The African Heritage Diet is a way of eating based on the healthy traditional diets of people with African roots. Whether you want to follow the culinary traditions of the American South, the Caribbean, South America or Africa, you can use the African Heritage Diet Pyramid as a guide to enjoy the foods and dishes that make this way of eating so very healthy and delicious.

The African Heritage Diet, as shown on the African Heritage Diet Pyramid, is based on whole, fresh plant foods like colorful fruits and vegetables, especially leafy greens; tubers like yams and sweet potatoes; beans of all kinds; nuts and peanuts; rice, flatbreads and other grain foods, especially whole grains; healthy oils; homemade sauces and marinades of herbs and spices; fish, eggs, poultry and yogurt; and minimal consumption of meats and sweets. Whether we look to Virginia or Jamaica, Nigeria or Brazil, we find this overall healthy eating pattern shared by all of their culinary histories, with distinct foods featured by each region. It is this “big picture” framework of the African Heritage Diet Pyramid that all people can use to claim their best health.

The African Heritage Diet and the old ways of eating connect healthy eating and enjoyment in a way that is powerfully flavorful, simple, and affordable, and that naturally meets the dietary guidelines that health professionals promote today. It is filled with high-nutrient foods and is naturally low in processed sugar, unhealthy types of fats, and sodium. We invite you to take a new look at your heritage and your health, and to enjoy the foods, and the ways of cooking and eating, that are a part of your healthy heritage.

African Heritage Diet 101 Brochure

The African Heritage Diet features familiar foods prepared in easy and affordable ways. Learn more about the health benefits and the “how-to” of this exciting way to claim health through heritage. Check out our latest resource, Welcome to the African Heritage Diet. This trifold brochure, available either as a downloadable PDF or in hard copy, provides 10 simple steps to get you started eating the African Heritage Way!

Download African Heritage Diet 101 (3.9 MB).

To purchase hard copies of the brochure, please visit our Oldways store.