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Maintaining Our Temples

by Qaraandin
Del Jones Books n Music, Inc. P.O. Box 13197 Phila. Pa. 19101 215-471-0276 In Association with PantherPaw Productions e.mail: pantherpawproductions@hotmail.com website: afrikan.i-dentity.com/warcorrespondent

Editor: Del Jones Copy Editor: Dale D. Kelly Artwork by: Thomas C. Smith Cover Concept: Thomas C. Smith, Qaraandin, Del Jones To: Lancelot G. I. Morrison Thanks for the typewriter. Yes, I still have it. No, I did not use it to create this book. Still... a promise is a promise.
To Jamel Kimble Beloved sun of my sun: May your light shine forth forever!

To: Del-Kwesi Kimathi (Jones) MOTs Daddy: Thank you!


ISBN 0-9639995-4-0

Copyright 2001 by Qaraandin

Bro. Thomas C. Smith was chosen by Del Jones Books n Music, Inc. to supply his skills to help create the cover design for this book because of his talent, imagination and commitment to the education of Afrikan people. He has helped develop the next generation of Afrikan kings and queens by working tirelessly in independent Afrikan schools since the late 1980s. Bro. Thomas is a rising self-taught artist who operates Khepera Cultural Creations a Philly-based illustration, graphic design and fine art business that has developed a fine line of greeting cards, coloring books, drawings, paintings, and a host of other creative work that includes signs and logos. Bro. Thomas can be contacted by phone at 215-747-7210 or by e-mail: khepera9@hotmail.com. His creed is: Let your art reflect the greatness that is you!

Bro. Thomas C. Smith


(Pan-Afrikan Artist)

...Black Americans have outlived their usefulness. Their raison detre to this society has ceased to be a compelling issue. Once an economic asset, they are now considered an economic drag. The wood is all hewn, the water all drawn, the cotton all picked, and the rails reach from coast to coast. The ditches are all dug, the dishes are put away, and only a few shoes remain to be shined. Thanks to old black backs and newfangled machines, the sweat chores of the nation are done....
from: The Choice: The Issue of Black Survival in America by Samuel F. Yette

Maintaining Our Temples is my kind of book. Sister Qaraandin captures the essence of the definition of dis-ease, and informs us of the path necessary for increased longevity. In fact, we can only maintain our temples by consuming the proper foods. This enlightened approach to healing our bodies leads to the rebuilding of our communities as well. We have the keys to unlock profound individual and group transformations from the hell of bad eating habits. As the author notes, The healing power of a person lies within the person, not within the doctor, a pill, or a knife. The healing power of a community lies with the community, not within a ballot box, an executive order, or a referendum. The power of choice is critical for the breaking of the bonds of culinary slavery. Over a decade ago, I became a vegetarian. However, my preveggie days were full of consuming all types of meats, wine, ice cream, butter, white rice and gallons of egg nog. Almost without warning, I suffered a grave diabetic attack; I was in the hospital for a week; then, I started insulin injections twice a day. What caused my body to malfunction? Wrong foods! I was informed by my colleague Professor Phyllis Washington that her aunt used insulin for sixty years. The prospect of becoming that type of addict frightened me. Another colleague, Dr. William Primus suggested I use huckleberry leaf tea for my condition. He noted his sister, a nurse, had great success with the tea in the treatment of her diabetic patients. The tea had a positive impact upon my system. I went back to the health food store and purchased literature on vegetarianism. Those reading materials changed my life. I was on a transition diet, about a year, from filthy meat consumption to a HARDCORE veggie lifestyle. My food became my medicine and my medicine became my food. It was food that transformed my body, and I became insulin independent. So for the
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Foreword

last decade, I have existed without needles and shots. If I can do it, you can do it too. Remember your body is a Temple. Read deeply from this splendid little book and eat every page to commence a new life. AXE and Peace Dr. Morris Johnson Miami, Florida

Dr. Morris R. Johnson is a world renowned Afrikan scholar and PanAfrikan activist. He is a highly regarded educator, academician who operates on the world stage from his home base in Miami. Dr. Johnson teaches at Miami-Dade Community College North Campus. His dynamic style brings to life his history and political science classes and his global activities have affected struggling Afrikan people throughout the world. His school supplies program has aided Afrikan students in South Afrika, Brazil, Jamaica, Haiti, the Dominican Republic, and other countries. He is also the author of two books. His most recent book is Archbishop Daniel William Alexander and the Afrikan Orthodox Church. Since Dr. Johnson turned to vegetarianism years ago, his health has vastly improved and he has been able to continue his torrid pace in serving his people.

