1 cube fresh ginger

1 medium stick cinnamon

5 cups water

1 lemon

2 tablespoons brown sugar

• Place cleaned dry sorrel in a small sauce pan (pot), crush ginger and add to sorrel, add cinnamon stick and the 5 cups of water.
• Place sauce pan on stove, cover and bring ingredients to boil. Lower heat and simmer for about 2 minutes.
• Turn off flame and allow ingredients in saucepan to seep for about 5 hours, or overnight.
• Strain liquid and pour in a lemonade jug. Mix in 2 tablespoon brown sugar, or enough to taste, add juice of 1 lemon, mix and serve with ice cubes.

4 servings

2. Place minced garlic in a small bowl and add 2 tablespoons of olive oil.

3. Mix minced garlic and olive oil.

4. Use a pastry brush or fork to spread garlic and olive oil evenly on one side of each slice of whole grain bread.

5. Place slices of cheese on the side of each slice that has garlic and olive oil.

6. Set toaster oven at toasting temperature

7. Place bread with cheese in oven and toast until cheese melts, about 2 minutes.

8. Remove bread with cheese from oven and place a large slice of tomato on top of each cheese side of bread.

9. Serve hot with a glass of milk, tea or fruit drink of your choice.

Easy, Tasty and Nourishing for Snack or a “Night Cap”. Before retiring to bed.

Vitamin D has been proven to be nothing short of a “miracle nutrient” responsible for a host of important biological functions in the body, and a major contributor to a well-functioning immune system and good health. You can take vitamin D to prevent and effectively treat high blood pressure, heart disease, depression, cancers, insomnia, arthritis, diabetes, chronic pain, psoriasis, autism, the common cold, swine flu and many other ailments.

Vitamin D improves

antibacterial, antiviral and antiparasitic functioning of the immune system and persons with low vitamin D levels in their blood are more likely to suffer with, or die from high blood pressure, 17 different types of cancer, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, lupus, multiple sclerosis, HIV/AIDS, and many other illnesses and diseases. Statistics from the United States Center for Disease Control and Prevention confirms that African Americans suffer the most disabilities from obesity, arthritis, lupus and other illnesses and are dying the most from major diseases.

Vitamin D deficiency is Common all over the World

Vitamin D insufficiency is pervasive in the U.S. and whether you live in cold Alaska, hot Atlanta or sun-drenched Florida you may become deficient in vitamin D. In fact, vitamin D deficiency is common all over the world. People who live in tropical Caribbean islands, African countries and India also show high percentages of vitamin D insufficiency and many suffer from diseases that are related to vitamin D deficiency.

There is an Epidemic

Vitamin D deficiency is at epidemic proportions in the United States and it is worse among blacks.  A national sample of almost 20,000 people, taken over a 16-year period, shows that the proportion of Americans with healthy vitamin D levels, fell from 45 percent to 23 percent but African Americans were worse off. The number of blacks with adequate vitamin D in their blood plummeted from a low of 12 percent to an alarming level of 3 percent. Some studies say all blacks, 100 percent, in the United States are deficient in vitamin D and are therefore in serious health danger.

2 green bell pepper

1 red or yellow bell pepper

½ teaspoon salt or to taste

½ cup water

2 tablespoon olive oil

1 sprig basil

1 sprig thyme

3 cloves garlic

2 stalks eskellion

1 medium onion

Method

1. Wipe meat and cut into small strips, about ½ inch thick by 3 inches long.
2. Place meat in a bowl
3. Clean and slice onion and add to meat in bowl
4. Clean basil, thyme, garlic and eskellion and pound them together in a mortar or crush together and add to meat in bowl
5. Add salt
6. Thoroughly mix onion, thyme, basil, garlic and eskellion together with meat.
7. Wash, peppers, remove seeds and slice into thin strips, lengthwise, and about ½ inch across.
8. Place olive oil in skillet and put skillet on stove to heat. Place meat with marinade in skillet and and turn meat from side to side until the surface of meat appears sealed, about 5 minutes.
9. Add water, tightly cover skillet and allow steak to cook for about 10 minutes.
10. Add Bell pepper strips, mix evenly throughout meat, cover and cook for an additional 5 minutes.
11. Serve hot

Serves 6

Make Breakfast # 1 on your “To-Do List”

Make it a habit to have a good breakfast every day so that you will be healthy for all seasons of the year. Breakfast means to break the fast, because you did not eat any food while you slept for many hours throughout the night. After being without food for so many hours, it is very tempting to eat foods with very little nutrients in them.  Avoid the temptation to eat junk food when you are hungry (or at any other time).  You  do not have to rely on  sugar-laden cereals to fuel you with energy throughout the day. Bagels, doughnuts, pancakes or waffles loaded with artificial ingredients are not good for you either. Soda and chips are worse.

