Learn for What?!

(An educational column dedicated to giving you practical steps to understand the process of learning)

Why should we learn anything? We should all “study to learn and learn to apply.”

Whenever I see something well put together, I think, “That is how to put your mathematical theology to work.” As an educator for the past 17 years, I have implemented a number of strategies in the classroom. Some worked and some did not. As an educator, I have always seen the value of the teachings of the Honorable Elijah Muhammad. Recently, Dr. Larry Muhammad, Director of Chicago’s Muhammad University gave a wonderful presentation at a local charter school. As I listened to his presentation, which was based on principles he learned from a Applied Scholastics training, I thought of how I could see the basis of what he presented in various aspects of the teachings of The Honorable Elijah Muhammad. Once again, we should all “study to learn and learn to apply.” However, some things are “barriers to learning.” According to Applied Scholastics, there are 3 main barriers to learning.

The first barrier they mentioned is “lack of mass,” or lack of a physical object or substance to help you “see” and “touch” what you are learning. The Honorable Elijah Muhammad teaches us that we should see how a subject relates to us. Children should be able to say “I am Math!, I am Science!” In order to do that, they have to see themselves in relation to subject. One of the best ways to do that is to actively have students engaged with clay, pictures or blocks. For instance, a teacher can ask a student to show the how blood flows through the heart with red and blue yarn and a large picture of an open heart.

The second barrier is “Too steep a gradient.” A gradient refers to an “incline” or angle. Have you ever tried to walk up a steep hill? It is difficult, right? Well, it is easier to walk up a hill that “gradually” inclines. It is interesting that at the root of “gradual” is the latin root “gradu” which means “step.” In the book How to Eat to Live, The Honorable Elijah Muhammad talks about value of “gradualism” when he suggested “gradually” or step by step how to reduce form three meals a day to one meal a day. He said, “If you are eating three meals, cut down to two meals and from two meals cut down to one. In Message to the Blackman, he gave us the “basic” steps to prayer. He didn’t give it to us all in Arabic. He made every step very plain so that we would “fall down the hill” of knowledge(smile).

The last barrier Applied Scholastics mentioned was “the misunderstood word.” Have you ever listened to news and heard a word you didn’t understand what it meant? Did it stop affect your understanding? Of course it did. I remember listening to some of the commentary of the Tonight Show when I was younger, but couldn’t laugh at the jokes because I didn’t understand them. One thing The Minister has always taught, along with Brother Jabril Muhammad is the value of looking up and understanding the meanings of words. Minister Farrakhan is able to touch so many people in his lectures because of his spirit of love and is wonderful, proper and CLEAR use of words. He “walks” us through a subject so that by the end of the lecture, even before then, you are on your feet.

How can you get your child to “stand up” and get excited with learning? Here is a simple exercise. Ask your child to look up the meaning of their name and another relative’s name (brother, sister, cousin, father etc.) and ask them to write down 1. The meaning of the word. 2. Where does the word come from? (Greek, Arabic, African etc.) 3. Write a paragraph discussing if he or she thinks they are “living up to” their name.

I used to give this assignment to all my high school freshmen. Why? We all want to learn about ourselves, right? We learn with words and by doing. This assignment encompasses both. Students were so excited about presenting their name or a family member’s name to the class. Even though some couldn’t find their name in a dictionary or online, it sparked a discussion at home as to why one young lady was named, “Markeysha.” Her father’s name was “Mark” and her mother’s name was “Keysha” and she found out the mother decided to put the two names together.

Let’s put our together our knowledge to learn and our ability to “do.” Get knowledge for life! May we all be blessed to find our purpose and help others along the way.

(Ms. Muhammad is an Academic Support Specialist and an Adjunct Professor in English. She has a MA in English and worked as a high school teacher for over a decade. As an educator for the past 17 years, she has learned many techniques to motivate young people. She is a former West Contra Costa Unified School District Mentor Teacher (California) and Leadership Advisor. She is available workshop presentations on developing “Positive Energy and Discipline” in a classroom and how to bring out the “little genius” in your child. She is the editor of Virtue Today Magazine, a women's magazine that is redefining women today with articles featuring sophisticated fashions, financial empowerment and spiritual healing. Visit www.virtuemag.com. Her fitness books and videos may be ordered at www.getfit2live.org.)