War is 90% cultural and 10% violence, consequently those losing in the cultural arena are severely wounded long before the shit hits the fan. In addition, those of us who dont understand that fact miss the obvious, we are always at war. Since we are always at war, our very existence is attacked each and everyday in every way. We are under siege and suffering tremendous casualties. Meanwhile, our mortal enemy, white supremacy is executing cruel capitalism which surrounds our very existence. The goal is to wipe us out. Our mental health is terminally damaged and we wonder what is wrong with us as the effects of their continued attack begins to wear us down. Meanwhile, their invisible hand is guiding us toward our demise as they exploit our ignorance of true warfare. In our battered state, many times we miss the non-military components of the warfare inflicted on us, which leads to tragic results. The art of war is a true artform as executed by our enemies, being war-like helps them perfect their methods into what is called a higher form of killing. In short, everything they touch is designed to control their population and exploit everyone as they annihilate us. This results in an evil stroke of genius and as they destroy us we miss their aggression, their economic exploitation, their collective and their institutional hatred of us, so we dont respond in kind. We remain asleep as silly multicultural discussions and activities take place they are wiping us out. We refuse to see the point, that institutional racism is designed and executed by racists. Institutional racism does not operate in a vacuum or have a consciousness of its own. Institutions are designed by people, the people in power, to inflict its will on its victims and anyone who gets in its way is discredited, isolated or killed. Now in every culture micro and macro communications must be controlled by the people or those dominating the people. Ideas must be colonized and controlled militarily as a means of brainwashing the victim to miss the deeds of those in power as they attempt to lock down any notion that is liberating or that exposes their hold on reality.
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Overview

Reality is reinterpreted and fantasy is packaged to foster stupid individualism, greedy selfishness and backward tribalism. The ingestion of the enemys fantasies helps reality drift away as the killing continues and their hold on us collectively becomes total. Naturally, if you control mass communications and education you can package lies as truth and eliminate any and all evidence that a crime, a holocaust, is being perpetuated against the people darker than blue. Therefore, savage and backward behavior can be pasteurized and fed to the people as the norm and liberating collective organizing for the common good can be peddled as evil. As-a-matter-of-fact, anything that exposes and explains the strategy n tactics of the aggressors can be attacked without response because they have mass communications on lock. Obviously, they can create your leadership, design your goals n objectives and peddle reactionary bull shit as progress. This leads these killers on a clear path to our lives as they hack away like Vikings, Huns and Vandals destroying and rearranging us into docile sheep awaiting our turn on their bloody guillotine. These modern day barbarians in the form of New World Order zealots, Nazis and Klansmen move in for the kill with less resistance because our victimization has left us disorganized, confused and brainwashed. In this mental state logic escapes us and critical thinking is out the window. We flee into religious tribes to cannibalize our future huddled in little compartments unable to see the need to free our minds and unite our collective power. From this posture we try to make sense of it all, but our religious tribalism has given us many new languages, world views and deadly mini loyalties. Couple this with the news n views of the enemy as the only source of information, you then exist in a manmade set up that has the potential to wipe us off the planet before we can see what is happening. Those loyal to the Afrikan Revolution has always kicked info out to the people at great risk. Many have lost their lives, others have been starved and ignored, while more have dropped their efforts because of the lack of support... and we die globally in record numbers. New writers step forward ready to serve and they understand clearly what they are up against.
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Sister Qaraandin is one of the new authors with information and perspective that must be allowed into the informational diet of our people. Her experience in the growing, harvesting and manufacturing of life sustaining herbs, as well as her research and vegetarian lifestyle puts her in position to share a unique view of the cultural warfare executed against us through the foods we eat from cradle to grave. Personally, I have also been victimized by the food and drug industries of this country. I have my own demons to cast out and my own research to conduct. This body of work from this point on called Maintaining Our Temples has been a critical weapon in my battles against those who have designed a food culture with the intent to destroy life for profit and control. This work deserves to be in your library along with other great works of nutritionists, health practitioners and traditional healers. Sistah Qs gentle hand guides us through some complex information gently, with respect for our intellect and our cultural way of simplifying what seems to be complex data. More importantly, she demystifies the information and demonstrates that a nutrition adjustment is doable and is not to be feared. She leaves so much in our hands that it is easy to see that we can make the necessary quantitative and qualitative changes needed to fight off the death designed for us at birth. Knowledge of the food culture is important weaponry in the battle for survival of our race. Ignorance of all health issues can lead to poor health, drug addiction, mental illness and dis-ease in our biological and non biological children. Lack of knowledge or lack of a caring spirit is the new cowardice in this war for our survival. Yet, it is not just a survival issue but also a collective cleansing needed to face the challenges of totally rehabilitating our race. Del Jones, War Correspondent