A Bad Breakfast Puts Your Brain to Sleep

Believe it or not, it is not just exhaustion that causes many students to sleep in class. Students often sleep in class because they had a bad breakfast or no breakfast at all.  Sometimes students can keep their eyes open after they have eaten a  bad breakfast but their brains usually go to sleep.

Science Behind Eating A Good Breakfast

A good breakfast provides the proper fuel that gives you energy to carry out activities that you need to do. After eating a proper breakfast, you will   feel much better throughout the day. The approximately 75 trillion cells in your body will carry out their proper functions when you feed your body the right nutrients from foods. Food nutrients also help your body to produce substances called hormones.

Your body makes about 50 different hormones that enable you to function as a healthy well balanced human being.  Your breakfast affects the proper production of these hormones. A good breakfast is good for the hormones that help to mellow your mood. But soda and sweets have substances that damage the happy hormones in your body. Happy hormones are body chemicals that help you to keep that spark in your temperament. Happy hormones make you feel good about yourself and respond positively to people and things around you.

Sweet things not only make you get fat. Cookies, sodas, sweet pastries and chips damage your hormones and turn your mind sluggish.  A sluggish mind cannot concentrate well.

Get a Good Breakfast

A healthy breakfast should not leave you hungry a few hours later.  If you really need to snack, have fruits instead of cookies and nuts instead of candies. Make a snack bag of fruits and vegetables and place it in the refrigerator before you go to bed each night. Parents are advised to encourage older children to prepare their own bags and to make the snack bags for children who are too young to fix the snacks for themselves. Select any of the combination below or put your own idea to work. Try to combine different colors so that you can get many of the vitamins and minerals that your body needs. It is difficult to break away from eating a traditional breakfast of sweets when you have been eating junk all the time. But try to see how easy it is to prepare foods that really nourish your body. See some examples below.

Try these Easy Breakfasts

A piece of left over chicken (from previous night’s dinner)

½ cup steamed vegetable (from previous night’s dinner)

½ cup parboiled potatoes sautéed in olive oil with garlic

1 cup of tea

1 orange

Preparation Time: 5 minutes

2 eggs, boiled overnight and placed in refrigerator

2 cups of oatmeal, boiled overnight and placed in refrigerator

1 cup of milk

1 banana

Preparation Time 5 minutes

Try combining your own selection of a meat, wholegrain cereal, some vegetables, a fruit and milk for your breakfast. To save time, use some leftovers

Snack bags to take to school

(Fix and place in refrigerator the night before)

• Kiwi and banana
• Strawberries and mango slices
• Plum and papaya slices
• Pear and banana
• Melon and apple slices
• Orange and papaya slices
• Mixed nuts
• Green, yellow and red peppers cut into strips and sprinkled with nuts
• Small pieces of broccoli and tomato wedgies sprinkled with nuts
• Do any other combination you like

Dark Skin Color Protects Your Body

from DNA Damage but Also Blocks Beneficial UV rays.  Melanin is the primary coloring agent in human skin and blacks have more of this coloring.  Melanin reduces the amount of ultraviolet radiation entering the skin and by so doing helps to protect against DNA damage that may be induced by radiation from the sun.  Because of its sun blocking capacity, melanin is also referred to as a natural sun block or sunscreen. Dark pigmented people who use sunscreen lotion may therefore be jeopardizing their health. The natural sun block of melanin prevents the production of vitamin D in human skin but vitamin D supplements may be taken to correct  the vitamin D deficiency and prevent diseases. 

Many More Blacks Visit Outpatient Facilities

More than one billion outpatient visits are made to medical facilities each year and the rate of visits by blacks to these facilities is more than twice the rate for whites.  The crucial link between vitamin D deficiency in blacks and the alarmingly high rates of diseases they suffer from has been recently established.   However, many people are still unaware of this potentially life-saving information about what D vitamin does to the body.

How Much Vitamin D Do You Need To Take?

