Alaffia: Peace, Health, and Wellbeing

Last year my primary goal, through my blog, was to shine a spotlight on businesses that are doing right for the world. I tend to be distrustful of traditional business practices as it seems that the focus is on profit above all else. Above fair work environments, above fair treatment of laborers, and most certainly over the health of the consumer. Which is why I choose to work in a business with a cooperative business structure. As an employee of a cooperative I am responsible to our owners (which are our  shoppers) to provide healthy products.  It is because of this, and the research involved, that my eyes have been opened to some businesses that are really trying to make the world a better place through profit.


This week I had the great privilege to attend the Alaffia Ladies of Togo Tour in Minneapolis. We

Olowo-n'djo and his mother

were pleasantly greeted by owner, Olowo-n'djo, Adide Awesso, Director of Community Support, Mawule Houmey, Manager of Traditional Oil Extraction, and Ahoumondom Bamassi, Manager of the Togo Artisan Center. In Africa, food is offered as an expression of love and kindness, and it was in this spirit that a traditional Tongolese meal was offered to us. Throughout the afternoon we learned of the tremendous work Alaffia is doing to help empower the people of Togo. Olowo-n'djo, with seven siblings, a 6th grade education, and sometimes living without enough food, was taught the importance of giving from

Abide Awesso

his mother. He realized early on that although monetary donations are needed, they are not sustainable. Alaffia, which translates to a state of peace, health, and well being, was founded on a need to empower the women of Togo by finding a way to use their skills and knowledge to help them rise out of poverty.  The benefits of the shea nut are many, the trees are prevalent in this part of western Africa, and the tradition of oil extraction has been passed down, through the women, for generations. It is through these traditions that the women's cooperatives of Alaffia were formed.

It was intense, listening to the ladies of Togo. Abide, a midwife by training, travels throughout Togo

Mawule Houmey

on her motorbike working to ensure proper pre- and post-natal care, as well as tirelessly attempting to eradicate female genital mutilation which is still practiced in this part of Africa and leads to both physical and mental weakness in its women. Mawule, an accountant by trade, learned the tradition of oil extraction from her mother, who learned it from her mother. She is now in charge of both shea and coconut oil extraction for Alaffia, which really speaks to the purity and tradition of their products. Ahoumondom manages Alaffia's new undertaking: Queen Alaffia. Queen Alaffia

Ahoumondom Bamassi

focuses on the sewing abilities of the women of Togo, producing the beautiful headbands we have in our store, as well as a line of purses and scarves. Her goal is to eliminate prostitution by employing these women at a fair wage.

Each woman deserves a blog post of her own to truly capture what it is she does for the women of Togo. I left feeling very lucky to reside in a country that supports my rights instead of ripping them away through poverty, lack of education, and mutilation, and humbled by the sometimes insurmountable fight these women face.



Supporting and empowering the women of Togo is only a drop in the bucket of what Alaffia is doing for that region. More than Fair Trade, Alaffia is certified Fair for Life by the Institute for Marketecology, which is the most renowned international certifications for organic and social accountability. Here is a list of more ways in which Alaffia has helped Togo in the past
12 years:
*Reforestation Project: 53,125 Trees Planted
*Eyeglasses Project: 14,200 Eyeglasses Donated
*Education Projects: 10 Schools Built
23,700 School Supply Recipients
1,855 School Benches Built (so the children are allowed space to learn instead of crowded together on the ground)
7,100 Bicycles Donated (so children can make it to school)
*Maternal Health Project: 4,142 Births Funded

And they make lotion! And shampoo! And those lovely baskets!. It's crazy to think about, but when you buy Alaffia products you are directly helping the people of Togo. In regular distribution there are at least 5 middlemen between you and the farmer. With Alaffia it is nut gatherer to Alaffia Cooperative to you the consumer. This is why you are able to purchase a clean product at a very reasonable price and help the world in the process. Alaffia truly shines a little ray of hope on what the future can hold for sustainable business practices.

"Courage doesn't always roar. Sometimes courage is the little voice at the end of the day that says I'll try again tomorrow." -Mary Anne Radmacher

Happy Healthy New Year!

It's a new year, and with every new year comes the inevitable resolution to make it a healthier one. Working in a health food store I do notice more fruits and veggies in those grocery carts this time of year, and more people coming in to get some information on healthier options. I love it! I just feel there are too many misconceptions about what constitutes a healthy diet. With the release of the new Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2015-2020, I think it might be a good time to dispel some of these misconceptions so we can not only create a healthier 2016, but make all our years healthier ones. 