The writer is guilty not only of always wanting to know - like Eve - but also of always trying - again like Eve - to find out. Alice Walker Two of my earliest childhood memories are related to food. I remember sitting at the table and falling asleep after my grandmother, the mother of my mother, told me I had to stay at the table until I ate all of the food on my plate. I also remember my father hunkering down in front of me and trying to comfort me as I sat on the toilet crying because moving my bowels was so painful. As a child I had the normal childhood dis-eases. My tonsils were removed when I was about 5 years old. Every winter I got the flu. I had eczema. About ten years ago, I suffered with severe pains in my knees. I did not go to a doctor because I was convinced that any medication I would be given would do more harm than good. Since I would not even take aspirin, I walked around in constant pain. I had been in pain for more than six months when I went to Washington, D.C. to visit my friend Mother Indrani. Since the only animal products she eats are dairy products, I decided to not eat meat during my visit. After a couple of weeks, I realized I no longer had the pains in my knees. I now believe the pains were caused by arthritis. Except for that incidence, I have enjoyed good health as an adult. I believe that I have not suffered from fibroid tumors or other reproductive dis-eases as most Black women in this country do because I have limited dairy products in my diet for almost thirty years. I do not have high blood pressure, diabetes, heart dis-ease, or any of the dis-eases that are common. When I was about 12 years old, I told my younger sister that I was going to live to be uncommonly old. When my grandfather, the father of my mother died at the age of 96, I made up my mind to live to be at least 100. When I found out that a Chinese man had lived to be 256 years old, I decided I would do that, too. When a friend told me that eagles live to be 300 years old and asked me what that meant to me, my answer was that if the hue-man being is the greatest creation
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From The Beginning

