Take a journey to the Motherland for healing and weight loss! Nearly forgotten African rituals hold the key to Western obesity problem and countless other health issues that plague developed countries. Africa is a huge continent with so many cultures, tribes, and languages. It is not only the cradle of civilization, but it holds centuries of traditions, and ancient practices that are valuable today.
It Takes a While to Gain Weight in Africa
As a child growing up in Harare, my parents would send me to the garden in our backyard to pick fresh fruits and vegetables. Organic food was my constant companion. At the age of five, my parents planted a plum tree and put me in charge of it. Sadly, birds used to get to the plums way before I did. Now, even though I had more access to organic food than processed food, that is not the choice I made. For a long time, I happily munched on potato chips everyday. I even had ice cream and meat pies all the time. My weight gain happened progressively, gaining a few pounds each year, until I was fat at only ten years old.
I was lucky in many ways. In Africa, the junk food wasn’t loaded with Trans fats and corn syrup. I lost the weight as a teenager because I attended a boarding school and my access to food was limited.
When I arrived in America the first thing I noticed was you couldn’t get away with happily munching on chips, and ice cream and pies. You could gain weight, at an alarming rate. When I was 20 and living in Denton, Texas I stood on the scale and jumped right off. What can I say; this was my form of denial. I couldn’t believe it, I was 5”4 and just over 200 pounds.
I had to do something! I researched ancient Africa and I found some answers to the health problems that plague the world.
The Secrets:
Lunch is the main meal in Africa! Africans follow the Agrarian lifestyle and begin the day as early as 4:00 in the morning. I remember one planting season when I was in the village. Grandpa and Grandma were up at 3:30am to wake everyone up, eat breakfast and go to the fields.
The idea was to work when it was cool so when it was unmercifully hot, no one had to work. I always stayed behind with the other females to prepare lunch because it was the main meal of the day. When all my hardworking family returned from the fields, they were exhausted and famished. We, on the other hand had lunch ready to serve. Everyone sat down and took the time to actually enjoy the food. After lunch we all retreated for a two hour nap (siesta). Late in the afternoon we worked on completing various domestic chores. In the evening we snacked on beef jerky, various dried nuts, and legumes.
