 days or for long periods. But
I promise you, if you start including more
vegetables in on your, like, plate and making
it take more real estate
on that plate,
we'll transition.
And you will start to notice certain foods
are no longer gonna be, like, a part
of your, like, diet because you're not gonna
be able to
tolerate.
That's absolutely amazing. It'll it's been absolutely
just wonderful, you know, listening to you, you
know, and and learning from you. How can,
you know, anybody who's listening to this and
who wants to know more, how can they
find you?
So
my
Instagram is Idyllsworld.
My
website, idyllsworld.com.
My email is nutrition at idyllsworld
dotcom, and it's really like, for me, my
goal is to help women
and
people in general
to really start becoming aware of, like, ways
that they can use food as medicine and
their kitchen as their pharmacy.
This month, I'm focusing on fibroids and the
importance of fibroid. Like, why that we need
to know more about it because it happens
to, like, 50%
of
women
and 80% of black women. Let's just
yes. It is the most common tumor
that we have in like, most common benign
tumor and it happens to 80% of black
women. And it's happening for and nobody understands
it. And people only start to pay attention
when they are having a hard time getting
pregnant.
So let's talk about it. And then I'm
I have a course coming up, 4 week
course on stress and the impact of stress
on our health. And it's
really important to really understand what stress does
to your body because so many so many
of us are stressed. So, yeah, that's how
we can stay in touch. Fantastic. So, guys,
the branding is all in alignment. It's Idil's
World on all the channels.
So please,
will they be able to find details of
the course,
on your in your Instagram, in your bio?
All Yes. Yep.
That's coming up. It's going live Thursday.
So,
you can sign up then.
For me, I
wanna make sure that as women,
as caregivers,
that we care for ourselves. Yes. We really
have to start putting our health first. And
for us black people in general, with all
the microaggressions
that we face on a daily basis,
all the stress that happens in our bodies,
that we really have to start looking after
ourselves
as a form of resistance, as a form
of self care, as a form of, like,
you know because really,
we we're we're susceptible to everything. We wanted
to talk about immune health. We didn't make
it. We didn't even make it. This is
it.
Let's do a live let's do a live
together and we'll have a conversation.
We will definitely do a follow-up, guys. So
listen, if you've enjoyed this, then please just,
you know, post in the comments
Facebook group that you can put your information
in there, introduce yourself in the Facebook group,
and let people contact you.
Guys, it's been amazing. We're gonna wrap up
here
because we have the next session coming up,
in 5 minutes.
So
we've got some lovely comments
here. You know, everybody is, is sharing.
So may Allah give you all the and
bless you and your family. And, yeah, let's
get that book out
so we can Yes.
Okay.
I
Can I make a dua before we go?
Oh. Alafiya
means wellness, and I say I'm me to
that for all I'm me to that all
day long.