True Beauty: A lesson for my daughter in 3 easy steps

By Audrey Muhammad

A few years ago, my daughter and I attended a Hip-Hop summit at North Carolina A & T University in Greensboro, North Carolina. My daughter was so excited to meet Rocsi from BET’s 106^th and Park. She thought Rocsi was so pretty and she later described her as a “beautiful person” because Rocsi was so kind to her. She even asked my daughter to autograph the page of Virtue Today Magazine where my daughter was modeling. My daughter was elated! Now this would have been a much different experience had Rocsi not been so warm and kind to me and my daughter.

When I asked my 9 year-old daughter recently what makes a person beautiful, she said, “The inside of a person[their qualities] and their appearance.” And I asked her which is more important and she said the inner qualities of a person. I was so proud of her because she not only values being a good person, she looks for the good in others and loves to put a smile on a person’s face by giving them compliments.

Beauty is often defined in the dictionary as “the combination of all the qualities of a person or thing that delight the senses and please the mind.” However, a person can be beautiful in their outer appearance, but not in their inner attitude. We must honor ourselves and know that we are beautiful and not give energy to anything that is other than truth. For instance, I was inspired to write this blog after reading a commentary about a recent article on “Psychology Today” magazine’s website. The article described a study that claimed that Black women aren’t as attractive as other women of different races. I will simply state what I told my daughter a few years ago when a classmate told her she wasn’t pretty. I asked my daughter, “Is it true, that you are not pretty?” She said, “No, it is not true.” I said, “So, if it is not true, it[the comment] is a what? She said, “A lie.” “Do we listen to lies?” I asked her? “No,” she said, “We don’t. I’m Beautiful!” “Exactly,” I said. Period.

In a lecture entitled, “Make God Sufficient in Your Life,” Minister Louis Farrakhan stated to a group of women, “All of you that believe are beautiful to Allah(God). He[God] has the Power to take your belief and turn it into absolutely indescribable beauty. You can come here ugly, pimply-faced and hair so short you can’t twist it with tweezers. I don’t care how people think you look, or how you think you look. The moment you say you believe in God and start trying to be what God has asked you to be, He turns the beauty of your faith into an indescribable charisma that makes you draw all people unto yourself…You can have the prettiest face, but if your faith is not there, you drive people away from you.”

In essence, there are 3 ways to enhance our beauty:

1. Develop our relationship with God and try to be “pleasing” to him. Be obedient to him. Don’t you want to be viewed by God as a “beautiful person.” Have “godly” thoughts and develop a spirit of gratitude. Isn’t it beautiful to hear a person say, “Thank you.” It is hard to have a bad attitude if you are thinking of how grateful you are for your life. Remember, “As a man thinketh, so is he.” Thinking “good thoughts” gives you a beautiful disposition.
2. Take care of the temple that God dwells in. Keep it clean and in good condition by fasting, exercising and eating healthy. Eating poorly robs us of our beauty appearance. In the book, How to Eat to Live, Book Two, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad writes, “Take, for example, a new born baby. Many times its beauty lasts for just a short while and then passes away with its growth. Even in our late twenties and early thirties—because of the life that we live and the frequent eating of poison food—our beautiful appearance begins to pass from us so rapidly, until by our forties and fifties it is nearly completely gone.” To keep our cars and homes beautiful, we provide them with the best; we should treat our bodies in the same, if not a better fashion.
3. Lastly, honor yourself and treat others how you want to be treated. Better yet, treat others with the love, kindness and forgiveness that God gives you. THAT is beautiful. Always treat YOURSELF with respect and honor. As women, we have to learn to “distance” ourselves from men and anyone else who may not “honor and respect” us. I am blessed to have wonderful family members and friends that show me and my daughter such respect. Honor and love yourself and always do things in the spirit of the “highest good.”
   

Beauty is in eye of the Beholder. The main “beholder” we should be concerned about is our Creator. If we are beautiful to Him, nothing else matters because He is the one that bestows blessings. Honoring him gives us “true beauty.”

