Journey to Ital: Exploring Dietary Choices Step by Step

Start Where You Are: Mapping Your Current Plate

Before you change anything, Ital invites you to look honestly at how you eat right now—without shame, without bragging, just truth.

A Simple 3-Day Plate Check

For the next three days, without trying to be “good,” simply observe:

• What you eat and drink at each meal and snack.
• Roughly how much of your plate is:
  • Whole plant foods (fruits, vegetables, roots, peas, beans, whole grains, nuts, seeds).
  • Animal products (meat, fish, eggs, dairy).
  • Highly processed foods (fast food, packaged snacks, sugary drinks, microwave meals).
• How you feel before and after eating—energy, mood, clarity, heaviness.

Use a notebook or notes app. This is your personal data, not for anyone else’s eyes.

Place Yourself on the Ital Spectrum

After three days, ask: which description feels closest?

• Level 1 – Babylon Default: Most meals are meat-heavy, fried, or ultra-processed. Plants are often sides or garnishes. Sugary drinks and snacks are common.
• Level 2 – Mixed Plate: You eat some whole plant foods daily, but still rely heavily on meat, cheese, and processed convenience foods.
• Level 3 – Plant-Leaning: You regularly eat vegetarian or plant-based meals. Meat is occasional. Processed foods are limited but still present.
• Level 4 – Mostly Plant-Based: Animal products are rare or minimal. Most meals are built from whole plant foods, but there may still be frequent processed items or salt-heavy sauces.
• Level 5 – Ital-Oriented: Your diet is fully plant-based or nearly so, built around roots, peas, greens, fruits, and herbs. You minimize additives, heavy salt, and chemical-laced products.

There is no prize for a particular level. The value lies in knowing where you are standing, so you can choose the next small step.

Know Your “Why”: Motivations That Keep You Moving

Changing how you eat is deep work. It touches routine, memory, comfort, family, and even survival strategies. Without a clear why, it’s easy to slide back into old patterns whenever stress rises.

Four Common Ital Motivations

You may recognize yourself in one—or several—of these paths:

• Health & Healing:
  Maybe you’ve received a diagnosis (high blood pressure, diabetes, inflammation), or you’re simply tired of feeling tired. You want food that supports: energy, longevity, and recovery.
• Spirit & Clarity:
  You feel called to clear the body so the mind can receive more freely—through prayer, meditation, reasoning, creativity. Heavy foods feel like static on the channel.
• Culture & Roots:
  You want to honor African and Caribbean foodways, or reconnect with ancestral traditions. Ital feels like a way home.
• Justice & Earth:
  You’re concerned about animals, workers, land, and climate. You want your plate to align with your values of fairness and care.

Personal “Why” Statement

Take a moment to write a one- or two-sentence statement:

• “I am moving toward Ital because…”
• “When I imagine my future self, I see someone who…”

Keep this somewhere visible—on the fridge, in a journal, or as a note on your phone. You’ll need it when Babylon food comes calling.

Four Journey Styles: Choose Your Ital Path

Not everyone walks the journey the same way. Here are four common styles. You might move between them over time.

1. The Curious Taster

You’re exploring. You want to try Rasta Ital recipes and vegetarian dishes without committing to a full shift yet.

Key moves:

• One Ital-inspired meal per week to start, then two, then three.
• Experiment with herbs, roots, and peas to find flavors you love.
• Notice how different meals make you feel, without judgment.

2. The Flexi Roots Seeker

You’re ready to reduce meat and processed foods significantly, but not necessarily go fully plant-based yet.

Key moves:

• Make at least half your meals Ital-inspired or vegetarian.
• Reserve animal products for limited, intentional occasions.
• Gradually replace processed snacks with fruit, nuts, seeds, or whole foods.

3. The Plant-Strong Livity Builder

You’re ready to live mostly or fully plant-based, and you’re curious about Ital’s spiritual and cultural dimensions.

