- 9 hours ago
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🛠️
LifestyleTranscript
11:32Yes, so you're a person.
11:36You're a part of the message.
11:38that brings people together as a community?
11:41Because I think sometimes, to your point, Lila,
11:44as an individual, it's really hard to make those steps.
11:48We need people.
11:49We need community to help make us healthy collectively.
11:53So what are those things that you have done and worked on?
11:55Sure.
11:56Now, Healthy Blue, this is a priority.
11:58You know, addressing food insecurities in Louisiana specifically is our priority.
12:04So we have partners within local communities to deliver meals,
12:10make sure that we have meals that are delivered,
12:12that are tailored to what medical conditions, diabetes, high blood pressure.
12:18What we found is when we delivered meals to our members that had diabetes,
12:24that they actually saw improvement in their numbers when they went to their doctor
12:28and had those follow-up visits.
12:30We saw that it worked.
12:31And so continuing to do that is our mission.
12:35And not just across the state, but really specifically those zip codes in our state
12:42where we know the disparities are deepest,
12:45where we know that there really is a big difference between outcomes
12:50and to have the improved outcomes and make sure that our children have those meals.
12:56Because, you know, they're in school, they're tired.
13:00You mentioned activity level.
13:01They're tired.
13:02They can't pay attention.
13:03They're not learning as well.
13:04It really affects their life then and then the healthy adult that they're trying to become.
13:11So it's a priority for us.
13:14And I'm going to tell you, I eat pork and I eat beef.
13:17And I'm a Louisianian that enjoy all the foods.
13:23And you mentioned red beans.
13:25That's something we do on Mondays here to make it last through the week.
13:28Yeah, stretch it out.
13:29Yeah, stretch it out.
13:30But you can do that with healthier options as far as having fruits and vegetables as well.
13:38That's nice.
13:38And making sure that we, yeah, have those healthy snacks for our children and watching those portions.
13:45I did some things with my son when he was younger and my daughter.
13:49I was trying to get them to fall in love with vegetables.
13:52So I had to come up with a creative way to get them to, say, eat broccoli.
13:58So I was like, oh, this is some broccoli candy.
14:00I cut it up.
14:01Really cute.
14:02And I put it in a little Tupperware thing one day.
14:05And I sent it with them to school along with a couple cookies.
14:09And I just sprinkled a little syrup on it.
14:12And now both of my children, they love broccoli.
14:14But I started early just trying to teach them, like, how to, you know, enjoy vegetables and fruits.
14:22Because most, let's be honest, a lot of the vegetables we're just not excited about, especially kids.
14:27But I think we have to find creative ways to get them back to eating those things that are healthy for us.
14:33So they don't only want to eat the french fries and, you know, the nuggets and all those different things.
14:38I love that.
14:38I love that.
14:39I think, like, that speaks to who you are just, I think, in general.
14:43And I think that's the beauty.
14:44You know, I talk a lot about the importance of leveraging arts and creativity and culture in order to advance health.
14:52And I feel like that's the very, like, micro kind of, you know, demonstration of that.
14:56And that's beautiful.
14:57When you're on tour and you're moving about and around, what do you go to and how do you take care of your health in those times, in those situations?
15:06On tour can be challenging because you are moving around and it's not like you have access to cook, you know, for yourself every day.
15:14So what we try to do on my rider, for example, I always have fresh fruits backstage and I drink a lot of water as much as I possibly can.
15:26And I have non-sugar juices.
15:29I don't do soda at all.
15:31So, you know, I like juice.
15:33But I try to stay away from a lot of fructose and high sugar.
15:38You know, again, we in our culture are affected by diabetes and it runs in my family.
15:45So I have to be very careful about that and high blood pressure.
15:48So I try to, again, incorporate specific fruits like blueberries.
15:53I love blueberries that, you know, attack.
15:56Or I should say help with high blood pressure, things of that sort because it gets stressful on the road.