(To read more about “true beauty” and being a virtuous woman, visit www.virtuemag.com. You may order Virtue Today Magazine online or send a money order for $6.99 to Virtue Today Magazine, P.O. Box 61402, Raleigh, NC 27661.)

The Power of Our Intentions

Do you remember the poem entitled “Footprints?” The poem is about a man that is looking back over his life and he notices that there were two sets of footprints during much of his life, showing that God was walking with him. However, during the difficult parts of his life, he noticed that there was only once set of footprints and interpreted that as God having left him during that time. However, God corrected him and said, “No, during the most difficult times you only see one set of footprints because it was then that I carried you.”

For many of us, we may have experienced a rough year in 2010, but here we are in 2011! Didn’t God carry us through? Well, what do you “intend” to do this year? Write out your intentions and “resolve” to carry them out. This is an ongoing process. I have really become fascinated on how to follow through with my “intentions” after having a wonderful discussion with our Contributing Editor, Latonja Styles CEO of I AM Image who recently earned her Masters of Science in Entertainment Business. (Congratulations Sister Latonja!)

What is an Intention? An intention is described in the Oxford Dictionary as “ an aim or purpose.” An intent can be described as a desire or wish one means to carry out. What does “desire” feed? Desire feeds the will. What is the Will? According to the Study Guide, The Will of God Part I, “Will is the faculty of conscious and especially of deliberate action…The Will is the Real Power of Allah (God) in Man. However, the Will must be buttressed, or supported, by Faith and by Knowledge…To be able to “Will” is to have a creative force within that actually can change the conditions of our live.

Dr. Wayne Dyer described the difference between “free will,” which we all have and “intention,” in his book The Power of Intention. For instance, if I intend to lose weight or stop smoking cigarettes, I have the “free will” to go and buy cigarettes or cupcakes. However, when I partner my “free will,” that God Force within me and instead channel it toward my “intention,” or desire I wish to carry out, my free will works to my benefit and I put the cigarette or cupcake down. Good intentions help us stay connected to our creative energy and our “source,” our God.

List your intentions for this year for yourself, your family, your education, your career, your community. This issue will show you how to improve yourself on many levels. How do you intend to improve yourself and serve others better? Try to question every action you make and ask yourself, “Is this going to bring me closer to my goal or intention?” This act helps us to be “mindful” and in the moment. Remember, life is for living. Choose love and “accept your own and be yourself.”

May God bless us all with peace, love, health, wealth and happiness.

Your sister,

Audrey

Read more in this issue of Virtue Today Magazine available at www.virtuemag.com

Can a model be "modest?"

How to be a Classy “Modest Model”

Faatimah T. Shabazz-Muhammad is New York native and nursing major who enjoys modeling, cooking and dancing. Her parents, Sherry and Reginald Shabazz-Muhammad, are proud of her accomplishments. She is the youngest of three siblings and attends Muhammad Mosque #7 in New York and loves helping out in the mosque whenever she can. She has modeled for Barba’s Elliot’s show, “A Book of Fashion,” Exclusive Designs and many others. She plans to also be an entrepreneur. She discussed with Sis. Saajida Shabazz-Muhammad how a woman can be classy “modest model.”

Sis. Saajida: Where are some of the places you have modeled? And what kind of modeling do you prefer?

Sis. Faatimah: The world is my audience and the concrete is my runway (laughing). Off the top of my head, I have modeled for Exclusive Designs by: Sis. Jennifer Muhammad from Chicago and GOVVY Fashion House by: Ms. Barbara Elliot. I have done runway modeling and also print work. I enjoy both, but I prefer runway because you’re not a controlled environment- you’re free, you’re vibing with the music, your interacting with the audience, you become a different person in a sense- which also takes a bit of acting. It’s ironic that I enjoy runway the most because the average height for a model doing runway is about 5’8” and I’m pocket-size- I’m a staggering 5’3” (chuckle).

Sis. Saajida: What is your purpose for modeling?

