Category: D-Stories

Questlove won the Oscar for Best Documentary Feature for Summer of Soul (…Or, When the Revolution Could Not Be Televised) on Sunday, but his weight loss journey is also an impressive accomplishment.

Questlove and I were motivated to change our lifestyles after seeing friends experience debilitating strokes.

Luther Vandross‘s stroke, at the age of 52 related to mismanaged type 2 diabetes, motivated me to stay active and eat and drink in moderation. For the past nineteen years, his stroke and untimely death inspired me to start Divabetic and encourage others to keep their house a home by learning to prevent diabetes health-related complications. 

Questlove’s motivation came from seeing many of his friends die from strokes in their 40s.

‘I was starting to hear the word ‘stroke’ just a little too much,’ Questlove said, as per Black American Web. 

‘Friends of mine have died of strokes at 40, and peers of mine have died of strokes in their 40s, and it was disturbing me.’

Stroke is the fifth leading cause of death in America. Stroke is a “brain attack” that occurs when blood that brings oxygen to your brain stops flowing and brain cells die.

High blood pressure and obesity are two of the biggest risk factors for stroke, and the number of African-Americans with these medical conditions is on the rise.

Questlove used to eat everything without consideration for his health and was not very active before his weight-loss journey. He admitted it was easy for him to fall into bad habits by drinking and partying all night on regular occasions. He gained weight as time passed, and at his heaviest, he reached 488 pounds of body weight.

Questlove’s own weight and the death of his friends were a warning to him. So he made up his mind to change his lifestyle. He began by completely changing his diet. Next, he started consuming a healthy and balanced diet, primarily vegan foods. He also avoided those items high in carbohydrate content, such as gluten, wheat, and most dairy products. 

He focused more on eating green vegetables and fresh fruits.

‘That’s another thing I’ve learned relaxin’, sleep, yoga,’ Questlove says. ‘I didn’t know that that’s as crucial as going hard, as working’ hard, as exercising hard…And what my yoga instructor, what my trainer, what they’re trying to teach me is that, ‘No, it’s sleep.’ 

That’s important. That’s just as important as working’ out.’ 

And that has helped him both lose and maintain his weight effectively.

Summer of Soul, directed by Questlove, tells the unjustly forgotten story of the 1969 Harlem Cultural Festival, which included performances from Nina Simone, Stevie Wonder, Sly & the Family Stone, Mahalia Jackson and more iconic artists operating in the ’60s, making the case that had this not been a primarily Black festival, it would have been as well-remembered and celebrated as Woodstock, which took place in New York that same year.

“It’s not lost on me that the story of the Harlem Cultural Festival should have been something that my beautiful mother and my dad should have taken me to when I was five years old,” Questlove said, saluting his late father while his mother watched from the audience in tears. “This is such a stunning moment for me right now. But it’s not about me. It’s about marginalized people in Harlem that needed to heal from pain.”