16:00So that's what I do for myself.
16:03And then I eat a lot of on-the-road fish.
16:06So I go in that direction for my solid meal.
16:10I'll do salmon, you know, in the evening and stuff like that.
16:13So throughout the day, backstage, if I'm on the road, it's fruits and veggies, little light stuff.
16:19And then I do a solid meal in the evening.
16:22You mentioned water.
16:23And I know here in Louisiana, especially in the summer, that is so critically important.
16:29People ask, well, it's so hot.
16:31You know, how do you manage?
16:33Well, first, we stay inside when it's super hot and we drink a lot of water.
16:39And it's important, especially here, that we have that fluid intake and we're replacing that water.
16:45It is something that's important to health overall.
16:49And sometimes you also just not just like water, but try to get the good water, get you some spring and alkaline water.
16:55You know what I mean?
16:56I try to do that.
16:57So that makes a difference, too, I think, for myself.
17:00Absolutely.
17:01And folks don't even realize that sometimes the number one reason why we have headaches, oftentimes, is because we are dehydrated.
17:07And we don't even realize it.
17:09And so the importance of staying hydrated is absolutely critical as we're moving about, whether here or anywhere we are, around whatever we're doing at any point in time.
17:18So can you speak to, you know, for the folks that are here and in the audience and, you know, about the festival, what are some things that they can do, you know, to kind of keep healthy, make sure they're eating right, all of that as they're here and stay hydrated?
17:36Being mindful is critically important, you know, listening to your body as it whispers to you before it starts to yell and making sure that you really not skipping those meals and you are having those snacks.
17:52But something that I wanted to ask you, you know, you mentioned you were on this stage 10 years ago and talking about food as medicine.
18:03I mean, have you seen it change in that time?
18:08Has it looked different today than it did then as we have this conversation?
18:14That's a great question.
18:15What I'll say is, and I think we all have a sense of this, is that we do see a level of consciousness around health that I don't think was there 10 years ago within our community.
18:27You know, I definitely do.
18:28And we do know some stats that people are working out more.
18:32They are exercising as much as they can in different communities and not all communities.
18:36Income definitely and your ability to have freedom and space to move about to exercise matters.
18:41The neighborhoods you live in matter in terms of your ability to be able to experience exercise in that kind of way.
18:49But also, there's, I mean, we've seen a storm of like shakes and healthy shakes and healthy drinks and smoothies that are, you know, actually black owned.
18:59You know, and many of them are here at the festival.
19:02So I think that that has absolutely changed.
19:05I think there is more information out there because of social media.
19:08Think of all of, you know, we have some influencers here, health influencers here on the GBEV space, you know, really speaking to that.
19:16And then ultimately, you know, this year was the first year of the launch of the future of health.
19:22And we started last night.
19:23Yesterday we convened 100 health leaders from across the country to be here in community, black leaders, to speak about what is the future of health at this point in time in so many different ways.
19:34From the mix of AI, from the mix of our current landscape, for all the things that we can do as community solutions.
19:40And so even here in this GBEV space, over there is called the future of health neighborhood that I hope folks go in and check out.
19:47We have great, you know, partners that are in that space.
19:49But just really wanting to have health be more experience about the many different ways we can engage with health, be more broad for us and be more direct and closer to us so that we can be more curious.
20:03We can ask questions because we're in a time where a lot of the places where we typically get information are not available.
20:11It's hard for us as physicians to get health information at this time.
20:15So we want to make sure that we're able to get that health information for people.
20:18So that's one of the reasons why we have the future of health and why Global Black Economic Forum, you know, really launched that this year.
20:25So thank you for that question.
20:27That was a turn.
20:33So, again, you know, so we're now mid-year, right?
20:38So, you know, do you have any plans or goals?
20:41And I know you're usually in physician mode, but I want you to go in, you know, we're our human selves, and you're great at doing this.
20:49But what are your kind of goals around food and eating for this year?