Sis. Faatimah: We are taught by the Honorable Elijah Muhammad that 75% of His work is with the woman. In a way, I see the MGT representing as being apart of the mission. Being a magnet through fashion is a part of the work and we are to make the whole world bear witness to Master Fard Muhammad’s words, “I can sit on top of the world and tell everyone that the most beautiful nation is in the wilderness of North America. But do not let me catch any sister other than herself in regards to living the Life and weighing properly.” I see modeling as a way of showing the world the product of what our MGT training produces.

Sis. Saajida: Do you personally have a favorite model that you look up to as a source of inspiration?

Sis. Faatimah: Well, I have two- Liya Kebede and Selita Ebanks. I like Ms. Kebede because she is a Goddess on the runway, she represents, and she’s a sister who comes from Africa. I also admire her because she is a Humanitarian who is passionate about many issues regarding women and children. In 2006, she set up the Liya Kebede Foundation; which focuses on maternal care for those who may lack such vital resources during childbirth. Now, Ms. Ebanks is my other favorite because I can vibe with her. I feel like our personalities are parallel; she is funny, bubbly, a social butterfly, adventurous, and also a Goddess on the runway. She’s not just a model but functions as a Philanthropist and has developed the Women’s Coalition For Empowerment and Opportunities (WCEO). The organization’s mission is to help “support women’s educational and professional programs in the civil war-torn African nation.”

Sis. Saajida: What do you think about modeling for different companies, other than within the Nation of Islam?

Sis. Faatimah: That’s an easy question- I don’t. Simply because there are certain compromises I know for a fact I would have to make that would conflict with my morals and beliefs, not just as a Muslim but as a striving to be a righteous woman. Anything that the devil puts his hands on, there is fine print. You would have to compromise something to become successful under his guidance; like “selling your soul to the devil”. While you’re given fame and fortune, it will be at the expense of someone else having control over what you wear and the various explicit poses you will be coerced to do. I cannot identify with modeling or fashion in this world’s industry. I’m just trying to expand the concept of modest beauty.

Sis. Saajida: What do you see as your mission for modeling?

Sis. Faatimah: To expand the idea of virtuous beauty. The world gives us a standard of what beauty is (ex. Skinny jeans, Apple Bottom jeans, red lipstick, hot pink hair, etc.). I take it upon myself to widen the scope of another standard of beauty with the brand name G.O.D. (smile)

Sis. Saajida: Many may think that a female could not possibly be in the Nation of Islam and partake in modeling- what are your thoughts on this?.....

(Read the entire interview in the New issue of Virtue Today Magazine available at www.virtuemag.com. See marvelous m,odest fashions along with articles on: Rebuilding the Black Family, Ten Tips for Your Daughter and much much more..Order your copy at www.virtuemag.com)

True Wealth: The ability to give

If I wanted to take advice from a Hip Hop artist, would I lean toward rapper like 50 cent or Russell Simmons? Although both are excellent businessmen, I would bet on Russell Simmons every time! Why? His intention. The spirit behind his intention was something I could relate to AND appreciate when I met him briefly a few years ago. Back then, his book, Do You! had recently been released and quickly became a best seller. I was impressed, not just with the business advice given in the book, but the spiritual components and sincere desire to see people improve themselves and feel good about who they are. In essence, to serve more and “Do you!" I am looking forward to reading his new book, Super Rich!
In his writings, Mr. Simmons tends to focus on 5 key items, which Jet lays out in its December 27, 2010 edition. The five things he focuses on are:

• Take care of yourself(Have healthy eating and exercise habits

• Mediate to get in touch with your truth

• Try to master one thing at a time

• Change your perception (Ex. He said, “If you think you’re poor then you are.”)

• Lastly, become a better "Giver" and "Servant"

I believe this last suggestion is key. It is the key practice I see in three other people I admire: My mother Eva Flowers, Oprah Winfrey and The Honorable Minister Louis Farrakhan. Their intention is to serve and to improve the lives of others. What is that power behind their intention? Love.
Virtue Magazine would like to follow in the footsteps of these great ones by being of service to the businesses of our brothers and sisters. Each issue, we plan to have a “V-list”, a list for Businesses and people with Valuable services and products which will be featured in every issue of Virtue, in a “yellow pages-like section,” and also featured on Virtue’s website. Do you want people to be able to order your product all year round, not just Saviours' Day or Holy Day of Atonement? Are you a barber or do you make bean pies? Wouldn't it be nice to have a listing of Businesses around the Nation? Do you want THOUSANDS to know about your business?

