Bloomingdale resident Tracye McQuirter's book on black women & veganism

Thanks to Bloomingdale resident Em Hall for spotting, in Vegetarian Times, an article by Bloomingdale resident Tracye McQuirter and her book By Any Greens Necessary: A Revolutionary Guide for Black Women 
Who Want to Eat Great, Get Healthy, Lose Weight, and Look Phat.   
             

StraightTalker: Tracye McQuirter

 

 

Author, speaker, and public health expert Tracye McQuirter, MPH, has been promoting veganism for the past 25 years and continues to get the word out with her best-selling book, By Any Greens Necessary: A Revolutionary Guide for Black Women 
Who Want to Eat Great, Get Healthy, Lose Weight, and Look Phat.

McQuirter points out that African Americans have been pioneers in the plant-based food movement, including starting the first vegan health food stores and cafés in the nation’s capital in the 1980s. “Yet many in the black community are experiencing an explosive health crisis related to the unhealthy animal-based 
foods far too many eat today,” she says. “It’s especially critical with black women 
in this country, about 80 percent of whom are overweight, and 50 percent are 
obese. With that comes increased risk of diabetes, heart disease, high blood pressure, stroke, and cancer. We need to be targeted with information about how a plant-based diet can change all that.”

“Information and access are key,” adds McQuirter. “While food deserts are a real challenge for many people throughout the country, we have to remember that communities of color have a strong legacy of successfully organizing around and providing access to good, healthy food in our communities for decades. We need to continue to organize through our faith-based, civil rights, and social justice organizations, and fraternities and sororities to bring healthier foods into our schools and communities.”