veggies like okra, cabbage, green beans, or eggplant in larger portions than the other parts of your meal. If you’re grabbing seconds, go for the veggies!
Change the Way You Think About Meat.
Use lean, healthy meats in smaller amounts for flavor. Replace ham-hocks with smoked turkey or fish, or pile on the herbs and spices instead!
Make Rice & Beans Your New Staple. Fiber-filled Rice-and-Beans is a favorite meal all over the world. Add African heritage whole grains like millet, sorghum, and teff to your soups, or partner them with peas.
Enjoy Mashes & Medleys.
Bake or boil sweet potatoes, yams, and potatoes or mash them with eggplants, beans, grains, onions, and seasonings.
Find Real Foods Everywhere. At a corner store, buy peanuts or fruit; at a lunch buffet, load up your plate with salad, veggies, fruit, and beans. Look to African heritage whole foods, in their natural state, to crowd out processed and packaged “convenience foods.”
Jazz Up Fruits for Dessert.
Fresh or frozen fruits like melons, peaches, berries, and mangos—plain or sprinkled with chopped nuts or coconut—add a sweet taste of satisfaction at the end of a meal.
Drink to Your Health.
A splash of flavor can make water your go-to drink. Add crushed fruits or small amounts of 100% fruit juice to water or sparkling water to make refreshing “ades” (like lemonade!). Iced tea with a little raw honey is another refreshing alternative to soda and other highly sugared drinks.
Try any one of these steps…and then another…and another until you’ve mastered them all. A healthy diet filled with whole foods, herbs and spices is the best way to detox your body naturally.
Constance Brown-Riggs, is a registered dietitian, certified diabetes educator, national speaker and author of the Diabetes Guide to Enjoying Foods of the World, a convenient guide to help people with diabetes enjoy all the flavors of the world while still following a healthy meal plan. Follow Constance on social media @eatingsoulfully