The V-List, at a glance, will allow people to look up The Final Call, Newell Apparel, which features designs by Mother Khadijah Muhammad, Everlasting Spring Water, Dreambean, a bean chip, soup and flour company and many more. If we don’t support and promote our own businesses, no one else will.

What do you need to do to be on the V-List?
1. Have a valuable service or product.
2. Visit www.virtuemag.com
3. Click on Online store in the upper left hand corner.
4. Click on V-list button and pay only $25 to have your Name, business, website or email and phone number listed. Easy and inexpensive!!! What a wonderful Service! Register for the on the online of V-List by Feb. 1, 2011 and you will receive a FREE virtue magazine and may win an opportunity for your business to be featured in a story in Virtue Today Magazine.

(If you don't have a business and you just want to wish someone Happy Birthday, Anniversary etc., you may pay on the site and Email the "Happy Day" wish OR mail in the payment and listing to: Virtue Magazine, P.O. Box 61402,Raleigh, NC 27661 (For more information, call (510) 815-4591 or visit http://www.virtuemag.com/. The deadline for the V-List is February 1, 2011.)
Order now for the current special, Buy One magazine, Get One FREE at www.virtuemag.com's online store.)

Act Like a Lady and Dress Like a Queen

Should we, as Black women, keep our clothes on? Historically, “undressing” ourselves hasn’t benefited us much. When Lisa Bonet, of the Cosby Show, did a nude scene in a movie, her career took a downfall. When Janet Jackson had the “wardrobe malfunction,” her career stalled. Even Halle Berry, who had nude scenes and won an Oscar for her role in Monster’s Ball, still isn’t considered on the level of an Angela Bassett. One sister who recovered from her “nude scandal” was Vanessa Williams, the former Miss America who was de-crowned because of her nude pictures that showed up in a men’s magazine. I think we need to teach our daughters to be proud of their bodies by taking care of it and exercising and eating right. (I talk about this in the upcoming issue of Virtue Magazine at www.virtuemag.com). We would do our daughters an even better service by teaching them how to develop their God-given qualities and demonstrate to them that their true power is using their God-given talents and being of service to humanity, not displaying our bodies for the world to see.

Recently, Jada Pickett-Smith poses nude on the cover Essence Magazine and states that she did this to show her daughter how to be proud of her body. Now I wish Jada would have shared her workout secrets; that’s what she should have discussed(smile) and how she helps to educate her children. We are so much more than our bodies. Erykah Badu disrobes, until completely nude, in her music video, “Window Seat.” Now, Erykah, I believe will “recover” from this particular incident because her intent didn’t appear to be sexually stimulating, but mentally provoking. However, knowing the mind of men today, very few men were trying to “analyze” her message. I was asked recently in an interview for the e-zine H2H, the following questions, “What are your thoughts about these statements that almost imply "feminine liberation"? Do you believe the way these two women, in particular, went about this could have been done differently without taking their clothes off? Please explain. Do you believe that images such as the above give the girls and even women who look up to these particular celebrities mixed signals in what it means to be a proud Black woman?”

Well, I answered that I had no regrets for featuring Erykah Badu on the cover of Virtue Magazine, not once, but two times. The first was back in 2005. She was on the cover of Virtue with Minister Farrakhan and Sister Minister Donna Farrakhan in honor of her being a co-convener for the Millions More Movement.(E-zine downloads of Virtue magazine are available at www.virtuemag.com) We had her on the cover in honor of her generosity, which is a virtuous quality. She took the time to attend rallies with Minister Farrakhan to help make the march a success. The second time we had her on the cover was in honor of our 5th year Anniversary and to thank her for being our first “Celebrity” cover model. She sent me a quote via her publicist and said, “When you uplift women, you uplift the world. Sista Muhammad is doing just that and my hat goes off to her.” – Erykah Badu.

