Sounds Good to Me

For the past couple of Fridays, my job has invited presenters of various backgrounds to come and share information that may help students and staff. Today, the guest speaker was a chiropractor who has been practicing for over 20 years. He presented a wholistic approach to health, and healthy living. During his presentation, a member of the staff asked a question concerning the student body, which was not present as this was an all-staff meeting. He asked, "Since many of our students have a diet high in junk food," and I unfortunately cannot remember the rest. The set up of the question stopped me dead in my tracks: as if junk food were a vitamin or dietary supplement. "Junk food is their diet," said a teacher sitting next to me. I had to agree. Two days earlier I recommended water to a student who asked me for a dollar to buy a soda. "I haven't had a soda in a long time," he protested. "You had at least one yesterday," I said, "I saw you. Water's good for you. And, it's free! Saving you and me a dollar!"

However, as I continued to listen to our compelling presenter, my mind drifted to a project I did as a freshman in high school on the eating habits of minorities. The research revealed that culture, race, and economic status played large roles in the overall health of minority youth (and by minority, I mean Black and Latino). The staff member who asked the question about the high-junk-food diet continued on to say something about how it was hard getting the students to change their food choice patterns because they were more or less addicted to their eating habits. Who wouldn't be? Your eating habits are how you've been taught or how you've taught yourself to survive. I thought about my 9th grade project, and how minority youth selected junk food products because the sugar and carbs and all the other junk kept them fuller longer. When all you have is a dollar, a high-sodium Cup o' Noodles will probably hold you longer than an apple, especially when you're craving the salt. Or better yet, beef jerkey, sunflower seeds, etc.


All this thought ignited my memory again. In the 11th grade, a girl on my speech and debate team did an expository speech on salt. In that speech, she explained that among its other myriad uses, such as currency and preservation, that salt was fed to African American slaves to keep them from passing out in the fields. Sounds crazy at first, right? Salt = dehydration, how does that help a slave toiling under the blazing sun? But think: the number-one purpose of Gatorade is to replenish the electrolytes in the body. (Electrolyte: 1 - A chemical compound that ionizes when dissolved or molten to produce an electrically conductive medium.
2 - Physiology Any of various ions, such as sodium, potassium, or chloride, required by cells to regulate the electric charge and flow of water molecules across the cell membrane.) Had I have known that back in the ninth grade, I could've added it to my research project. It is possible that not only are young Black people of a lower socio-economic class struggling with poor health choices because of their limited access to money, but it could also be our culture as a racialized group in America has imbibed poor health practices because we originally had no other choice. If you give us the worst and we make the best of it for over 400 years, somewhere along the line it becomes a habit. I was fortunate enough to be raised with more options. My mom made good ol' recipies in new, healthier ways without sacrificing too much of the comfort and taste. Yet, as I sat down this evening to a bowlful of greens (made like my grandmother taught me - with a hamhock, and not turkey ham), I deeply valued the innovations strained from stretching a dime as far as it could go.





This Black History Month: TASTE the present and SAVOR the past.