on the planet, then I should live to be at least 301 years of age. The first time I heard Dr. Paul Goss speak he invited everyone in the audience to his 15,000th birthday party. I dont know about the other folk in the room but I saw no reason I could not make that party. As far as I can see, there is no reason people cannot live as long as they want to - even if they want to live forever. In fact, several people have told me that we are supposed to live forever. I have also read books that state that death is unnatural. When I ask people if they would want to live forever, most say no and mention conditions that they currently live through but would not want to have to live through forever, such as racism, sexism, classism, etc. When I ask them if they would want to live forever if those conditions no longer existed, they say yes. Are they doing anything to get rid of those unwanted conditions so they can live forever? No, they are not. They are waiting for the Creator, God, the Supreme Being, Allah, Jah, the Ancestors, or some other entity outside of themselves to bring about the changes. Even from a young age it was important to me to find out as much as I could about taking care of my body. Experiences with the allopathic medical field have taught me that if I wanted to live a long healthy life, I would have to do my own research. I did not like seeing friends and family members suffer and then die at such young ages. To me anything under 100 years old was too young to die. I thought there must be something I could do to help folk live longer healthier lives. As I began to understand how the hue-man body works it became easier for me to make decisions that would help me improve my health. I wanted to share what I learned with others. I believe that folk cannot make informed decisions without information. One of my gifts is the ability to break complicated stuff down into simple terms that most folk can understand. I believe that when we know how the hue-man body works and how the things we do without thinking affect our health it is easier for us to make changes that will improve our health. We have a lot of work to do; dis-ease is a luxury we cannot afford. Each month from August 1995 to February 1998 I wrote and mailed out a healthletter called Afia Boro. I did not charge the folk I
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sent the healthletter to; all I asked was that they take copies and share the information with others. I wanted to give folk just enough of a taste on different subjects to cause them to want to do their own research on whatever they were interested in. After I stopped writing Afia Boro a few people suggested that I put the information in a book. As Del Jones, the War Correspondent, reminds us: Culture is everything we do, how we do it. how often, and why. Therefore, everything falls under the realm of culture. Our current eating habits are part of the cultural behavior we have adopted in order to survive. They, like many of the other habits we have created for ourselves, have outgrown their usefulness. We are not smart when we hold on to and follow traditions that we know are killing us. It is a major step whenever we change our eating habits. Food is more than just something to eat. For many of us it is used as a reward for good behavior: To celebrate your good report card I will cook your favorite food. It is also used as a comfort when things are not going as well as we would like for them to: Did you have a bad day at school today? Its not the end of the world. Here. Have a piece of chocolate cake. It will make you feel better. Do you want some icecream on top? Some of us say that although we know we need to change our eating habits, we simply cannot afford to. This comes from people, mind you, who pay $150.00 for purses and $50,000.00 for automobiles! What could possibly be worth more than our temples? It does not cost any more to eat well than it does to eat poorly. As a matter of fact, it costs less to eat well. When the body sends the hunger signal it is requesting food - not junk. Feed it good quality food the first time and you will not have to feed it again so soon. Small amounts of nutrient-dense whole foods go a lot further than large amounts of nutrient-deficient processed foods. It may take a little longer to prepare fresh food everyday. What is the point, though, of saving time in the kitchen only to spend all of the time you saved confined to a wheelchair or to bed? Some of us were raised with healthy habits. Most of our Moorish sistahs and brothahs do not eat any flesh other than some types of
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fish and sea food. That is understandable since the Moors ruled the seas and fish was a staple in their diet. The offspring continued the eating habits of their foreparents. However, since the waters are polluted and the fish are contaminated and dis-eased, our Moors are finding they cannot continue to eat as their foreparents did if they want to maintain their temples. The Nation of Islam made many of us aware of our unhealthy habits and encouraged us to eat to live. Pork was no longer the preferred meat. Slowly but surely the members of the Nation of Islam are being led to a diet that does not include animal products. The Nation of Islam is not the only religious organization encouraging its members to make changes so they can maintain their temples. Many Christian leaders are making changes in their life-styles and are encouraging their followers to do the same. Everything we do or fail to do makes a political statement. Our conscious young people understand that clearly. That is why they recognize that their decision to be vegetarians cannot be separated from their Pan-Afrikanism and their Black Nationalism. Our young bloods understand, in a way that seems to have completely escaped most of their elders, that in a world where food and medical care are used as weapons you can not blindly trust someone else to feed you and take care of your body. Our young have wisdom and courage enough to act on what they know. In We Are the Washitaw: The Story of the Oldest Peoples on Earth Umarilli Shabazz Bey writes: Not all the people with dark skin in So-called America are descendents of slaves. Most can be traced to indigenous roots. That means that dark-skin, bushy-haired folk had been on this land many thousands of years before it - and we - were discovered. Black folk are the original caretakers of this land, not Red folk. We were not wiped out by the dis-eases brought over by the invaders. Our natural way of living helped us survive then. A return to our natural way of living will help us survive now. It is the birthright of all hue-man beings to enjoy perfect health. However, we also have freedom of choice which means we are always free to do things that can cause dis-ease. Most of us have strayed from a natural way of living and need to be reminded of what we can do to maintain our temples.