Misconception: I could shed these extra pounds and be healthy if I could only find the right diet.
Fact: Until recently, diet has been defined as habitual nourishment, or simply: "food and drink regularly provided or consumed". The current definition has evolved to describe a method of eating that involves restrictions. The reality is that when we begin to restrict ourselves the body retreats to those prehistoric days, when we were hunter-gatherers. It thinks you are in a state of famine, so then holds on to fat to protect itself. In the long run you not only put the weight back on, but more often than not put on more pounds than before you went on the "diet".
New Dietary Guidelines: The best recommendation to come out of the new guidelines was this: make healthy choices for the long-term with an emphasis on finding a healthy eating pattern that works for you. I really like this. "Diets", as we've come to define them, are a very short-term solution. According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans 2015-2020, "About half of all American adults have one or more preventable, diet-related chronic diseases, including cardiovascular disease, type 2 diabetes, overweight and obesity."  Over half! Looking far down the road to your health not only helps to make a great today, it will go a long way in helping prevent those chronic illnesses. 
Homework: Read "Smart People Don't Diet: How the Latest Science Can Help You Lose Weight Permanently" by Charlotte Markey.
What do I do now?: Slowly begin to incorporate healthy foods in to your diet. Our bodies prefer slow changes. If I had a dime for every time someone said to me, " I tried to eat healthy and I ended up sick!". If you make drastic changes, like say eat a diet of mostly processed foods, decide to eat healthy, then spend a few days eating a bunch of fruits and veggies, then yes, you may get sick. This is your body detoxifying. The fresh, nutritious foods are driving out the toxins. Your body needs time to adjust to the change. Pick one vegetable, find a recipe that includes that vegetable, and include it in your next meal. Go from there, slowly adding healthier options at a comfortable pace.

Misconception: I'll be fine if I stick to my proper calorie allotment.
Fact:  By this logic you could consume all the calories you need from a sugary beverages and cake and be all good. We know this is not true because calories are not created equal! A calorie from a fresh piece of salmon is a far cry from a calorie from a donut, yet we all still need to note the calories in any given product. I love (by which I mean I really don't love) when someone scoffs at the amount of calories in a tub of ice cream, an item that without a doubt contains an unhealthy quantity of sugar. In cultures where people eat naturally what grows around them, or what they grow themselves, the calorie count could be off the charts according to our governments requirements named in the Estimated Calorie Needs per Day, by Age, Sex, and Physical Activity Levels. Yet if these calories are from foods that nourish the body, you tend to see very little problems with heart disease, obesity, cancer and diabetes-all of which are debilitating illnesses prevalent under your typical American diet where the focus tends to be on calories.
New Dietary Guidelines: The new guidelines do not state anything too specific about calories, but it does reiterate continually the need to stay, "within calorie limits". I'm not going to tell anyone to throw out all thoughts of calories when choosing foods, but I do think that soon we'll see a shift in focus from calories to nutrient density.
Homework: Watch the documentary "Fed Up" and read the book "What I Eat: Around the World in 80 Diets" by Peter Menzel.
What do I do now?: As mentioned above, slowly begin to incorporate more nutritious foods in to your eating patterns. Also, begin the process of adding physical activity in to your life. The path to health is not just food, a healthy diet and physical activity go hand in hand. Again, go slow, find something you will enjoy.

Misconception: The government has my back, they wouldn't allow anything to market that would harm me.
Fact: A lot of the food we consume today is not really food. They are products produced to taste good so that you will buy more so that someone else can make a bunch of money. Very little is regulated. Our food is literally making us sick. Educated nutritionists, doctors and scientists all know  this, yet the general public is still oddly misinformed. We have one of the most educated populations, yet we are also one of the most obese, unhealthy populations to ever roam this Earth. Do you ever wonder why that is? We all know what it takes to eat healthy, so why don't we?
New Dietary Guidelines: The government guidelines released on Thursday state that sugar should account for no more than 10 percent of your daily calories. Which is great! Sugar should be limited. But do you know what 10 percent of your daily calories looks like? According to the governments list of estimated calorie intake, I can eat 200 calories of sugar per day, but what does 200 calories look like when the only indication of sugar in any given product is listed in grams? Do we need to bring a calculator with us to the grocery store?  The answer is yes! Because sugar is in EVERYTHING, even places you wouldn't expect, like salad dressing and pasta sauce. I have done the calculations and my allotted 200 calories of sugar equals 50 grams of sugar which means I can eat 12.5 teaspoons of sugar a day. Note: humans lived for centuries with a sugar intake equivalent to approximately two pieces of candy per year.
Homework: Watch the documentary "Hungry for Change" and "That Sugar Film"
What do I do now?: Sugar reduction is no doubt of paramount importance, but even more pressing is this: With incredible access to the best medical care, education, and resources such as clean drinking water and healthy food, why are Americans one of the most overweight, over-medicated and unhealthy populations?

Have a Healthy, Happy New Year!
.