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Healthy Soul Food Cooking

Apr 21, 2011 | By Maria Evans

According to Sylvia Woods, owner and chef of the famous soul food restaurant Sylvia's in Harlem, New York, the most important soul food ingredient is a spice called love, which is essential in every soul food meal you fix. Common soul food choices consist of rice, beans, cornmeal, black eyed-peas, sweet potatoes, collard and kale greens, okra, meat scraps and molasses. Soul food is often high in fat, sugar, sodium and calories. Some people have proposed eliminating soul food from the diet altogether because of its high fat and calorie content, but a few healthy substitutions and recipe modifications can increase the nutritive value of this cuisine.

History

Soul food has its origins in Africa and was carried over to the Americas by slaves. Since then, it has been woven into American culture. Because enslaved African Americans usually worked a physically grueling schedule, extra dietary fat, sodium and sugar could be easily excreted or burned off. Diets were primarily vegetarian with added fish, possum or squirrel. Slaves were often able to supplement their diets with vegetables from vegetable gardens their owners allowed them to grow. Soul food is traditionally considered southern cuisine, but as African-Americas have migrated to the North and beyond, so have their treasured recipes.

Significance

As of 2009, 63.4 percent of Americans are obese or overweight. Heart disease, stroke and diabetes are among the nation's leading causes of death. These deaths are attributed to several factors including genetics, environment and lifestyle characteristics such as unhealthy diet and lack of exercise. Diets high in saturated fat, cholesterol, sodium and unrefined sugars can increase your risk of these chronic diseases. African-Americans suffer from diabetes twice as often as other Americans, and over half the African-American population is overweight. African-Americans also have a higher chance of suffering from strokes or cancer than any other ethnic group.

Healthy Cooking - Dairy

The key to healthy soul food cooking is substitutions. Evaporated milk in a macaroni and cheese dish can be replaced by one percent, low fat or nonfat milk. Cheddar cheese can be partially replaced by low fat cheddar cheese or mozzarella, which is naturally lower in fat. Replace cholesterol-rich eggs with egg substitutes. Use flour instead of an egg for thickening. Replace butter with either margarine or vegetable oil in recipes.

Healthy Cooking - Sugar, Meat, Frying and Baking

Soy meat can be used to replace real meat in certain dishes. Use low sodium vegetable stock to flavor foods such as collard greens or rice instead of chicken stock or meat. Splenda can be used to replace sugar or combined with sugar in many recipes such as sweet potato pie or cornbread. For frying, heart healthy grape seed or olive oil should be used. Replace oil with applesauce for baking.

References

Article reviewed by Molly Solanki Last updated on: Apr 21, 2011

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