Meet me now and it\u2019s hard to believe that, for decades, I was the worst cook ever (just ask my friends) and spent very little time in the kitchen and even less in the gym. Eating healthy and exercising weren\u2019t even on my radar. Now, at age 67, I\u2019m a world-class vegan chef, a fitness coach, a motivational speaker and the owner of Stuff I Eat, a successful vegan soul food restaurant in Inglewood, California. I\u2019m also the healthiest I\u2019ve ever been.<\/p>\n
How did this incredible transformation come about? Like a great recipe, it took time for all the ingredients to come together.<\/p>\n
My Mom\u2019s Cooking<\/strong> She loved to cook, and everything that came out of her kitchen was delicious: chitterlings, smothered pork chops, baked chicken, cornbread, even the vegetables\u2014because she put sugar in them. \u201cWhen I was a kid, vegetables came from the garden and had a beautiful, sweet flavor,\u201d she would tell me. \u201cThese vegetables from the store aren\u2019t like that, so I sugared them up.\u201d And her desserts were to die for!<\/p>\n I was crazy about sweets. There were candy factories in our neighborhood, and I\u2019d go Dumpster diving behind them and gobble up all kinds of discarded candy. That\u2019s how addicted I was to sugar. And it showed. My teeth were a mess.<\/p>\n My Health Challenges<\/strong> Finally I couldn\u2019t stand feeling sick every time I ate. I didn\u2019t know anything about nutrition. I just cut out the stuff that didn\u2019t seem to agree with me. No more chitterlings and bacon. Less fat. I started eating cleaner meals\u2014baked fish, rice, salad. I felt a bit better, but healthwise I still wasn\u2019t doing great. I had a series of surgeries for fibroids and hernias.<\/p>\n My Inspiration<\/strong> On one of our first dates, he invited me over to his place for a home-cooked meal. When I walked into his kitchen, a tantalizing aroma greeted me. I watched as Ron tossed white chunks into a cast-iron skillet.<\/p>\n \u201cThat chicken looks good,\u201d I said. \u201cMy stomach\u2019s growling.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not chicken. It\u2019s pan-grilled tofu to go with our string beans and basmati brown rice.\u201d<\/p>\n \u201cTofu? And bas-what?<\/em>\u201d<\/p>\n Ron laughed. \u201cYou\u2019re just going to have to trust me.\u201d<\/p>\n I\u2019d never heard of basmati. The only rice I knew was Uncle Ben\u2019s. And the one time I\u2019d tried tofu, it was totally tasteless, even more bland than my godmother\u2019s canned vegetables.<\/p>\n I\u2019d showed up hungry because Ron had promised he was fixing us a delicious meal. I really liked this guy. What if I didn\u2019t like his cooking? How was I going to explain not finishing my food when I\u2019d already confessed my stomach was growling?<\/p>\n I sat down at the table, and Ron set a full plate in front of me. \u201cDig in,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n I took a tentative bite. I didn\u2019t know what seasonings he\u2019d put in the tofu and string beans, but the flavors worked together in a way I had never tasted before. I finished everything. What an amazing meal!<\/p>\n The most amazing thing was, I didn\u2019t feel tired, heavy and bloated afterwards. To my surprise, I had no digestive issues. I actually felt energized. \u201cI need to learn how to cook like this,\u201d I said to Ron.<\/p>\n He shared a wealth of information about his vegetarian lifestyle and a few of his favorite books\u2014Fit for Life, Volumes 1 and 2, <\/em>by Harvey and Marilyn Diamond and Mucusless Diet Healing System <\/em>by Professor Arnold Ehret.<\/p>\n That dinner date with Ron was the first day in my new life as a vegan.<\/p>\n I read the books he suggested and thought about my eating habits. Mom had always tried to get me in the kitchen. But I\u2019d never really gotten into it, maybe because I\u2019d felt sick after every meal. Now I was inspired. No more processed, overcooked foods. I became a chemist in the kitchen, experimenting with herbs and spices and other ingredients, creating dishes that were so delicious and satisfying that I didn\u2019t miss meat and dairy.<\/p>\n Ron also motivated me to exercise. As a kid, I was the fastest runner on the block, but I wasn\u2019t physically active as an adult. Ron became my exercise partner. We started off with power walks. After a few months, he felt I was ready for more of a challenge.<\/p>\n He took me to the bottom of a steep, 1,600-foot hill at Griffith Park.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re going to go all the way to the top,\u201d he said. I looked at him as if he\u2019d lost his mind.<\/p>\n Ron just smiled and started running up the hill, backwards. \u201cCome on\u2014you can do it.\u201d<\/p>\n I gazed up at him as the distance between us grew. He was older than me and able to conquer the hill. I could do it too. I started climbing, slowly. I promised myself that one day I would be able to run up that hill, just like Ron.<\/p>\n The more time I spent with him, the more I learned\u2014and the more inspired I felt. Ron and I married in 1992 and continued our journey together.<\/p>\n
\nThe first ingredient was my mom\u2019s cooking. I grew up on the Eastside of Los Angeles. My mother was a cook for a couple households on the Westside. I saw her on the weekends and, during the week, stayed with my godmother, who was a vegetarian. She served frozen or canned foods. Bland, boring, tasteless\u2014that was my impression of a vegetarian diet. Very different from what my mom whipped up.<\/p>\n
\nSecond was my health issues. Besides dental problems, I had a number of other ailments as a kid\u2014asthma, eczema, earaches. In adulthood, I suffered digestive problems. I\u2019d get heartburn, bloating and stomach aches after every meal, especially the down-home Southern cooking I\u2019d grown up with. I didn\u2019t cook much, but when I did, I mimicked my mom. Sundays I\u2019d make baked chicken, mashed potatoes and gravy, steamed cabbage with bacon and, for dessert, warm banana pudding. I\u2019d load my plate, devour every bite. Then, oh my goodness, I\u2019d be gassy and sluggish all day long.<\/p>\n
\nIt didn\u2019t dawn on me that I needed to change my way of life until the winter of 1990, when I was 40. That\u2019s where the third ingredient came in. I met a fascinating man named Rondal Davis when I auditioned as a singer for his music group. He was handsome and fit and a big yoga enthusiast. During breaks, he\u2019d do all these yoga poses. I had no idea the human body could bend like that! I thought we were all destined to break down with age. At least, that\u2019s what my body was telling me. But Ron was two years older than me and living proof that dedication to your health could make a difference.<\/p>\n