New Adventures with Zolie Zi

Shareefah Miuhammad (SM) It’s been over a year since our last interview and Zolie Zi has been a blessing and sensation to many. So tell our readers, what has she been up to?

Sonya Bowser (SB):  Zolie is growing up and starting to realize that fighting bullying is not a one-time thing, but a lifelong battle. In her next 2 books she starts to see that bullying can cause you to misjudge others and it can also cause you to not want to learn in school for the fear of being teased. And what is even more challenging for her is realizing that with age, her body chemistry changes. So, in her second book, the kids get to see how she struggles with handling her new smell.

 

 

SM: You mentioned Zolie had a twin in our first interview and he is featured in your second publication. Tell us a little bit about Zylee.

       

SB: Zylee is a very cool boy who loves figuring out gadgets so that he can invent something from it, like a cool robot or something to help others. Zylee is the voice of reason for Zolie, he has a very level head and he doesn’t’ overreact like Zolie does sometimes when she gets frustrated. He tends to think things out and then go from there.

 

 

SM: Your theme for the first Zolie Zi publication was about bullying and now this new book is focusing on hygiene. Please share with our readers how this came about.

SB: Hygiene has always been a major deal with me ever since I was a teenager. I just didn’t understand why a person could not smell their own breath nor body odor. The older I got, I realized that this was a problem not only for children, but for adults too. The final straw for me to write this book was when my niece got in the car with my other nieces and had a terrible underarm odor, but was oblivious to it. I asked everyone to sniff under their arms to see who was smelling like this tart onion and she was the first to yell out, “NOT ME!!!” That did it for me and I knew that I had to address this because not only did she not smell herself, she also did not brush her teeth as often as she should so, I had to write this book for children out there who are just like her. Children who just need to know that they are not alone in not smelling themselves. I figured if they saw that Zolie overcame it and started having good hygiene, then they can too.

 

 

SM: Once again as you stated before, Zolie Zi would have her own product line in the future. Please share with us some of the products you have now produced. 

 

SB: Well, I am happy to announce that Zolie Zi does have her 18 inch doll now that is available to order on her website or Amazon.com.  I am also happy to say that her doll is available in the very 1^st black doll store in the Netherlands “ Coloured Goodies” and her doll is the very 1^st Black plush doll there.  She is also on her way to Canada to be available in the stores there as well. Aside from the dolls, she has her soap, her lip gloss and thanks to your daughter Kalimah, she has the “Z-Powder” line from the Powder Power company. We also have her t-shirt line which features her new collection “ Naturally Zolie” t-shirts which encourages girl to embrace themselves just the way they are.

 

 

SB: We are currently traveling the USA and abroad on my “ Chit Chat and Tea tour that features Zolie’s new board game, “Zolie Zi Bingo and Bing”  and “Pin the Bow on Zolie”. The 1^st stop was Atlanta, GA this past January  with more dates TBA as the tour dates pick up.

 

SM: Thanks again beloved for taking the time to share with us the great things you are doing with Zolie Zi!

SB: As always, it is a pleasure to speak with you!! Thank you so much for your support.

 

Bad Bad Hygiene is available on Amazon, zoliezi.com (Click on the image below)

Pomegranate’s Life Extending Revelation

     Allah ,(God), in the Person of Master Fard Muhammad, has taught me that fasting, with the right kind of food, is the cure for our ills.~ How To Eat To Live Bk 1

 

The journey of studying food as a medicine has revealed many gems of knowledge that I have started practicing and am eager to share with our readers. Recently I came across some amazing benefits of pomegranates and it led me back to the Holy Quran in which this miraculous fruit is mentioned three times! I also learned that there are five other fruits mentioned in the Holy Quran as well! Can you guess what they are? Allah Willing I will share more on them in future articles.

But back to the pomegranate, in the Holy Quran, Surah 55:68-69 of Section 3 titled: Reward of the Righteous, it says, “Therein are fruits and palms and pomegranates. Which then of the bounties of your Lord will you deny?”

photo courtesy of plantvillage.com

With one of the definitions of bounty meaning ‘a generous gift’, know that there is more to the pomegranate than meets the eye beyond it being a delicious fruit! The pomegranate has been used in alternative medicine for decades to treat various diseases such as diabetes, cancer and heart disease. But the most bountiful gift that pomegranate offers that scientists have recently discovered is its ability to change our gene expressions. This means that just because your family history may have certain diseases that are a part of your family, you do not have to ever experience them if you have the right dietary lifestyle.

