Change Your Thoughts…
Your Food…Your Health…
Your Life
A Conversation with Debra Peek Haynes
Founder of “Debra’s Healing Kitchen”
Talking about bringing healing to our families and communities
by Mary Shaw-Ridley
A Living Sacrifice to God
And so, dear brothers and sisters, I plead with you to give your bodies to God
because of all he has done for you. Let them be a living and holy sacrifice—the
kind he will find acceptable. This is truly the way to worship him.
Romans 12:1 (NLT)
Mary: Debra, you have at least two
books that are part of your healing kitchen
(The Beginners Guide to Healthy Living and A
Simplified Guide to Healthy Living: Vegetarian
and Vegan Recipes) and they are focused on
recipes for eating healthy. How do you chal-
lenge an African-American mindset that
often believes unhealthy food tastes better?
Debra: That is a loaded question. I
always tell people, your tongue is toxic, the
tongue is toxic because of the kind of food
you actually eat. Once you start cleansing
your systems, your taste buds will change.
From a historical perspective, African Amer-
icans ate a certain type of food to survive;
we were very creative. As we were able to
overcome and move forward, we kept that
same type of diet not knowing that diet will
help you survive, but it will not help you to
thrive.
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