Key moves:

• Base your diet on whole grains, legumes, roots, fruits, and vegetables.
• Reduce or eliminate dairy and eggs if you still use them.
• Study Ital history and Rastafari livity, not just recipes.

4. The Ital Livity Walker

You’re moving toward—or already living—a fully Ital lifestyle, where food, mind, and spirit are consciously aligned.

Key moves:

• Minimize processed foods, added chemicals, and heavy salt.
• Use cooking as a daily meditation and spiritual practice.
• Share Ital principles with others through family meals, community, or teaching.

None of these paths is “higher” than the others—they simply describe where you are and where you feel called next.

A Step-by-Step Transition Plan Toward Ital

Here is a flexible 10-step map you can stretch across weeks or months, depending on your life. You don’t have to follow it perfectly; use it as a guide.

Step 1 – Add, Don’t Subtract (Yet)

Begin by adding more life-giving foods instead of immediately cutting things out:

• One extra fruit serving per day.
• One extra vegetable at lunch or dinner.
• One glass of water or bush tea in place of a sugary drink.

Step 2 – Claim One Ital Meal Slot

Choose one meal per day (often breakfast or dinner) and make it consistently plant-based and simple:

• Fruit and oats in the morning, or
• Roots, peas, and greens in the evening.

Step 3 – One Ital Day Per Week

Pick a weekly “Ital day” where all your meals are plant-based and as natural as possible: fruits, vegetables, roots, peas, grains, tea, water.

Step 4 – Clean Up the Pantry

Gradually swap:

• White rice → brown rice or other whole grains.
• Refined sugar snacks → fruit, nuts, home-baked treats.
• Instant noodles → whole grains with herbs and vegetables.

Step 5 – Make Beans & Roots Your Anchor

Set a goal to eat peas/beans and roots (sweet potato, yam, pumpkin, cassava, etc.) several times per week. Let them become your default comfort food.

Step 6 – Shrink Animal Products

If you still eat meat or dairy, begin to:

• Reduce portion sizes.
• Skip them in more meals each week.
• Replace them with lentils, chickpeas, tofu, or nuts where possible.

Step 7 – Tame the Salt & Packaged Sauces

Move your flavor center toward herbs and spices:

• Use thyme, scallion, garlic, ginger, pimento, and pepper boldly.
• Gradually reduce reliance on high-salt cubes and bottled sauces.
• Taste your food before adding salt; often the herbs are enough.

Step 8 – Build Weekly Ital Rituals

Ritual creates stability:

• A weekly big pot of peas or soup.
• Sunday or Sabbath Ital dinner with family.
• Evening bush tea as a wind-down ritual.

Step 9 – Reflect & Adjust

Every few weeks, pause and ask:

• How do I feel in my body—energy, digestion, sleep, mood?
• Which changes came easily? Which feel forced?
• What’s one change I can deepen, and one I can relax for now?

Step 10 – Decide Your Current Ital Level & Next Edge

Revisit the Ital spectrum from earlier and place yourself again. Then simply ask: “What is my next honest edge?” It might be:

• Going from one Ital day per week to two.
• Switching your main cooking oil to coconut or olive.
• Removing one category of Babylon food (like soda) for good.

Growth is not measured by how radical your changes look, but by how deeply they align with your values and capacity.

When the Journey Gets Messy: Common Roadblocks

Any real journey has stumbles—late-night cravings, social pressure, emotional eating, or sudden life changes. Ital does not deny this; it offers compassion and tools.

Cravings & Emotional Eating

When cravings hit:

• Pause and ask: “Am I hungry, or am I stressed, lonely, bored, or tired?”
• Keep Ital-friendly comfort foods around—sweet fruit, roasted roots, herbal tea with a little sweetness from dates.
• Allow some treats in a planned way, so you don’t swing between strictness and bingeing.

Social Pressure & Teasing

Friends or family might joke: “So you’re Rasta now?” or “You too big for regular food?”