Pomegranates are able to affect our gene expression because they contain a substance called resveratrol which helps protect against age-related diseases; meaning that they turn aging genes ‘OFF’ and youthful genes ‘ON’. Scientists are thrilled about this compound (resveratrol) because they have also discovered that it possesses a unique characteristic that allows it to act on the body in the same manner of someone in a fasting state that they refer to as calorie restriction or as the Honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches us, eating one meal a day.

photo courtesy of naturalnews.com

     “The fact that fasting is the cure for 90 percent of our ills is known by the medical scientists. But they do not teach you that.” ~ HTETL Bk 1

    So just imagine if we are practicing one meal a day or longer AND eating the RIGHT kinds of foods what bountiful rewards we are giving to ourselves relating to life and longevity in the midst of all the ills that surround us on a day to day basis! What bounties of your Lord will you deny? (smile)

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Is Sugar Impacting Your Mood?

Photo courtesy of Sis. Wakiti

     I had the grand opportunity to partner with my sisters of Queendom Come Inc. last month to talk to a group of young ladies at Worthing High School about how over consumption of sugar affects our mood. Did you know that when we consume too much sugar, especially in the form of refined white sugar or high fructose corns syrup that our brains have a negative reaction to it, therefore affecting our behavior? Consumption of such poisons (refined and processed sugars) cause a reduction in the production of an important growth hormone in our brain (BDNF-brain derived neurotropic factor) that is commonly found to be very low in people who suffer with conditions such as schizophrenia and depression.  Other ways it may affect our mood is by the inflammation it produces in our gut (stomach) which eventually causes forms of inflammation in the brain.

So cutting back and eventually completely cutting out unnatural sugars is one of the best solutions to improve upon this aspect of our mental health. How can one begin this process? Well, our students realized that a lot of refined and processed sugars we consume more so come from what we drink compared to what we eat. As a result they discovered that if we just start by cutting back on sugary beverages, it could make a significant enough impact on our mood and overall health. With the average amount of sugar one should consume a day ranging from 5-6 teaspoons (1 teaspoon of sugar is equal to 4 grams) we could remove a lot of sugar from our diets simply by what we drink. Sugary drinks include sodas, fruit drinks and yes, even fruit juices. Note: The average can of soft drink contains 39 grams of sugar which is equivalent to 39 ÷ 4 or almost 10 teaspoons! Give it a try and share your results with us!

Courtesy of Pure Dental

Poison drinks along with a mixture of good and poison foods have shortened our lives, on the average of about 63½ years at the present time. ~ How to Eat to Live (Book Two)

 

Detoxifying Delights!

In this post we want to show great appreciation to Sis. Georgina for sharing with us food that she has grown from her own garden; the cayenne and cucumber in particular, though she has grown garlic before. Placing emphasis on the cucumber, know that if you include any of these foods in your lifestyle diet that you are helping your body to detoxify.

Popularly known for cooling the eyes in beauty appointments, cucumbers’ benefits stretch beyond the cosmetic realm.  Taken internally, these cool beauties naturally help to cleanse our liver and take some pressure off of its workload by removing toxins from our blood and digestive system. Even more so we get a double benefit because once it accumulates these toxins it helps to expel them from the body as well because it acts like a diuretic would by increasing our fluid output, thus aiding removal of these toxins through our urine. Eating them in their raw form is best to get this amazing effect and having a nice glass of cucumber water in addition to it helps to increase this overall detoxifying process! An easy and inexpensive way to enjoy life more abundantly!

courtesy of newagewellnessforyou.com

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Apple Cider Vineger Spiced Tea

     

     A lot of times when we hear the word detox we think of something green yet not all detoxifying foods/substances have to be in that color range. So we decided to share a post of a wonderful detoxifying drink that may appeal to those of us who may be turned off by the idea that something good for us has to be green. This beverage is suggested to be consumed when warm or at room temperature. Of the variety of ingredients in it we chose to focus on the apple cider vinegar (ACV) component and its ability to detoxify!

