… it’s genetic so we know it goes [back] far more than that. So as a family we have learned from generation to generation and we will continue to teach outside of you. And we will teach you. You’re going to learn it or you’re not. But for me with my life and my life lesson, that’s not negotiable. Period.
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BDO: So speaking about food and its relationships to sickle cell and you being a sickle cell patient as well, what are you eating now that’s different than what you used to eat?
Misty: To be honest. I’ve had a family from Belize. And so we have a farm there. We have land there and so I am the first generation in my family to come to the states and both my grandmother and my parents had gardens in our backyard in Los Angeles. So we were growing a lot of our own stuff, to begin with. And I think being a chef was just definitely in my blood.
[I] did nursing for 13 years and I just always loved cooking so I just started catering for sickle cell events while doing this. And I just loved it so much that I changed over and started becoming a chef and went to culinary school.
The differences I learned in culinary school as well were what is in the food these days and [how] you can get healthy products [from] having relationships with butchers and things like that. If you’re not just eating meat.
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But my grandmother was vegetarian so I learned how to make wonderful recipes from way back. And I continue to do that and add to it for vegetarians and for vegans.
I give options and do meal plans [with] vegetables and fruits, we all know how the food chain goes. I would say definitely the herbs, things like turmeric and ginger, and lots of ginger inflammatory stuff because with sickle cell that’s one of our number one problems.
The swelling of the inflammatory and taking so many medications messes up your stomach and causes high acid levels. Nursing really helped me while doing the nutrition and finding out about the ingredients in the foods. I would say the only thing that’s changed for me is honestly just adding more ingredients that are natural and you know incorporating that every day with every meal three times a day.