The dietary pattern for black Americans is often described in terms of foods used in the South. However, the foods that are selected by black Americans, as with any group of people, are modified by the geographic location of the community, the neighborhoods in which people live – that is, integrated or largely made up of a single group, the availability of foods in the local markets, and changes in income. For example, some black families living in the North use dietary patterns that differ little if at all from those used by white families who have always lived in the North; other black families have retained the food patterns brought from the South and use them with pride.

“Soul food” is a term recently used to denote foods of the black culture, with particular reference to foods of the black South. Many of these foods originated with the slaves of pre-Civil War days, and continued to be used by poor people in the South, both black and white. At one time such foods lacked status; now they have become fashionable in many places. Some of the typical foods are these:

Meat from every part of the pig: pork chops, ham hocks, bacon, salt pork, spareribs

(often barbecued), chitterlings (lining of pig stomach, usually boiled and then fried), and pig’s feet, tail, and ears

Fried chicken, fried fish, catfish stew

Wild game when available: coon, possum, beaver, rabbit, squirrel

Greens – turnip, mustard, collard, dandelion, kale – boiled in salt water with ham hocks, bacon, or bits of salt pork; “pot likker” is consumed as well as the greens

Stewed okra, corn, tomatoes

Cornbread in many ways: hoecakes, crackling bread, spoon bread, hush puppies; baking powder biscuits, served hot

Black-eyed peas with molasses and bacon or salt pork

Grits, rice, sweet potatoes, sweet potato pie

Black people do not consume much milk. Recently this has been explained by the fact that a high percentage of adult blacks have intolerance to lactose, the carbohydrate in milk. The intolerance is probably a hereditary defect in which there is a deficiency or a lack of lactase, the enzyme in intestinal juice that splits up lactose. Milk should not be excluded from the diet of black children, but an awareness of intolerance should be considered.

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GENERAL HEALTH

Continuous over-abundance and over-indulgence in food is a relatively recent phenomenon in man’s history. Historically and traditionally our genetic code is programmed for a periodic abstinence from food, which was necessitated by the periodic unavailability of food, particularly during famines and during winter and early spring, when the storage supply of food was exhausted and the new crops were still unripe. In Hunza, and many other parts of the world, such spring starvation is a common occurrence even today. Every spring there is a period of 4 to 6 weeks when people must tighten their belts and go through a natural, unintentional fast, because there is not much food left from winter supplies.

Although the primitive populace, who were forced to starve (fast), did not, of course, understand or appreciate the health benefits they derived thereby, the fact remains that periodic abstinence from food had a far-reaching beneficial effect on their health. Our ancestor’s bodies used these periods to cleanse themselves from the toxic wastes accumulated during the periods of over-indulgence. These periodic fasts also helped to repair and heal any health disorders, give digestive and elimination organs a rest, and to restore and normalize the functions of all glands and organs. They enjoyed better health, their resistance against disease was increased, and they lived longer, because of these involuntary fasts. We are able to say this now because modern scientific research has shown that systematic under-eating and periodic fasting are the two most important health and longevity factors.

What our ancestors did against their will, forced to it by the unfavorable environmental conditions and circumstances beyond their control, we must do now intentionally. A periodic cleansing fast, perhaps once a year every spring, for a couple of weeks, would help tremendously to improve our health, prevent disease, and increase life span. Because of our sedentary life, lack of exercise and tendency to overeat, our body mechanisms need such spring cleaning to keep in good working order.

Juice fasting has been shown to be the safest and most effective way to restore health, as a part of the overall biological therapeutic program. But juice fasting has also a tremendous preventive potential. Periodic juice fasting will speed up the process of elimination of toxic waste matter and the dead cells from the body and accelerate and stimulate the building of new cells. It will also normalize all metabolic and nervous functions and increase cell oxygenation. After fasting, the digestion of food and utilization of nutrients is greatly improved and sluggishness and further water retention are prevented. All this will have a far reaching effect on the body’s ability to withstand stress and prevent disease.

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GENERAL HEALTH