Now both of these sisters had their reasons for undressing. I think we can show pride in our body without undressing. I don’t think, we as black women, have a problem undressing. Look at BET. Again, we are being given a “limited” view of what is the true “essence” of our beauty. Minister Farrakhan said in Study Guide #19 “All of you that believe are Beautiful to God. He(God) has the Power to take your belief and turn it into absolutely indescribable beauty.” What is a virtue? It is a good or admirable quality. What are the qualities of a virtuous woman listed in Proverbs 31? It says a virtuous woman has the quality of being strong(“strength and honor are her clothing), God-fearing, hardworking, generous(“she reacheth forth her hands to the needy) and kind.

Virtue Magazine is here to help EMPOWER women and show them that we ALL have virtue or one of these good qualities in us. It is not limited to just being chaste. Can a prostitute get rewarded for being generous and feeding the hungry? Absolutely. Nevertheless, we as original women can have the potential to be the epitome of beauty, class and intelligence. Minister Farrakhan asked in a meeting once if women were willing to “protect their virtue.”

Our virtue, or our “spirit or essence of good” needs to be protected. Granted, no one is “holier than thou” and we have all fallen short in the eyes of God. Well, someone may say, not me! I am still a Virgin! Well, have you been self-righteous? Have you looked down upon someone else? Even self-righteousness is a sin. I think we need to teach our daughters to listen to truth and be honest and forgiving to ourselves.

I remember one day my daughter told me one of her classmates said she was ugly. I said, “Is it true? Are you ugly?” She said, “No.” I said, ”It is a lie, right?” She said, “Yes.” I said, “Do we listen to lies?” She said, “No, we don’t listen to lies. I am pretty.” Sometimes we have to walk our daughters through the logic. Women need to understand that we have to help set the moral tone and standard for our family. As difficult as it may be, and it is, we cannot let our loneliness or disappointment to cause us to seek approval from a man by offering ourselves. We see examples of this in our own lives and the lives of celebrities like Fantasia also. Most men will take advantage of us and not give us another thought. A committed man will stick with you. But many of men our too spiritually immature to see our value(or their own), so it is up to us to show and demonstrate our value by securing ourselves and leave men alone who are not willing to make a commitment to us.

We need to teach our young girls to be committed to God. HE is the one that blesses us. When all is said and done, HE(God)is always with us. All we have to do is “act like a lady, and dress like a Queen.”

(Need ideas on how to “Act like a Lady and Dress like a Queen?" Attend the workshops and fabulous fashion show that will be held at the world famous Celebrity Centre International in Los Angeles, CA on Saturday, August 28th. Workshops are from 8 a.m. -2 p.m. and the Fashion show is at 5 p.m. Queen Aminah’s Clothing and others will be featured. Virtue Today Magazine is the Media Sponsor for Mosque #27 M.G.T. & G.C.C’s 9th Women’s Conference. The Keynote address will be held at Muhammad’s Mosque No. 27 located at 5350 Crenshaw Blvd, Los Angeles, Ca 90043. Doors open at 10 a.m. For more info, visit www.mgtofmosque27.com/itinerary.html)

How to Lose Weight and avoid the Metabolism Myth

By Audrey Muhammad

In the past few months, I have received couple questions in regards to losing weight through body building. One question stated, “According to some health practitioners, it is best to eat every 2 hours to increase your metabolic rate which will help you burn fat quickly. If this is so, do I need to follow this system for a while until my rate increases then go back to eating 1 meal a day once I have my desired weight? By eating 1 meal everyday-will cause me only to maintain the weight, isn't it better to eat smaller meals every 2 hrs than to sit down and eat 1 huge meal that's bound to put you to sleep? Based on your studies of The Honorable Elijah Muhammad and your profession, will you give me some advice regarding increasing your metabolic rate to lose weight, maintaining weight and eating small meals vs. one meal to build muscle.”