You can respond calmly:

• “I’m just trying to eat in a way that makes me feel better.”
• “This is what works for my body and spirit right now.”

You don’t owe anyone a debate. Your body is your jurisdiction.

Slipping Back into Old Patterns

If you find yourself returning to heavy meat or junk food for a while:

• Resist the urge to declare the whole journey a failure.
• Return to one small Ital habit—like morning water with lime, or one Ital meal per day.
• Re-read your “why” statement and consider what support you might need (time, tools, community).

The Ital path is not a straight line; it’s a spiral. You return to familiar points with new awareness each time.

Reflection Prompts for a Conscious Ital Journey

Writing turns vague intentions into clear paths. Use these prompts in a journal or notes app:

Body & Energy

• “After an Ital-style meal, my body feels…”
• “After a heavy Babylon-style meal, my body feels…”
• “The times of day I feel most alive are…” (What did you eat before those times?)

Spirit & Mind

• “When I eat closer to Ital, my thoughts and emotions feel…”
• “Food that dulls my spirit usually looks like…”
• “Food that supports my clarity usually looks like…”

Culture & Belonging

• “When I cook roots, peas, and herbs, I feel connected to…”
• “Dishes from my childhood that still feel aligned with Ital principles include…”
• “New Ital-inspired traditions I’d like to start (weekly, monthly, yearly) are…”

Commitment & Next Steps

• “In the next 7 days, one small Ital step I will definitely take is…”
• “If I face resistance, I will remind myself that…”
• “Three people, places, or resources that support my Ital journey are…”

A Gentle 30-Day Ital-Inspired Roadmap

To make this concrete, here’s a sample 30-day journey you can adapt:

Week 1 – Awareness & Addition

• Keep a 3-day food log and place yourself on the Ital spectrum.
• Add fruit daily and one extra vegetable to lunch or dinner.
• Begin each morning with water and lime or plain water.

Week 2 – First Ital Day & Bean Habit

• Choose one Ital day (all meals plant-based and close to natural).
• Cook a big pot of beans or lentils; use them in multiple meals.
• Swap at least one sugary drink for bush tea.

Week 3 – Plant-Centered Plates

• Make half your dinners plant-based or Ital-inspired.
• Experiment with one Rasta Ital recipe and one vegetarian recipe with a roots twist.
• Reduce meat portions at meals where it’s still present.

Week 4 – Deepening & Reflection

• Increase to two Ital days per week if possible.
• Audit your pantry for one processed staple to replace with a whole-food option.
• Journal about how your body, mind, and spirit feel compared to Day 1.

At the end of 30 days, you’re not expected to be fully Ital. But you’ll have lived the difference in your own body and kitchen. From there, you decide how far, how fast, and in which direction to continue.

From Daily Choices to Whole Livity: What Comes Next

This chapter has brought Ital back to its most intimate arena: your everyday choices. You’ve seen how to:

• Honestly map your current eating patterns without shame.
• Clarify deep motivations that sustain long-term change.
• Choose a journey style that fits your life and capacity.
• Follow a step-by-step transition plan toward Ital principles.
• Work with, not against, the inevitable challenges of real life.
• Use journaling and reflection to make the journey conscious and meaningful.

But Ital has never been only about food. It has always pointed to something larger: how you live, think, speak, love, resist, and create. The pot is a powerful starting point, yet livity stretches far beyond the kitchen.

That’s why this series closes with a final, wider lens.

In Part 12 – “Beyond the Plate: Ital as a Whole Lifestyle”, we will:

• Explore Ital’s connections to movement, rest, community, music, and meditation.
• Look at work, money, and technology through an Ital lens.
• Consider how Ital shapes how we treat others, not just what we feed ourselves.
• Imagine future Ital-centered spaces—homes, farms, businesses, and communities.

You’ve walked through history, recipes, families, and global movements. You’ve begun to chart your own journey. The final step is to see Ital not only as a way of eating, but as a way of being—a steady flame of livity that touches every corner of your life.