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As we clean up our bodies we can begin looking outward with an idea of cleaning up the surroundings. It is no use talking about cleaning up the planet without cleaning up ourselves. If we remain unclean, a clean planet would have no use for us. We can still maintain positive mental attitudes regardless of what is going on around us. It is much easier to be positive about our condition when we know that we are doing everything we can to change things for the better for ourselves and for those who come after us. When we give in to feelings of hopelessness and helplessness our health suffers. Getting enough sleep is important. In the November 22, 1999 issue of Jet magazine there is a report on a study conducted by the University of Chicago that found that healthy men in their 20s who get four hours or less of sleep each night develop health concerns typical for men in their 60s. According to the study lack of adequate sleep can increase the risk of developing diabetes, high blood pressure, memory loss, obesity, cognitive deficits and other disorders we have been told are normal signs of aging. The article did not mention whether the young men who participated in the study ate nutrient-rich whole foods, drank plenty of water, exercised, got plenty of sun, and did all the other things we do to maintain our temples. We do know that as the care we give our bodies improves, we tend to need less sleep. That is because the body regenerates during sleep. The less regeneration the body needs, the less sleep is needed. It is wise to pay attention to what we eat but we do not need to make vegetarianism our new religion. A religion requires: a set of laws a leader and a hierarchy rituals that are to be followed without question and, more often than not, without understanding We have enough religions that keep us from working with each other. We do not need to go to war over eating habits. Like all other religions, vegetarianism has its sects. There are everything from the orthodox or absolutists who eat absolutely no
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animal products to the reformed who eat some animal products. Then you get into which animal products members of various sects will or will not eat. Members of some sects will eat dairy but not eggs. Some will eat eggs but not dairy. Some will eat dairy and eggs but not fish. Some will eat fish with fins but not shellfish. Some will eat beef but not pork. And the list goes on and on and on. Be your own book. Follow your own laws. Create and alter your own rituals as they fit your needs. Each of us has the right to choose. The least we can do is allow each other to exercise that right. We can respect ourselves and others around us by holding our peace about their choices. If they ask for our opinions it is okay to share them but if they dont ask the most loving thing we can do is remain silent. If they do ask, be willing to share information without putting them down. Sometimes others will try to violate us by making fun of us or our choices. The best thing to do is ignore their maliciousness and answer their questions as politely as possible. We do not have to argue. Remember the Ibo proverb: Do not argue with a fool for people will not be able to tell between the two of you. Our walk is our talk. The people who give us information are hue-man, just as we are. We are not being fair to them when we treat them as gods to be worshipped and followed without thought. We place a heavy burden on their shoulders when we expect them to be perfect. Quiet as its kept, they have their own joneses and habits to deal with. Its easier for us to follow a program when we understand exactly what we expect to get out of it and why, instead of what someone else hopes we will get out of it. If we see that we need to fine-tune the program to get the results that we want, we will understand why and how we need to make changes. Everything that we do will either help us maintain our temples or destroy them. The effect will be the same whether we know what is going on in our temples or not. The ideas in this book are intended to get us to think about what we can do to take care of our own health instead of waiting for others
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to take care of us. We have to admit it is not very smart to expect someone who does not look like us and has a whole nother set of needs to put us at the top of their priority list. Do not expect this book to have all the answers for you. That is not the intent behind the writing of this book. The intent is to give you ideas that will lead you to do your own studying. We often hear the saying Information is power. Information is not power. It is only information. We must learn how to critically analyze information. Once we have analyzed the information, it can become a tool that we use to create power for ourselves. The information in this book will not bring healing into your life. You must analyze and test the information I present here. Once you decide what works best for you, you will have a tool that you can use to heal yourself. As any skilled craftsman will tell you, just having a tool does not get the job done. You have to use the tool to get the results you want.

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