In regards to increasing your metabolic rate, the main component
that increases your metabolic rate is exercise and building muscle. If eating every couple of hours was the key, then this society would be full of skinny people as opposed to the huge number of obese people that exist today. Eating every couple of hours or "jumpstarting” your metabolism in the morning by eating breakfast is because you are causing your "stomach muscles" to start working. It takes “energy” to digest food. Keep in mind that “metabolism is the energy expended by the body to maintain itself (for example, through breathing, digestion, and excretion). If you want to really increase your metabolic rate, exercise is the key.

The real question is "Do I want to be slender, look younger
and be healthier or do I want to just be slender. Practicing “how to eat
to live” will help us look years younger because we are not practicing a way of eating that robs our body of its vitality. In How to Eat To Live Book II it mentions, “Every meal that we put in our bodies has some poison in it. And, some of our food, as I have said in this book, takes 36 hours to digest. If we do not wait until our previous meal has been digested we add a new meal to the previous meal we have new poison, in its full strength, to aid the dying poison of the previous meal or to help it revive in strength; and we will continue to be sick(39). Eating every two hours will definitely increase the amount of toxins in your body. When does your body have time to digest the food?

The Honorable Elijah Muhammad states that "some of us eat so often and so much at a time that it actually has a tendency to make us small and skinny because we never allow time for the previous meal to digest and distribute the vitamins and proteins into the proper places and throughout our bloodstream. Rest, given to the digestive system of our bodies, is the thing that prolongs our lives. (How to Eat to Live Bk. I 27).

Either a person's body is doesn't get the nourishment it needs or he or she is exercising 1 hour or more a day to compensate for the several small meals. Who says you have to stuff yourself in one meal? If you take your time when you are eating and you are eating a balanced meal of protein, good fat and carbohydrate you should be fine. However if you are eating a meal high in carbohydrates such as Spaghetti with garlic bread, you are more likely feel tired. Can you eat your bean soup, salad and main course in moderate portions that will not make you "sleepy” because your body is using so much energy to digest the food. Sometimes, we just don't know when to stop eating.

One of the BEST foods to incorporate in a meal after a workout is the navy bean. A cup of navy beans provides about 15 grams of protein and are a good source of cholesterol-lowering fiber. The bean pie is a wonderful family dessert or you can give a child bean chips to go with their lunch sandwich. For more information on navy bean products (bean chips, bean flour etc.) visit http://www.trybeanpie.com/.

What else can you have after a workout? Have you tried incorporating a glass of pure milk at the end of a meal,” which is something, I was told, the Honorable Elijah Muhammad often made
available after a meal. Why a glass of pure milk? A glass of milk has a nice combination of calcium, carbohydrates and protein. A typical glass of whole organic milk (which I recommend for brothers) has approximately 150 calories 8 grams of protein.). What you eat accounts for about 80% of your success in a workout plan. God willing, more will be explained on this topic at another point in time. I bring this up because often health practitioners advocate eating 5 or 6 small meals a day to lose weight and to gain weight. Which one is it? Do I study more if I want to pass the class or do I study more if I want to fail the class? The logic isn't there. Until it is, "eat to live"—one good meal a day.

(Audrey Muhammad, a certified fitness instructor, is the author of Get Fit To Live: Be Your Best You! available at http://www.getfit2live.org/. Buy the book and get the Get Fit CD for FREE!. Please consult a physician before beginning any new workout or dietary plan. Send questions and comments to AudreyMuhammad@hotmail.com or call (510) 815-4591. Get Fit To Live: Be Your Best You! available at http://www.getfit2live.org/. Buy the book and get the Get Fit CD for FREE!)


Bean Pie Recipe

3 cups of sugar 3 cups cooked Navy beans
½ pound unsalted butter mashed through food strainer
2 Tbsps. Cinnamon (may substitute carrots or butter-
2 Tbsps. Corn starch nut squash)
5 well-beaten eggs 5 drops of natural yellow food color
2 cups evaporated milk 1 tsp. nutmeg
1 tsp. lemon extract 1 tsp. vanilla flavor

Directions: Heat oven to 450. In medium-size bowl cream together sugar and butter. Add eggs, one at a time: beat to blend. Add beans, beat. Ad milk, food coloring and extracts. Blend well; pour into pie shell and bake until filling has set well. (Want to make an Easy bean pie? Order a bean pie mix at www.trybeanpie.com)