Tracye McQuirter is on a mission to keep the world healthy. As a
pubic health nutritionist, speaker, and 20-year vegan who leads worldwide seminars, she helps people achieve extraordinary health through better food choices. Her new book is titled By Any Greens Necessary: A Revolutionary Guide for Black Women Who Want to Eat Great, Get Healthy, Lose Weight, and Look Phat.
"I know what it's like to experience vibrant health. But I also know this makes me rare among U.S. women, where up to 80% of us are overweight and up to 50% are obese. As a result, we experience the highest rates of death and disability from heart attack, cancers, stroke, and diabetes," says McQuirter. She is hopeful that her message can change others. "The good news is that these chronic diseases can be prevented and often reversed by eating plenty of plant-based foods that we all know are good for us. Foods like fresh fruits and vegetables, whole grains, and legumes (or, beans, nuts, lentils, and split peas)," she continues. McQuirter's passion is empowering people to experience vibrant health-by any greens necessary. "I'm living proof that you can be healthy, hippy, and happy by eating a wealth of plant-based foods."
Tracye sat down with me to answer a few questions about her new book and being a vegan.
1. What initially piqued your interest in health?
As my passion grew for sharing information about the benefits of eating healthy plant-based foods for our personal health and the planet, I decided to make it my profession. I decided to get a Master's degree in public health nutrition from New York University.
2. What influenced you to become a vegan?
During my sophomore year at Amherst College, our Black Student Union brought Dick Gregory to campus to talk about the economic, political, and social state of African Americans. But instead, he flipped the script and talked about the plate of African Americans. What really got my attention was when he graphically traced the path of a hamburger from a cow on a factory farm, to a slaughterhouse, to a fast food place, to a clogged artery, to a heart attack. That led me to do my own research about diet and disease and to become a vegetarian first, then a vegan. It's now been more than 20 years that I've been a vegan.
3. Tell us about By Any Greens Necessary?
By Any Greens Necessary: A Revolutionary Guide for Black Women Who Want to Eat Great, Get Healthy, Lose Weight, and Look Phat is a wake-up call for every black woman who dreams of getting healthy and slim without sacrificing great food and gorgeous curves. With inspiration, attitude, and expertise, I you how to be healthy, hippy, and happy by eating plenty of delicious and nutritious plant-based foods.
4. What motivated you to write the book?
I was motivated by a love of writing and a desire to share what I've experienced and learned about the healthiest foods available.
Eating vegan foods is the healthiest way we know to eat based on more than four decades of nutrition research. Vegan foods can prevent and reverse heart disease; as well as diabetes; obesity; high cholesterol; high blood pressure; and certain cancers, including prostate and colorectal. The American Dietetic Association, the world's largest organization of nutrition professionals, concluded these and other health benefits of a plant-based diet based on a review of more than 250 scientific studies. In addition, the World Cancer Research Fund recently produced the most comprehensive report ever conducted on diet and cancer risk, based on a review of more than seven thousand studies. The report concluded that processed meat (including hot dogs, cold cuts, sausage, and bacon) was so strongly linked to cancer risk that it should never be eaten. The report also concluded that a plant-based diet of fruits, vegetables, nuts, beans, and whole grains was the best diet for preventing cancer.
The other very crucial benefit of eating vegan foods is that it's the fastest way to end global warming. The United Nations recently issued a report stating that raising livestock (chicken, cows, pigs, turkeys, etc.) causes more global warming emissions than all of the world's transportation combined. In other words, eating a hamburger does more harm to the planet than driving a Hummer. What you eat not only improves your health, it can save the planet.
If you want to learn some easy transitioning tips click here.
Some of McQuirter's Impressive Facts:
She attended Sidwell Friends School from 3rd through 12th grades, where First Kids Malia and Sasha Obama are enrolled.
McQuirter has appeared in numerous media outlets, including The Washington Post, Essence, Ebony, Fox 5, NBC 4, The Tavis Smiley Show, The Chicago Sun-Times, The Afro, Heart and Soul, Pacifica Radio, and VegTV.
As a public policy advocate, McQuirter helped create the strategy for a groundbreaking lawsuit filed by the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine against the USDA proving meat and dairy industry bias in the formation of the U.S. Dietary Guidelines.
McQuirter is a co-founder of www.blackvegetarians.org, the first comprehensive web site for the nation's estimated 1.5 million-plus African American vegetarians. She also co-founded the Black Vegetarian Society of New York. In addition, McQuirter co-founded We Feed Our People, a community-based coalition that, for more than two decades, has honored the life and work of Martin Luther King, Jr., by providing a nutritious meal and warm clothing to poor and homeless people in the nation's capital on the annual King holiday.
For more information visit www.byanygreensnecessary.com |
