Urban Kryptonite

I would like to take this time to introduce our followers and supporters to Cochise Tarak-Saa and Salahdeen Asad of Urban Kryptonite.  If you have heard of them awesome, if not you’re in for a treat!  In a wondrous way the universe put us in alignment. From that we have decided to band together and raise awareness by having a public showing of Urban Kryptonite later this summer. Tickets will be sold for this event so please stay tuned and follow us @Riseuprva on IG to stay connected and up to date.

We chose to link up with Urban Kryptonite for several different reasons. One of those reasons being their passion with helping the black community. We share the same passion, to give the African American community a different lens to look through than what they have been given.  This documentary examines the subject of health in OUR BLACK community, something that has not been done yet. Yes we see the Food, Inc and Forks over Knives documentaries, which are beneficial, but they do not hone in on our culture or ethnic group. Urban Kryptonite also brings out that learning what is best for our bodies through mainstream nutritional sources is and always has been a bad idea. Why? Our cellular makeup is completely different. The information we have been taught is not based on our biology.

Via one of many resources here are some examples

• African American men have far higher death rates from prostate cancer than any other racial or ethnic group.
• African Americans with cancer have a shorter survival than whites in all stages of diagnoses.
• Black people with diabetes experience kidney failure about four times more often than diabetic whites, making the death rate 40% higher than other races and cultures.
• 80% of all black people over the age of 45 have high blood pressure “The silent killer”. Black healers have holistic treatments and cures at black alternative and black holistic clinics.

-Dr. Afrika

 Urban Kryptonite Overview

Urban Kryptonite – African Roots, Foreign Disease is a Dhealthstore.com production in conjunction with Cochise Tarak Saa and Style Connected, Inc. and is the single most important documentary on the health and diet of African-Americans and through a list of knowledgeable health luminaries that include Dr. Llaila O‘ Afrika, Doctah B. Sirius, Djehuty Ma’at-Ra, Abundance Child, Min. Enqi Sangreal, Kshamica Nimalasuriya, M.D., Nubia Sutton, Queen Vida, Dr. Ali Muhammad, Dr. Aris Latham, LaShana-Nicole, Keisha Harris, et. al. explains why African-Americans are gravely sick and lead in certain diseases that have become endemic to African-Americans (such as diabetes, high blood pressure, colon cancer, high cholesterol, fibroid tumors, etc.) and also some common sense measures they can take to heal themselves naturally.

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Eating Green in RVA!

Did you know Richmond Va is the hub for great restaurants and amazing food festivals? Here is a listing of some healthy choices while eating out. One of the restaurants on the list is my favorite “The Daily” – if you have not been I highly recommend them! Via Visitrichmondva.com, many locally-owned and operated restaurants call the Richmond Region home. These green restaurants use local produce, provide customers with healthier choices and boost the local economy as well. And with many of these restaurants receiving national recognition for their culinary expertise and delicious dishes, there’s no doubt that green tastes good! Taste for yourself at any of the Virginia Green certified restaurants listed below.

Click here for a listing of Restaurants 

Let it sink in

Today’s post is all about “You can’t do better until you know better”. That being said, I’m not perfect and we all have things to work on. I just want to let you know there are options….so I’ll get to it….

When people say “I don’t eat pork or beef” most are not just saying it to be ‘fake aware’ or to get cookie points for being cognizant of the issues at hand. It’s not to nag just for the sake of it.

 One day I was searching the internet and came across a Peta video. What I saw might as well have been the animal version of a Dangerous Drug Cartel. Either these workers in the “Farms” were plucking tails off pigs like shrimp shells, slicing LIVE cows throats in an effort to drain them upside down,  or they were cutting the beaks off LIVE chickens in an assembly line, which by the way are full of nerves. Whatever happened to just cutting the chickens head off and getting it over with quickly? That was not even the end of it. The conditions the animals were kept in appalled me. The chickens were growing so fast they never learned to walk, so they just sat there, day after day never moving.  Now again I’m not perfect,  I’m just trying to promote some type of balance. We all do unhealthy things, but how often and how much? Where are we buying our meat from? Are we making sure our meat is free roaming, wild caught, or free of steroids? Let’s think about this, have you ever seen a KFC, Bojangles, Chick Fil  A, or any major chicken chain’s drive through line without a car in it? No. Not unless they are closed. Think about amount of chicken that comes in one meal and how many meals they sell in an hour. OK, now times that by the amount of hours they are open…..Got it? OK now times that by the amount of days they are open, you see where I’m going? This can go on adding weeks months and finally coming up to a year. Do you know how many chickens it takes to make that amount of food? Georgia ALONE processes over 26 million pounds of chicken a day! That’s equivalent to 1,625 male elephants each weighing 8 tons!! Now only 100,000 workers are inspecting these chickens and the job’s are declining. People that went to school to get their associates degree can’t find a job in the meat inspection dept. Yes there is an associates degree for meat science, there are people who have a passion for making sure fresh meat is the #1 priority. With so few workers. do you think they have enough time to properly inspect each one? The way a local butcher or farm could properly inspect his smaller amount? Many have filed work complaints against Tyson due to ‘toxic’ working conditions. Other states have complained about the shortages of inspectors, some complaining that some meats may not have been inspected prior to hitting shelves. See news article -> (http://www.kansascity.com/news/government-politics/article1615736.html).

Perdue and Tyson are worth researching. Trust me. Now that we know that little piece let’s go back to these chicken chains and think deeply about how much chicken just one store sells in a day. Then we can look on an even larger scale and realize that that is just one of many chains, selling a countless amount of meat every second, every hour, every day. How many franchises are there in America again? “Let it sink in”. This is not an attack on these chains. I am just trying to put it in perspective for you to see how unreasonable it is to believe that all this meat is being properly inspected and to call for more inspectors.

