Black Health: A New Model for Reversing Our Disparities

A founder's letter from Dr. Romeo Brooks, N.D.

A new year has begun, and some of our family and friends are not here to share it with us. For different reasons they did not live to see this present day. Some left us by accident, others by homicide, and far too many by debilitating diseases. While accidents and homicide take their toll on our population, too many of us die unnecessarily, from diseases that are absolutely preventable.

Many years ago, my father died of emphysema. A little over a year later, my mother died from kidney failure and a blocked intestine. Shortly thereafter, my brother had a leg amputated due to diabetes, and my sister eventually died from the same disease. Another brother suffered a stroke from high blood pressure, while another is on dialysis.

If this sounds familiar to you, it is only because health issues like these happen not only in my family, but also in yours and in Black families across America.

The Numbers Behind the Grief

Black Americans disproportionately suffer deaths caused by disease. Although Blacks make up roughly 12 percent of the U.S. population, we lead the country in high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, diabetes, obesity, and several cancers. The question that comes to mind is, "What causes this phenomenon?" Is it racial tension, diet, physical inactivity, or some other unknown factor?

My contention is that there is a link between our health disparities, racial tensions, and socioeconomic status. But I also believe that poor nutrition, our mental outlook, and physical inactivity are the major factors in the decline of our health.

Life expectancy tells the story plainly. A. L. Nixon writes that "Black Americans in contrast to White Americans have two times the rate of infant mortality, four times the death rate from heart disease, 30 percent higher death rate from cancer, seven times higher death rate from AIDS, and six times the rate of homicide." The gap in years of life on this earth, by skin color, in the wealthiest country in the world, should be unconscionable to all of us.

"When Whites Catch a Cold, Blacks Get Pneumonia"

There is an old saying in our community: "When Whites catch a cold, Blacks get pneumonia." That statement presupposes inequities in the health care of Black Americans compared to White Americans. It also presupposes that racism plays a role in those inequities. While the evidence has suggested that racism may be an under-researched culprit in our health disparities, one author put it well: "Racism is a social pathogen with biological consequences." Another writes that Blacks, in response to racism, experience a kind of hypersensitivity to the social environment that the body itself absorbs as harm.

The Tuskegee Syphilis Study has come to represent racism in medicine, misconduct in human research, the arrogance of physicians, and the government's abuse of Black people. That study did more than harm the men in it; it began an enduring mistrust of Black communities toward medical institutions governed by Whites.

And yet Black people had little alternative but to continue subjecting themselves to medical authorities that left them wanting. In spite of taking the prescribed medications, following the prescribed diets, and obeying the doctor's orders, the health of Black Americans has plummeted. The current medical model has failed Americans in general and Black Americans in particular. The health of Black people will continue to decline unless we adopt another model of health care.

A Four-Part Model for Reclaiming Our Health

Our new model of health care must address our specific health issues physically, mentally, emotionally, and spiritually. The World Health Organization defines health as "a state of complete physical, mental, and social well-being, and not merely the absence of disease or infirmity." By that definition, we have a lot of ground to cover to raise our level of health to meet the standard.

Physically

We must realize that our body is an energy system that requires fuel of the highest source: the raw fruits and vegetables, sprouts, nuts, and seeds that were naturally created for our consumption. These foods fuel our body without producing the obstructions created by foods that are cooked, processed, and stripped down to make them palatable. We must also exercise vigorously, to metabolize the food we consume and to stimulate digestion, respiration, circulation, and elimination. The combination of proper nutrition and movement allows the body to balance itself physically.

Mentally

Our thoughts must reflect the outcomes we want to see in all things. In this case, the outcome we seek is optimum health. We must know and believe that the health we want is already biologically imprinted into every cell of our body. What we must do is hold thoughts of health, wellness, and vigor consistently enough to communicate to the body that we are in agreement with its own intent, purpose, and desire to bring us health.

Emotionally

The energy we create is always in motion, and it must not be expended unnecessarily. In life, we must seek balance and harmony at all times. When confronted by situations that would normally produce anger, jealousy, or envy, we must redirect that energy in a way that balances us, grounds us, and establishes us on the path to health, rather than letting it eat away at us from the inside.

Spiritually

The root of health is in deliberate and purposeful living. When life is lived on purpose, it permeates us on every level. A focused life ties us to the life within ourselves and to those around us. With the intention to live life to its fullest, we produce an energy that enables us to share our gifts and talents with the world. When that energy is cultivated, the body expresses it in a form of exuberant health that not many people experience.

What's Asked of Us

With a new model of health, Black Americans can reverse the disparities that have crippled us throughout our history in this country. The solution does not call for new medical breakthroughs. Through perseverance and tenacity we can create health, wealth, and welfare for our children and grandchildren. By starting with ourselves, we can interrupt the legacy of ill health in the African American community and pass on a model of unprecedented well-being for generations to come.

Everything we build at Roots Nutrition comes from this conviction. Whole foods, well-chosen herbs, daily movement, clear thinking, and purposeful living are not luxuries. For our community, they are the work.

Dr. Romeo Brooks, N.D., is a Natural Hygienist, Herbalist, Iridologist, and Naturopathic Doctor, and the founder of Roots Nutrition. He is the author of the bestselling book Body Intelligence.