Bobby Price, aka PharmD, is a former pharmacist, farmer, author, who educates people on how to heal themselves through fruits and a plant-based diet. His company iHeart Fruit Box specializes in medicinal fruits such as soursop, lychee, and more.
Price opened up at Taliah Waajid’s World Natural Hair: Health and Beauty Experience about switching career paths and how he encourages people of color on eating right
What made you switch from a pharmacist to a detox specialist?
I lost all of my grandparents by the time I was in [the] 10th grade to some form of chronic disease. My maternal grandmother, who I was absolutely in love with, I was at her deathbed when she passed and it impacted me a lot – to the point that I said I wanted to make sure I could help somebody [like] my grandmother in the future … The unfortunate thing is the same year I lost my grandmother, I was diagnosed with high blood pressure at the age of 16. This was despite the fact I only had about six or seven percent body fat. I was very athletic and very much in shape, so I chalked it up to genes. For 10 or 12 years, I just lived with high blood pressure until my late 20’s. Then all of a sudden, I’m working in the hospital and what I’m noticing is that I’m giving patients advice, that I’m not taking myself. In an attempt to heal myself, I started different types of these pre-packaged meals that didn’t work. I started exercising differently that didn’t work. Finally, out of desperation, I said, “I’m going to try a plant-based vegan diet for about 30 days.” Then [after] 21 days, I lost 17 pounds and my blood pressure came down.
How is the iHeart Fruit Box improving the health of consumers?
What I noticed was there was a pattern in certain fruits that were very medicinal – like soursop. Soursop has a lot of studies behind it that confirm that it is not only anti-cancerous but it’s also anti-aging … I essentially created a fruit force and anytime I do anything, like when I learned how to heal myself of high blood pressure, I always want to share it with my community.
What information did you share Taliah Waajid’s World Natural Hair: Health and Beauty Experience regarding health ?
Naturally, it was addressing the issues that are widespread in our community around what the barriers are to being healthy. We took a deep dive into discussing everything from, the education system, to food deserts, to some of those solutions, and how you can support Black farmers and healthcare professionals like myself who want to see our community thrive, get healthy, and also be able to be their own healer.
What do you want people to take away from your book Vegucation over Medication?
People need to have the right perspective when they think, “I’m going to eat healthy too,” because it is an act of self-love when you eat healthy.