Scientists believe that the average healthy adult needs about 5,000 – 8, 000  IU of vitamin D, daily to prevent and control diseases.  According to recent research, daily dosage of vitamin D may be suitable in the range of 5,000 to 10,000 IU for healthy dark pigmented adults.  If you are extremely deficient or you suffer from chronic diseases such as cancer or diabetes, your physician may advise you to take dosages that are higher than 10, 000 IU of vitamin D per day.   The not-for-profit vitamin D Council recommends that healthy children up to 2 years get 1,000 IU of vitamin D3 per day, healthy children 2 years and above get 2,000 per day and adolescents and adults who are healthy take 5,000 IU per day.  Blacks may need to take more vitamin D than the amount that is recommended for the general U.S. population. Pregnant and nursing mothers should take vitamin D because their vitamin D levels need to be kept optimized to meet their health needs and baby’s crucial development needs. When you take medication for high blood pressure, depression and other illnesses, you need to take more vitamin D because some medication cause large amounts of your vitamin D intake to go to waste. Taking vitamin D supplements have no known side effects and according to research you would have to be taking very high dosages of vitamin D for a long period of time to get overdosed. Have your vitamin D level checked and get guidance from your health care professional about vitamin D dosage that you need to take.

Ask Your Health Care Professional

to Recommend Reputable Brands of Vitamin D. The dosages in some of the brands of vitamin D available in health food stores, pharmacies and supermarkets will not meet your vitamin D needs. You may not be getting the amount of vitamin D that is written on the label. Recently, the Consortium of Multiple Sclerosis Centers carried out a test on 10 different brands of vitamin D that were bought online and at health food stores. The Consortium found that the actual dosages in the vitamin D bottles were about 1/3 of what was written on the labels. Some health professionals know about the results that patients have been getting from taking better brands of vitamins. Health care professionals may therefore be able to direct you to more reliable supplements.

Fresh fruits and vegetables supply more vitamins and minerals and fruits and vegetables grown nearer home might have retained more nutrients, because it took less storage and traveling time for the products to get to you. Shorter storage periods and less exposure to the elements prevent vegetables and fruits from becoming denatured.

#2. Eat fresh fruits and vegetables,

instead of canned or boxed ones and have juices instead of carbonated drinks (sodas)

Simple habits like adding a glass of fresh carrot juice to breakfast, and placing tomato slices and green lettuce between the whole grain slices for your chicken salad will boost your health. Invest in a durable food blender and whip up your own fruit and vegetable juices in a few minutes.

#3. Soy foods may be bad for you

Many women think that soy products are good for them and soy formula is good for babies. To the contrary, studies show that animals that were fed soy products developed cancer and people whose diets contained a great amount of soy had high degrees of brain atrophies and dementia. Soy products contain high concentrations of glutamate, fluoride and other brain toxins and consumption of soy is linked to Parkinson’s disease.

#4. Thoroughly wash fruits and vegetables before using them

Washing helps to get rid of bacteria, fungus and pesticides. We are frequently informed about outbreak of Salmonella bacteria poisoning that result from tainted tomatoes, spinach and other vegetables that are eaten uncooked. You may also peel fruits and vegetables or remove outer layers to get rid of pesticide residues on the outside. Preferably, use organic fruits and vegetables that are free of pesticides.

#5.  Steam vegetables in a small amount of water

When there is need to cook vegetables, they should be steamed in a small amount of water for a short period of time until they are tender but not soggy. The cooking-water left over, may be used in broths, gravies and soups because this water contains valuable minerals and vitamins- even more so if you use organic vegetables.

#6. Processed foods may be lacking in nutrients

Nutrients are destroyed during the processing of foods. Eating plenty of fresh natural foods, that were grown as close to home as possible can supply you with a large amount of the vital nutrients that you need. Processed foods tend to have dead, devitalized or denatured nutrients. These foods are often packed in cans that leech chemicals into the food or sold in plastics that also transfer dangerous substances to the food contents.

#7. Cook foods on low to medium heat and do not overcook

Overcooking destroys nutrients and may cause your food to be mushy. Once boiling point of water is reached, lower the flame and keep a gentle boil for the balance of time needed for cooking. Lowering the cooking flame under your pots is also an energy-saving move. You save gas or electricity while saving the environment.

#8. Whole grain products are nourishing

Eat at least three servings everyday. Whole grains are much better antioxidant than fruits and vegetables. Research shows that eating whole grains reduces high blood pressure and allows you to lower high blood pressure medication. Whole grain consumption also lowers cholesterol and high blood sugar level.

