Modern health conversations often focus on treating symptoms rather than addressing the root causes of disease. But what if true wellness begins not in a pharmacy or hospital, but on our plates and in our beliefs?
On an episode of “A Healthy Point of View” podcast, Sam Tejada, CEO and Founder of Liquivida®, sits down with Giovanni D. Henry, an armed forces veteran, holistic wellness leader, and CEO of Faith and Roots. What unfolds is a powerful conversation about culture, nutrition, faith, and personal responsibility, one that challenges how we think about food, medicine, and the way we care for our bodies.
Food Isn’t Medicine Anymore — It’s Poison | Giovani Henry | Ep. 119
From Brooklyn to the Armed Forces: A Journey Rooted in Culture
Giovanni Henry grew up in Brooklyn, New York, in a Caribbean household shaped by Trinidadian and Jamaican traditions. Food was central to family life, rich, flavorful, and abundant. Plates were stacked high with rice, meat, and gravy, meals meant to satisfy hunger and bring comfort.
Like many from Caribbean and minority communities, fullness was equated with nourishment. If you were full, you were “good.” But as Giovanni would later discover, being full does not always mean being healthy.
His early adulthood included intense physical training while preparing for service in the United States Marine Corps, followed by service in the U.S. Army. Despite being physically fit, his diet of heavy late-night meals, oversized portions, and processed foods left him feeling sluggish and unwell. Chest tightness, fatigue, and inflammation became warning signs that something wasn’t right.
Those experiences planted the first seed of transformation.
The Shift Toward Holistic Living
Giovanni’s introduction to holistic nutrition didn’t happen overnight. It began with simple changes: reducing portion sizes, adding more vegetables, and paying attention to how food made his body feel. He describes a pivotal moment when his plate began to look “more like a garden instead of a morgue.”
That shift eventually led him through veganism and into a plant-based lifestyle, one centered not on labels or trends, but on real, whole foods with ingredients he could recognize and pronounce. For Giovanni, plant-based eating wasn’t about restriction; it was about nourishment, intention, and longevity.
He draws a clear distinction between vegan and plant-based diets. A food can technically be vegan and still be ultra-processed, sugar-loaded, and inflammatory. Plant-based living, as Giovanni defines it, prioritizes foods in their most natural state: vegetables, fruits, legumes, roots, herbs, and minimally processed ingredients that support the body rather than burden it.
Culture, Convenience, and the Carbohydrate Trap
Giovanni and Sam reflect on how cultural habits shape health outcomes. In many Caribbean, Hispanic, and inner-city communities, diets are dominated by refined carbohydrates, fried foods, and sugar. Rice often takes center stage, not as a side, but as the bulk of the meal.
Historically, these foods were survival staples: affordable, filling, and accessible. But over time, those survival foods became everyday habits, passed down through generations without question.
Giovanni explains how excessive carbohydrates and processed foods lead to chronic inflammation, the underlying driver of many modern diseases. Feeling tired after a large meal, often dismissed as “the itis,” is actually the body working overtime to digest food that lacks nutritional value.
The Food Environment No One Wants to Talk About
One of the most striking points Giovanni raises is what he calls the “triangle”: fast food, hospitals, and pharmaceutical companies. In many low-income neighborhoods, fast food chains accepting government assistance sit blocks away from clinics and pharmacies. Healthy grocery options, meanwhile, are scarce or nonexistent.
The result is a system that profits from poor nutrition and chronic illness. People are not taught how to eat well; they are taught how to manage disease.
Sam emphasizes that modern medicine, while lifesaving in many cases, is largely reactive. Instead of prioritizing lifestyle change, stress reduction, and nutrition, treatment often begins with medication, followed by more medication to manage side effects.
Food as Medicine or Silent Poison
Giovanni believes food is meant to heal, not harm. When consumed intentionally, whole foods support heart health, brain function, immune strength, and metabolic balance. When food is ultra-processed, stripped of nutrients, and overloaded with sugar and seed oils, it becomes a slow-acting poison.
Chronic illnesses like diabetes, high blood pressure, heart disease, and even certain cancers are not inevitable. They are largely influenced by daily habits, especially what we eat.
He challenges the notion that these conditions are genetic or tied to race. Instead, he points to dietary patterns and mineral deficiencies as the real culprits.
Faith, Stewardship, and the Body as a Temple
Faith plays a central role in Giovanni’s philosophy. He references biblical principles that emphasize stewardship of the body, self-control, and intentional living. If the body is a temple, he argues, then caring for it is not optional; it is a responsibility.
Many people pray over meals, asking for nourishment, yet continue to consume foods that damage their health. Giovanni calls this contradiction out plainly: faith without action is meaningless.
Eating well, he believes, is not just a health choice; it is a spiritual one.
Renewing the Plate Through Simple Swaps
Rather than promoting extreme restriction, Giovanni encourages “renewing the plate” through small, sustainable swaps:
- Replacing sugary cereals with ancient grains
- Choosing wild rice or quinoa over refined white rice
- Using lentil or chickpea pasta instead of traditional spaghetti
- Swapping processed bread for sourdough or sprouted grains
- Exploring roots, mushrooms, and legumes as alternatives to meat
These changes reduce inflammation, increase fiber intake, and restore balance to the gut, where over 70% of the immune system resides.
Why Minerals Matter More Than We Think
A major focus of Giovanni’s work centers on mineral replenishment. Minerals like potassium, magnesium, iron, and copper play essential roles in heart rhythm, muscle recovery, blood circulation, and brain health.
Modern diets, dominated by ultra-processed foods, are severely lacking in these nutrients. That deficiency contributes directly to fatigue, metabolic dysfunction, and cardiovascular disease.
Giovanni’s work with sea moss through Faith and Roots is rooted in this understanding, not as a cure-all, but as a mineral-rich food that supports the body’s natural systems.
A Call to Do Better
Giovanni doesn’t seek to force plant-based living on others. His goal is simpler and more powerful: help people make better choices, one plate at a time. To stop accepting chronic illness as normal. To question what we were taught. And to choose health, not convenience, whenever possible.
Renewing the plate isn’t just about food. It’s about breaking cycles, reclaiming health, and honoring the body we’ve been given.
And as Giovanni reminds us, when we honor our health, we honor the One who created it.