While ACV has multiple beneficial uses our focus in this post is to highlight its ability to improve our digestive health since the majority of most dis ‘ease’ starts in the gut. ACV is a fermented liquid and when something is fermented that means that it contains beneficial bacteria called probiotics that break down the sugars in the apples and produce beneficial enzymes for our bodies that aid in the detoxification process.

As mentioned in our detox introduction this month, the liver is one of the key players when it comes to detoxification. ACV improves the integrity of this organ by way of improving our bile secretions. Bile is a substance our body produces that helps us to properly metabolize (breakdown) fats that we consume thus reducing stress on the liver. This is one reason it is great to consume ACV at least 20-30 minutes before a meal.

courtesy of authoritynutrition.com

     So when purchasing a beneficial source of ACV you want it to be raw, unfiltered and preferably organic. It should have a cloudy appearance. When it lacks that appearance and is clear (though it has an orange type hue) that means that it has been overly processed and lacks the beneficial bacteria mentioned above.

courtesy of well-beingsecrets.com

Ingredients

12-16 oz of water

2 Tablespoons of ACV

2 Tablespoons of fresh lemon juice

1/2-1 teaspoon of ginger

1/4 teaspoon of cinnamon

a dash of cayenne pepper (optional)

1 teaspoon of raw (unfiltered) honey (optional)

 

Recipe

Take a cup of warm water and mix all of the ingredients together an enjoy!

 

Dealing with Detoxification

courtesy of mailinglists.mapmedia.com

    With the upcoming screening of Vaxxed in the Houston and Beaumont area we decided to dedicate the topic for the rest of this month on foods that aid in detoxification. We hope the upcoming posts help people to understand that just because one has received vaccinations that it does not mean those substances cannot be removed from the body. Of course detoxification is not limited to vaccines but just about any chronic condition we may suffer from so this topic could be very broad.

At the same time we are going to focus on ways to help target and cleanse the top organs most responsible for detoxing us which includes our kidneys, liver and skin. So stay abreast for more to come over the next few days. Hopefully you will come across something that works for you!

Colorful Bean Soup

Our next life saving dish comes from the beautiful and exquisitely talented Sis. Georgina! Here are a few words she shares below:

This colorful bean soup is diabetic friendly. As you may know the navy bean is a perfect balance of protein and carbohydrates. Also in this soup there are onions, celery, red bell pepper, yellow bell pepper, broccoli, red jalepenos and a fresh cayenne pepper, red and orange cherry tomatoes and tomato sauce with a touch of turmeric…….(The tomatoes, and peppers came fresh out of the garden)

     Campell’s soup has nothing on this! Focusing specifically on the navy bean; this truly can be a diabetic friendly food if one’s blood sugar is not totally out of control. Considered a low glycemic food, navy beans’ high fiber composition and resistant starches enables it to slow down the absorption of carbohydrate breakdown in our blood stream, thus decreasing sugar spikes after a meal.This also helps in preventing sugar crashes, mood swings and the infamous sugar cravings that many may experience from high sugar diets.They are also known to improve the blood sugar marker used to determine ones degree of blood sugar control known as HbA1c. Some research shows that legumes have the ability to rival some oral medications in accomplishing the feat of lowering this HbA1c score. And the beauty is that it doesn’t take a lot of beans to accomplish this goal; it can be done consuming half a cup on a regular basis.

“This bean He (master Fard Muhammad) valued to be very high in protein, fats and starches, and it is a safe food for prolonging life.” How to Eat to Live (Book One)

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Lessons from the Save Our Girls Mother/Daughter Tea

     Last month women and girls in the city of Houston had the opportunity to bond and gain valuable lessons in life on various topics from sisterhood. parenting, human sex trafficking and overall proper self care at Muhammad Mosque #45’s MGT & GCC Save Our Girls Tea. Attendees came as far as Dallas and New Orleans to be apart of something great! Most impactful though were the integration of the youth throughout the program and their responses to what they witnessed. Here are some comments below of what they experienced! Note: these young and phenomenal girls ages range from 12 to 18!!! Our future should truly be invested in our youth!