20:53Like, what do you think makes sense for the future of health for you within this year?
20:58I know part of my goal is really, as I look at the people that I serve in my community, making sure that we bring awareness to what food insecurity may look like.
21:15It doesn't look like what you may necessarily think.
21:19It could be a working parent.
21:21It can be an aging adult, a sick child.
21:26I want people to recognize that it's important we do this at Essence, check in on each other.
21:34But we need to do that more in our everyday lives, in our communities that we live in.
21:42The people that we see and interact with every day may have skipped a meal because they're making decisions.
21:49And what is very important is recognizing that healthy food is not a luxury item.
21:56Having fruits and vegetables are items that people deserve to have.
22:02And that's part of my goal is really taking the mask off of the idea of what people may have as what a food insecure individual may look like.
22:15Because it could be someone you're working with and you have no idea because you haven't had that question and that conversation and that may be their normal.
22:23So, I think that having conversations like this with people that have very powerful voices, like both of you, becomes important in this venue and beyond to bring awareness here.
22:37Absolutely.
22:38Absolutely.
22:39No, I'm disagreeing.
22:40Absolutely, yeah.
22:41And I think to that point also, we have to be honest with each other.
22:44I mean, that's when, you know, we can't be, well, we can be honest with some people we don't know.
22:49But, you know, I think the beauty of when we have these conversations as, you know, our girlfriends and our friends is just being honest.
22:55And that's sometimes hard, you know, because we see some of our friends that aren't as healthy as they should or could be.
23:02And how do we speak up about that, you know, and speak forward about that without.
23:07Coming off judgmental.
23:09Exactly.
23:10Right.
23:10Exactly.
23:11So, but I think we have to do it, right?
23:13And this is about collective health, right?
23:15So, the whole theme of the future of health is with us, by us, for us.
23:20Yeah.
23:21So, if we're really committed to that, then we got to speak our truth to power even with each other, even when it's hard.
23:26Yes, definitely.
23:28Giving each other the space to do so, the non-judgment is important because it is so common that I think people get used to it.
23:39Yeah.
23:39And it's not an everyday conversation.
23:42I mean, we're not really necessarily asking if you had lunch or if you had breakfast.
23:49And I know we can easily potentially work through lunch and not even realize it or I love the way you say you're so intentional with eating healthy and finding salmon and things like that.
24:01When you're all over, you know, you're all over, you know, you're all over, you know, the country and the world, you know, touring.
24:08That is intentional.
24:10It's intentional.
24:11And I feel like we have to be intentional and we have to get back to our ancestral roots.
24:18Our ancestors used food as a healing property.
24:22And so we have to get back to doing those things, especially in our culture, again, because we are being affected by the processed foods and just our lifestyles in general, the stress, everything that comes with it.
24:34And so we have to tap back into the things that kept us alive and how we were surviving to begin with.
24:40And just to that point, you know, when we were brought over here against our will and we had to survive, we started eating things based on survival, you know, i.e. chitlins.
24:52You know, a lot of now we still eat that stuff, but we don't have to.
24:56And I know it might taste good to some of us, but some of those things, we have to be honest about what it is.
25:02It's not healthy for us.
25:04And tell yourself, what are you actually eating?
25:07Be honest.
25:08What is a chitlin?
25:08You know, it's not to judge, but it's just being honest about that.
25:12And so we have to reassess the things that we are putting into our bodies because it's affecting our health.
25:18Those things affect hypertension and diabetes.
25:21So we need to remove those things because our ancestors didn't eat that stuff.
25:25That's just the truth.
25:26So we got to go back to where we come from and how we started and how we were healthier then.
25:33Great point.
25:33I 100% agree.
25:34And with that, I want to thank you both for being in this conversation with me and being
25:40here and just enjoying, you know, the rest of your time in New Orleans.
25:45Thank you so much.
25:46Yeah.
25:49Hey, I love you too.
26:19You
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