''Thank you God for protecting us. Thank you for the food. Thank you that we are eating but there is not even a meaty. Ase.'' That was Naneni's dinnertime prayer about two months ago. 

 In 2014, I decided to embark on a journey of healthy living. 

Which meant, changing   my  diet. I consumed mainly of vegetables, brown rice  and fish. Naturally, I am rather very slender and the vegetarian diet (although I do not classify it as vegetarian but rather of vegetables) did not add any kilograms to my weight, which meant I had no curves. But I definitely felt good. I have always had problems digesting meat, more specifically red meat. Cutting meat out of my diet, did wonders for me.

In 2015, I fell pregnant. For the first trimester, I lost weight. I would throw up just about anything. Secondly, I was now caring for someone else. Even though the world preaches against a vegetarian diet, before I had a child, I took the risk. However, while pregnant, I could not experiment with my child's life. So I incorporated meat, pasta etc. back into the diet.

In 2018, Naneni's allergies and eczema flared up badly. She had itchy rashes that would keep us up all night. Doctor's prescribed cortisone ointments but those are temporary solutions. We did an allergy blood test and the results were astounding. She was allergic to almost everything. 

I have always been one who believes that, addressing symptoms and not the root cause of any problem, is a recipe for continued struggle. We needed to switch up our lifestyle: use household detergents that were purely organic and also it was time to adapt a new diet. The alkaline plant-based diet inspired by the legendary Honduran holistic doctor Alfredo Bowman affectionately known to his followers as Dr. Sebi. Dr. Sebi believed that the root cause of most illnesses was the accumulation of mucus in the body. And he believed that food was the biggest culprit. He advocated for an alkaline plant-based diet and for the consumption of water with a ph level of 8. So we tried out the Dr. Sebi plant-based alkaline plant-based diet. The Dr. Sebi approved food list consisted of quinoa (which resembles omahola), sea salt, hemp seeds/powder, chickpeas (taste like eefukwa), kale instead of spinach and oils like grapeseed oil for cooking. And yes, there was instant change. Your bowel is the strongest indicator of your digestive health and overall health. And that was the first noticeable change in both of us. Not to gross you out, but I always suffered from constipation. I would go for days without a bowel movement, however, with the Dr. Sebi diet, I woke up to a bowel movement every single day! And Naneni's poop was so impressed, I could frame it and hang it up in our living room. There was a day she accidentally pooped on the floor, I picked it up with a wipe and it left no stain! It was stringy but soft. It sank rather than floated. 

During that period, I do not remember neither Naneni nor I suffering from flu. After all, the alkaline diet was aimed at ensuring that we do not consume mucous causing food and also creating an alkaline body environment which makes it difficult for disease to grow.

Sadly, although we still eat predominantly vegetables, we stopped following the Dr. Sebi inspired diet. And right now, I am figuratively punching myself in the gut because I believe I had the formula, but left my daughter and I exposed when I deviated from it because corona is here now and we need strong immune systems. Pharmacies have run out of Vitamin C supplements, people are consuming ginger tea at every chance they get. Health, health and more health. We need health. 

Now that we are scrapping for health at the last minute, what is our strategy to eat healthy post covid-19? Are we actively teaching your children the importance of a healthy diet by actually eating healthy ourselves? Sadly, the more we make money, the more unhealthy we eat. We constantly consume takeaways, to such an extent that our children cannot even think of eating a cucumber. 

Despite the fact that, I have gone off track (mainly because where I live now, our shops do not sell organic products) , I take comfort in knowing that Naneni's favourite meal is a greek salad. I am not advising parents to stop feeding children meat nor to follow the Dr. Sebi approved alkaline diet, but as for me and my household, once corona is over, I am jumping back on that bandwagon. It does not have to be a strict alkaline diet but it is important to ensure that children are accustomed to healthy food and drinking water. After all God was so clever that he placed our medicine in the food! 

Revelation 22:2 - '''...the leaves are for the healing of the nations.''