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Erkyah Badu vegan

While hosting a Soul Food Vegan Dinner Party on Monday in New York City to celebrate her second time hosting the Soul Train Awards (which air November 27), Erykah Badu talked about making healthy eating a priority in her life for more than 20 years. By enjoying a diet full of raw veggies, fruits and more, Erykah Badu continues to look, and more importantly, feel pretty spectacular.

“I’ve been a vegetarian since my senior year of high school, that was 1989, and I’ve eaten like a vegan since 1997, so it’ll be 20 years next year,” Badu shared with PEOPLE. “I wouldn’t call myself a vegan because I don’t subscribe to any type of organizations. It’s just what’s best for my body. If I was a Lamborghini I would want to put the best gas in it.

Aside from raw veggies and fruits, a vegan diet also consists of nuts, grains, legumes, seeds, fresh juices, herbs, mushrooms and not using products that come from animals. Badu had vegan chef Bryant Terry on-hand, who created soul food concoctions that even a lover of meat might find alluring. That included vegan chilli cups, glazed carrots, braised mustard greens, barbecue tempeh and purple potato soup.

As for Badu’s diet favorites, she keeps her vegan choices pretty interesting. “I eat raw mostly, kale salad, avocados, fruits, vegetables and alkaline water,” she said. “One of my favorite dishes is my own coconut collard greens.”

As Badu has stated in the past, health and vitality have always been a priority for the 45-year-old singer. To her, vegan food is “soul food in its truest form.”

“Soul food means to feed the soul,” Badu told VegNews in 2008. “And, to me, your soul is your intent. If your intent is pure, you are pure.”

 

Images via Splash and WENN

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