Think about all the diseases we have. Think about how cancer is ransacking our homes.  ‘Free roaming farms” are a thing of the past. Now… I’m not saying don’t eat meat. I tried going vegan and lasted for about 6 months, but I was vegetarian for 3 years. I’m still trying to figure out how to properly feed my body with protein without meat. When I’m out I try to supplement with Tofu or Salmon. Even when I cook at home I feel like I’ve been put in this jail because I have not educated myself enough to learn a mass amount of meals that are Pescetarian or Vegetarian. That’s my fault and I’m working on it. I also eat Wild Caught Salmon not farm raised. I say ALLLL of this to say, if you have to partake in meat simply research where you’re getting your meat from. Try to buy at local markets that have preset standards, and PLEASE cut back on indulging in fast food. It’s called fast for a reason, because that’s how FAST it probably goes through the factory to get to you. If you think by ANY chance I’m being unreasonable check out the Documentaries below. Also watch “Forks over Knives”.

Forks over Knives Documentary

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=n1LUj3kxB9M

My local store I trust is Ellwood Thompson and these are some of their standards. Please click on the link below to see all standards posted on not only meat but ALL products.

http://ellwoodthompsons.com/our-mission/standards/#locallymade

My favorite standards:

Irradiation-Free Meat

Irradiation is a process used to kill bacteria found in meat products. Not only does irradiation give treated meats unnatural flavor and texture, it can also be used to mask unsanitary conditions in slaughterhouses leaving behind risks of E. Coli and Salmonella contamination. These diseases and others can be spread through the feces and urine that irradiation hides. We won’t sell you meat products exposed to irradiation…ever.

No Factory-Farmed Meat Products

Just as we do not offer factory-farmed dairy products, we also do not offer factory-farmed meat products. We refuse to condone inhumane and cruel ways of animal raising practiced by companies who only focus on the bottom line of their ledger.

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Fun Facts:

• Diets high in pork have been linked in population studies to higher risks of esophageal, thyroid, lung, pancreatic, liver, bladder, colorectal, and prostate cancer, as well as non-Hodgkin’s lymphoma.
• Breast cancer risk has been found to increase with increasing consumption of pork in several population studies

But there’s hope for those who just ‘have’ to eat these things…

• Freshly prepared chicken, other poultry, fish, lean beef, and pork are “safer” than processed meats. Processed means smoked, cured, and salted meats, such as hot dogs, sausages, salami, bologna, bratwurst, bacon, salt pork, cold cuts and lunch meat, ham, pastrami, pepperoni, smoked fish, corned beef, and jerky. It turns out that when processed, cancer-causing (carcinogenic) chemicals are created in meat. These chemicals, when eaten, increase colon cancer risk. Sourcehttp://coloncancer.about.com/od/nutritionanddiet/a/meatcolcan.htm

Please see 2014 story

Chicken plant workers say chemicals sprayed on carcasses making them sick

 http://www.wsbtv.com/news/news/chicken-plant-workers-say-chemicals-sprayed-carcas/nfg73/

Local Fresh Delivery

Please be aware of the healthy food options in the greater Richmond area! Most produce travels over 1700 miles to it’s destination. Ordering from this local market will have your produce traveling 100 miles or less. Dominion Harvest delivers to your doorstep-!!! . (https://www.dominionharvest.com) Via Richmondfreepress.com , about 20 percent of Richmond residents don’t have access to nutritional food due to a lack of local options and limited transportation to grocery stores, according to a 2010 study by the nonprofit Feeding America. A 2013 report by Richmond’s Food Policy Task Force found that people living in the city’s food deserts are nutrition-starved because local convenience stores sell highly processed, low-nutrient foods. The report said the lack of healthy food options leads to diet-related problems, such as diabetes and heart disease. “Many Richmonders are going hungry — if not in quantity of available food, then in quality of food with sufficient nutritional value to keep them healthy

Healthier Choices #002

Nature knows best!!!! Heart disease was rare in America at the turn of the century. Between 1920 and 1960, the incidence of heart disease rose to become America’s number one killer. During the same period butter consumption plummeted from eighteen pounds per person per year to four. It doesn’t take a Ph.D. in statistics to conclude that butter is not a cause. And unlike margarines, butter naturally contains many nutrients and anti-oxidants that actually protect us from heart disease & cancer and contribute to overall health, including vitamins A, E, K & D, as well as trace minerals and fatty acids (such lecithin, selenium, lauric acid & linoleic acid). All good stuff.

Healthier Choices #001

We seem to be the only species of mammals that drink milk after infancy, and definitely the only species that drinks another species’ milk. Cow’s milk is not designed for human consumption. Calves are about 100 pounds at birth and almost 8 to 10 times heavier by the time they are weaned. So why is it that humans feel the need to continue drinking milk after they are weaned from breast milk? Human milk is very different in composition from cow’s milk or goat’s milk or any other mammal’s milk. When humans consume any type of animal-derived, protein-rich foods, including milk, the pH in our bodies become acidified, and this sets off a biological reaction. Calcium actually neutralizes acid in our body, and most of the calcium is stored in our bones. When acidified animal protein is ingested, the calcium from our bones is drawn out to neutralize the effects of the toxic animal protein. After the calcium does its job cleaning up the mess, it is then excreted through the kidneys via urine, thus leading to a calcium deficit. One cup of unsweetened almond milk has about 30 calories and 2.5 grams of fat, none of which is saturated. A cup of 2 percent dairy milk, by comparison, has about 120 calories and 5 grams of fat, 3 of which is saturated.