Like I wrote a few weeks ago that we are a “House Guest House”, we have been busy filling up the rooms. Last weekend my dear friend Gretchen came into town. We’d not seen each other in over a year, therefore making our visit over due. We’ve been friends since elementary school and it’s amazing to see how we have grown and yet not changed at all. The highlight of our trip was sitting in a restaurant drinking green tea and pinky swearing that we would be each others eyes when we can’t see; ‘cause that’s the thing with life – it gets so cloudy that sometimes seeing the path in front feels impossible. She couldn’t have arrived at a better time; just as I’d written about resilience I suffered a tummy ache to take me out. You see with fall’s arrival comes the time of the Large Intestines, according to Chinese Medicine this is when the lungs and intestines go through it. Most folks catch their first colds of the season now as the intestinal walls are weak and this is where our immune systems are located. “Kuzu” a root used as a thickener serves us all well right about now, kuzu naturally strengthens the intestinal walls or softens them, as the body needs it.
I LOVE coffee and I usually drink only a quarter of a cup in the morning, but for the past few weeks I’ve been taking on more work and slippin’ mid afternoon coffee in to my deal. Knowing that the intestines are already sensitive I wore my lining out shorty!
I KNOW I hear ya, what was I thinking? I was “jonesin”, and boy oh boy do I understand that we are addicted to the foods we like in the same way that a drug addict holds tight to their narcotics.
Going down hard for the first time in a while I was reminded of how much pain I lived in for over 10 years. This is the thing with disease and chronic discomfort we get used to it!! Now that I don’t suffer like I did I’m SHOCKED by what I lived with all those years. Disease and ill health is like a bad lover, we become co-dependent with one another.
Not me, NO MO’; I get even more determined when I go down to get back up. I don’t like missing a beat of this great life.
Gretchen last saw me a year ago at my worst and when she looked up from her split pea soup and told me my beauty was back I fell apart, you see I’d thought I’d lost it forever. It ain’t vanity y’all it’s “feeling” and when one feels bad for so long beauty can’t be seen by them sad eyes. What I KNOW now is that our beauty is located in our health and our health is our wealth – so if ya wanna stay in the glamour game eat your greens.
Gretchen left and I was reminded via her eyes how much better I am, not falling into the giant pit of doubt that lurks on the other side of resilience. Healing our bodies with food takes time, I didn’t get sick over night and I’ve not gotten well over night. I’m still walking the talk….

Today I’m working away and preparing for more house-guests, Ted & Peggy or as my kids call ‘em “Bubba & Nanny” are flying in from the Bay Area and on Friday Alphonso my BFF arrives from NYC! We are planning a big old Halloween weekend and a Day of the Dead party!

PRINCESS KNOW IT ALL IS COMING TO FOX 17 MORNING NEWS TOMORROW  OCTOBER 7TH AT 8:30AM!

Yesterday I sat with Reverend Fuzz of Corinthian Baptist Church – located at 819 33^rd Ave N here in Nashville.  Abi, one of my assistants here in the office is the President of Vanderbilt University’s Art Out Reach program; she’s been showing up for a group of kids after school once a week for the past 3.5 years.  She thought it would be great if I met with Reverend Fuzz to discuss offering cooking classes.

Sitting in his office, listening to the stories of some of these kids’ lives, my mind flashed back to another time and I walked through a door, a door that is connected to my past, when I was a little girl my mother was a single parent of 3 young children and suffered from Crohn’s disease.  She worked when she felt well and wasn’t hospitalized.  When she was hospitalized my 9-year-old sister was in charge of myself – 6 years old and my little brother 2 years old.  We’d load our baby brother onto the back of the bike and headed to the closest market – a convenience store that sold minimal fresh produce and mostly processed foods.  Our diet consisted of chipped ham (lunch meat), white bread, boxed mac & cheese, cheerios & occasionally a can of corn or peas.  There were plenty of nights where we had absolutely nothing to eat.  I cried wanting someone to feed us, and I yearned for the unhealthy lunch that awaited me at school.

When my mother was well she tried to eat what wouldn’t hurt her but she had no access or money to attend any type of cooking classes that could have taught her how to heal her own body.  Now a days most folks don’t know how to cook food that isn’t in a box, we think it’s hard and takes to much time – NOT TRUE.

The past two years I’ve learned all about food and how it heals our bodies, as I faced an intestinal ulceration and my mothers’ disease within my own body.  Knowing that my two little girls have a huge potential for digestive disorders I have been on a mission to find healing and preventative foods that taste good. I had always looked upon “health food” as something “hippie”; I’d tasted it before and never found comfort in it.  Now that I KNOW what each ingredient does for the body I’ve come up with bangin’ recipes that bring that comfort food feeling to a  “Table that aids in healing.” I call it an ANCESTRAL diet – eating foods in their original form is how our body is designed to receive nutrition.

I’m now on a mission to share what I have learned with anyone that will listen, I KNOW how sick folks are, not just with digestive disorders but also with EVERYTHING!  The human root is our intestines, just like a tree if our roots are weak  - disease of all types move into the body, a tree dies when it’s roots are sick.

If we can take our power back via our kitchens than we can regain our personal power in everything we do.  We must work WITH modern medicine; it’s time to rely on ourselves. Yesterday I KNEW I’d come full circle and my personal goal of living a congruent life has given me an opportunity, if I can reach one momma than I’ve succeded.

Reverend Fuzz and I have teamed up and we are bringing a “Noble Makeover” to Corinthian Baptist Church, our goal is to get folks cooking REAL food again, food with intention and purpose.  I will be hosting weekly cooking classes free of charge and providing a meal to those that participate – Corinthian Baptist has opened it’s doors to the public our intention is for New Years Day for each member of the CONGREGATION & COMMUNITY to prepare a dish by using a Princess Know It All recipe  – ONE MEAL AT A TIME we can bring Nobility back to the table.

If you would like to volunteer or participate in any way please contact mee@princessknowitall.com or Reverend Fuzz at enoch.fuzz@yahoo.com