Ald. Emma Mitts (37th) on Friday used a seemingly innocuous resolution recognizing World Diabetes Day to talk about her own battle against diabetes and deliver a tough love message to her colleagues about healthy eating.
Eleven months ago, Mitts embarked on what she called an “emotionally important journey” that saved her life. She changed her eating habits and got diabetes and sky-high blood pressure under control.
It started on a day she was feeling lousy, but dragged herself anyway to a ribbon-cutting ceremony for a wellness center in her ward.
The doctors there convinced Mitts to get into what she called a “proof-of-life” program that taught her how the high-fat, high-salt foods and sugary desserts she and so many of her colleagues and family members love to eat were killing them.
At first, she was a reluctant participant. She felt like she was too busy helping others to help herself.
But Mitts said she was scared straight when her doctor asked a simple question: “Do you want to live?” He told her, “If you don’t help yourself, you can’t help nobody else.“
“I chose life,” Mitts said at Friday’s City Council meeting. “Therefore, I no longer eat foods that are harmful to my body… I no longer eat the food that was going to take away my life: Grease, butter, sugar all of those things that hinder us as we get older.
“Our young people are dying because of diabetes, high-blood pressure,” Mitts continued. “We have lost what the four basic food groups are. Food for life. God-made food, plant-based food. That’s what we need. Healthy food, fresh produce, vitamins that you can eat.”
Just in time for Thanksgiving, Mitts admonished her colleagues and constituents to “stop eating all of the things that we want and I know we like — ribs, Italian beef. I know we like all of those things. But if you think about it before you bite… do you want to live or do you want to die — that will take the taste out of your mouth.”
Mitts acknowledged that her message about healthy eating is ill-timed. In less than two weeks, Americans will gather around the Thanksgiving table for the annual feast that forces everyone to loosen their belts a few notches and gain a few pounds.
“Stay on the battlefield because it is a battle. You see your family members eating all this food, you want to grab it too. Go to Thanksgiving dinner. I know they’re gonna have that turkey laying out for you… You don’t have to give up everything,” she said.
Mitts then turned to her West Side colleague, Budget Committee Chair Jason Ervin (28th), who has noticeably lost weight in recent months.
“Eat a small portion, Chairman Ervin. A small portion… We don’t have to load our plate where we’re eating up everything,” Mitts told her colleague.
When Mayor Brandon Johnson told Mitts, “Direct your comments to me,” she softened her message.
“Chairman Ervin, I’m not meaning any harm. I appreciate your role and what you’re doing. You’re doing a lot of great work to help yourself. I like to see people when they help themselves,” she said.
Ervin took the health lecture in stride, telling Mitts, “I’ll meet you at MacArthur’s in the 37th Ward,” a soul food restaurant on the West Side, “and we’ll have some greens or something else.”