Queen Afua: Heal Thyself for Health and Longevity (A&B Publishers Group, Brooklyn, New York 2002) The first edition was published in 1991.
One of the main benefits of this book for transitioning raw foodists is that it does not call for 100% raw diet but for a natural way of living together with purification through fasting.
"Heal Thyself Declaration of Independence:
I have the power to create in my life what I want and need. Purification of mind, body, and spirit is the key. Within this natural way of living and being, I choose not to cut, nor radiate, or drug my disease away. Instead, I wash, pray, fast, juice and bless my dis-ease away."
- Queen Afua
This was one of the very first books I read on raw foods, having got the recommendation from a You Tube video. It is a very inspirational piece of writing, although for some it may be too focused on the spiritual/ energy/ religious side of the raw food culture. For those not fazed by this, I highly recommend this book.
A quote from the Preface, written by Dianne Pharr:
"Prepare yourself, for this is no ordinary book. You have in your hand excerpts from a journey to "holiness". The light that channels through the author into the following pages is a love offering to your health. Read and be well."
Queen Afua healed herself with raw foods by purely following her intuition - which led her to meet some influential teachers, notably the African-American herbalist Dr. John Moore.
"I learned that these problems were a result of a bad diet, inner rage, depression and not being able to express things I needed to express. When we heal, we must be prepared to heal physically, mentally, emotionally and spiritually. We want complete healing."
Her own healing started when:
"A quiet voice inside my head said, 'Eat only lemons, grapefruits, and oranges and drink warm water.' I did this for 28 hours, and all of a sudden, mucus was being expelled from everywhere [...] After about 24 hours of releasing this way, I was able to breathe normally. My eyes became white, my skin stopped itching and I was emotionally at peace."
Queen Afua provides very inspiring advice together with practical everyday tips and long-term programs.
The book includes menu examples, recipes, recommended readings and it promotes community-level organisation for 1-day fasting shut-ins and other meetings. There are also poems and prayers which to me, personally, were less interesting, but may well inspire others. There is a chapter on addictions and advice on how to break them, therapies including detoxifying clay packs on the body and green juices. There is also a chapter on holistic love-making.
This book gave me the spark to become a raw foodist, together with: "Zakhah: The Joy of Living Live: A Raw Food Journey". I have not yet undertaken the 365 days to purify myself and I feel I will do better by creating my own purification plan. I like the idea of dividing the year into cycles of different ways of living, however.
Also, the idea of juice-fasting one day for each year of your life has stuck with me and I hope I will be able to achieve this within a few years.
(I have begun a series of juice feasts, which are an easier version of a juice fast - link to my diary and conclusions above.)
I will write back to report whether my third eye opened or what it may mean to "transform into pure light"(!) if these things did happen... But I have a long way to go...
There is much to cherish here, although perhaps slightly confusingly organised. The amount of practical advice sometimes gets a little overwhelming but can also ensure that one can go back to the book year after year.
You can follow the image link below to preview the book, to read the customer reviews or to purchase from Amazon.
They both seem to have the full endorsement of Erykah Badu, who is very involved with the scene. Queen Afua herself runs the 'Queen Afua Wellness Institute' ( QueenAfua.Moonfruit.com ) and lectures and practices healing within New York and the rest of the USA.
Dr John E Moore, whom Queen Afua mentions as one of her mentors, was a Director of Herbology at the Tree of Life bookstore of Harlem, as well as working at 'Heal Inc.' in Detroit and 'The Wisdom Temple in Harlem'. He combined Indian, Mexican and native Black herbal lore in his teachings.
There is also an endorsement on the book from Dr. Llaila Afrika ( DrAfrika.com ), the author of 'African Holistic Health' as well as from Noriega, the rapper.
You can see parts of SupaNova Slom's documentary: Holistic Wellness for the HipHop Generation by following the link..
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