#9. Cooked Cereals made from whole grains are superior to boxed cereals

Boxed cereals often contain bleached grounded reshaped grains that have been dead for months. These embalmed products may contain hydrogenated oils and sugars, flavorings, dyes and trans- fats. Boxed cereals are usually “fortified”, meaning, so much of nature’s good nutrients have been removed through processing, that cheap synthetic substances had to be thrown back in, mandatorily.

#10. Use brown rice instead of white, and brown sugar instead of white sugar

However, avoid using sugar and sugary foods such as cakes, cookies, pies, jams, jellies, sodas, corn syrup, pan cake syrup, and artificial sweeteners. Meats such as bacon, canned meats, cold cuts, hot dogs, salami and sausages are usually packed with sugar and preservatives.

#11. Sugar and sugary foods weaken the immune system and overload the blood stream

Sugar in foods may lead to hyperactivity, insulin shock in people with diabetes; anxiety, irritability and dizziness in people with mental illness and added calories that may lead to obesity. Sugar and sugary foods may also lead to high blood pressure and cause cancer to spread or metastasize.

Vitamin D deficiency is prevalent among dark-skinned people because high concentrations of melanin in dark skin block the production of vitamin D from the sun, the most natural and abundant source of vitamin D.   More than 90 percent of Blacks have critically low vitamin D levels and Blacks also suffer disproportionate illness and mortality rates from major chronic diseases associated with vitamin D deficiency.

Correcting the Vitamin D Deficiency Epidemic: Strategies to Fight Diseases and Prolong Life for Black People explores the connection between vitamin D deficiency and the high illness and mortality rates among Blacks.  It also provides practical steps that dark-skinned people worldwide can take to improve their vitamin D status as well as useful, natural health strategies to help prevent and fight chronic diseases.   Leading scientists in the field of vitamin D research have commented on the book including:

• Dr. Cedric Garland, professor at the School of Medicine, University of California San Diego, who urges “all society, and concerned people of all ethnicities to act upon” the information provided in the book.
• Dr. William B. Grant, director of The Sunlight, Nutrition and Health Research Center, who advises that the book “should be required reading for every black family in the United States; white and brown Americans could learn much from it as well.”
• Dr. Bruce Hollis, director of pediatric nutritional sciences at the Medical University of South Carolina, who implores “patients and physicians [to] heed [the book’s] advice.”
• And Dr. Vin Tangpricha, associate professor of medicine at Emory University School of Medicine, who notes: “This book covers the link between vitamin D deficiency, vitamin D status in African Americans and the diseases associated with vitamin D deficiency.”

Books are available at these places:

• Canada, Toronto: 416-737-8896
• New York City, Harlem – Sister’s Uptown: 212-862-3680
• New York City, Brooklyn – Tafari: 347-365-6197
• New York City, BedStuy – 347-425-7330
• New York, Long Island – Sams247: 516-481-6602

Link Locations

• http://hellobeautiful.com/2507901/why-black-people-must-take-vitamin-d/
• http://www.naltblackchurch.com/health/health-books.html
• http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/rookie-author-emily-allison-francis-links-vitamin-deficiency-illness-blacks-article-1.1023946
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqQd461z3QU&feature=relmfu

Contact www.healthieryounutrition.com, info@healthieryounutrition.com or 718.916.8974 for more information.

Most people are deficient in vitamin D but blacks are critically deficient.  In the United States alone, blacks suffer disproportionate incidence and mortality rates from major degenerative diseases that have been linked to vitamin D deficiency.  Studies have found that more than 90 percent of blacks are critically deficient in vitamin D. Correcting The Vitamin D Deficiency Epidemic: Strategies to Fight Disease and Prolong Life for Black People provides practical steps that dark-skinned people worldwide can take to improve their vitamin D status as well as useful, natural strategies to help prevent and fight chronic diseases.

Books are available at these places:

• Canada, Toronto: 416-737-8896
• New York City, Harlem – Sister’s Uptown: 212-862-3680
• New York City, Brooklyn – Tafari: 347-365-6197
• New York City, BedStuy – 347-425-7330
• New York, Long Island – Sams247: 516-481-6602

Link Locations

• http://hellobeautiful.com/2507901/why-black-people-must-take-vitamin-d/
• http://www.naltblackchurch.com/health/health-books.html
• http://www.nydailynews.com/new-york/rookie-author-emily-allison-francis-links-vitamin-deficiency-illness-blacks-article-1.1023946
• http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KqQd461z3QU&feature=relmfu