I was lucky enough to even have physical education class in elementary school, but there was never any mention of eating healthfully or anything like that. And all of my friends need to know about this.” And I was confused why it wasn’t an essential thing for me to learn in school. I thought, “Oh my gosh, everybody needs to know about this. Once you saw that success within your family, how did you then take the step of sharing what you were learning with others? And so I was just blown away by really having this real life example of just how powerful it is to care for your body and to cook with intention and also to have this awareness of food education. Within about a year of working on swapping out different ingredients, eating more vegetables, reducing red meat significantly, we were able to completely reverse his condition within that year. Learning about this incredible healing power of food and of plant foods specifically, really led us down this path of learning together as a family. And while it was all delicious, of course, health was not at the center of our plates, for sure. It was a lot of white rice and meat and gravies and sauces. Some of the traditional dishes that we enjoyed weren’t typically the healthiest, and they didn’t really center vegetables or whole grains. And that’s really when I became fully became aware of food’s potential to heal or harm us.īefore that, for the most part, we ate for flavor and just whatever really tasted good. So our family really took it upon ourselves to do some research and see if there were any alternative healing options. And even if he did take that medication, it had no guarantee to really heal him from his condition or to reverse it. Due to his diagnosis, he was prescribed this medication that just had terrible side effects, internal bleeding, and potential death. The health and wellness aspect didn’t come into my life until my dad was diagnosed with type two diabetes when I was around eight years old. When did that shift from just being a kid enjoying great family meals and starting to think about health and nutrition? Just through our culture, I was really already very accustomed to bold and different flavors and using, quote-unquote, ‘unique’ ingredients, and just having a mature culinary experience, I guess. Both of my parents are from Jamaica and I just always grew up with this really expansive view of food, or an expansive experience with food. And I was inspired by Food Network and watching all the classic shows with my mom! That was my favorite pastime. I’ve just always been a foodie, loved trying new things and getting to just have those different experiences. And so just being in the kitchen has always been very natural to me. And so I was taught to cook really early on, around five years old. You became interested in cooking really young. Recipe: Make Haile Thomas’s Islander Lively Bowl. We spoke with her about how she made the connection between food and empowerment and what she’s learned from her first decade of activism.
In 2020, she published Living Lively, a combination cookbook and manifesto about strength, self-care, and the importance of building healthy, resilient communities.
A post shared by matcha thomas 🌱 who labels herself a “wellness and compassion activist,” previously founded The HAPPY Org, a nonprofit that has already worked with more than 90,000 youth.
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