 The Mother Daughter Tea was fantastic! The speakers were absolutely phenomenal! They had they’re own indvidual messages but one common point, Love Yourself!~ Sis. Lintavia

 

I have a better understanding on the nature of myself as I am growing inot a young woman. Helped me realize that since my parents are in the Nation of Islam, I am sheltered/protected from a lot of the things that go on in this world. Assisted me in explaining to my mom that because of the way she and my dad raised us (do for yourself) i do want to grow up as far as making my own money ~ Sis. Lynesia

My experience in the mother daughter tea was revitalizing. I was having fun but at the same time i was learning. The guest speakers made a true connection to not only us girls but our mothers as well. I hope that I get to have this experience again and that other girls as well will get to have this chance too.~ Sis. Jannah

     So if you missed this electrifying event, then you don’t want to miss the upcoming fiery brunch themed “Just Between Us” hosted by Houston’s very own M.G.T. & G.C.C. with powerhouse women from all over the country who have lost their son’s to various forms of gun violence ranging from Black on Black conflict to police brutality and featuring Sis. Lezley McSpadden, mother of the late Mike Brown,  as the keynote speaker. And she has a spectacular book signing to follow up that event hosted by Brother Jesse Blog and Houston Foward Times!

Click on the images for more details!

Cinnamon Quinoa Blueberry Patties

Virtually all fruits are good. We eat apples, oranges, bananas, pears, peaches, tangerines, mangoes, plums, grapes (do not eat processed dried grapes, eat natural sun dried grapes), pomegranates, lemons and grapefruit.~ How to Eat to Live Bk. 1

Sis. Joy is the first to introduce how to manage our blood sugar in a synergistic way with some very powerful food choices! Here is her comment on this dish:

“Quinoa is a great food to treat diabetes as well as a favorite Little blue fruit called blueberries which is packed with Anthocyanins causing it to have Anti-Diabetic Effects…combine this with Cinnamon the type 2 diabetes combatant we have a power snack!”

     Focusing on blueberries, with the many superfoods out there being promoted, this one is at the top of the list! Blueberries along with many other berries have been documented as having a significant impact on blood sugar regulation in many health conditions form insulin resistance, type 2 diabetes and even metabolic syndrome. How are they able to perform such feats? Their high concentrations of antioxidants allow them to aid the body in overcoming the widespread inflammation that results from the toxic foods and harmful environmental exposures many of us encounter on a daily basis. Not to mention its superb fiber content that also reduces blood sugar spikes thus making it a low glycemic index food choice. Remember, in order to maximize these benefits, blueberries are best eaten in their raw form. Read Sis. Joy’s recipe below.

Ingredients:

Quinoa
Fresh Cinnamon
Ground Cinnamon
Nutmeg
Vanilla
Honey
(Joys Homemade Dandelion Honey)
Brown Sugar IF you don’t have high sugar!
Blueberries
Fresh lemon

Directions:

Cook quinoa along with fresh cinnamon, ground cinnamon, nutmeg, honey
Let cool in bowl (drain if necessary)
Chop blueberries or place in food processor with honey and vanilla (drain)
Combine in bowl
Add more Cinnamon or honey to taste a squeeze of lemon juice
Roll and make patties cook on hot griddle until brown and crisp.

Enjoy!

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The Food As a Medicine Series Takes a New Direction!

Courtesy of newsrepublica.com

     As you may be aware for the past seven months we at Nature’s Medicine Cabinet have taken on the enjoyable task of sharing posts on monthly food selections and creative ways to prepare them in order to ‘spice’ things up in the kitchen! With the wonderful comments, likes, shares, questions and more we decided to take this journey in  a new direction, still dedicated to providing creative dishes, but now gearing them to address specific health conditions throughout the entire month! Our first health challenge we are going to address is diabetes. As one of the top 10 leading causes of death, we believe that we can have an impact by showing our readers and their loved ones the proper foods to choose to address this condition as well as life sustaining ways to prepare them.

Courtesy of ncsi.org

     We are truly excited about what is to come your way in the near future and encourage you to continue giving us your comments and feedback. Let the new beginning begin!!!

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