I often hear people say...."Nigerian food is too heavy/starchy".....actually I would rather say the real traditional Nigerian foods are rich in carbohydrates with inherent vitamins and minerals as a result of minimal chemical/factory processing which leave them largely organic!
All cultures/countries/peoples of the world have their own different sources of carbohydrate rich foods such as potatoes, bread, pasta, rice, corn etc., so lets make no mistakes about carbohydrate being quite an important part of a healthy diet. This is because carbohydrates provide the fuel our bodies need to function well. Now, how much carbohydrate we consume and how often we consume it, is clearly a matter for consideration....
The amount of carbs we need in our bodies depends on a lot of factors: age, sex, lifestyle and type of work/vocation we do. Consuming too much carbohydrates (of any type - not just those from Nigerian food) and not expending the energy they provide in your body will lead to weight gain, because the excess energy is converted to fat. Over time, this will lead to obesity and possibly type 2 diabetes.
While some people take a drastic action by removing carbohydrates from their diets completely, (evident in some fad diets), instead, I would advocate you eat them in moderation taking into context your age, sex and lifestyle. More importantly, get an understanding of the content of your food, ie find out more about their calorific composition and let this guide you on how much you require/should eat on a daily basis!
As an example I have provided details of one of Nigeria's most popular yam dish; pounded yam.
Get full calorie and nutritional data of over 200 Nigerian food and food ingredients from my mobile App Cook! Nigerian. Available on iTunes to download instantly.
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All cultures/countries/peoples of the world have their own different sources of carbohydrate rich foods such as potatoes, bread, pasta, rice, corn etc., so lets make no mistakes about carbohydrate being quite an important part of a healthy diet. This is because carbohydrates provide the fuel our bodies need to function well. Now, how much carbohydrate we consume and how often we consume it, is clearly a matter for consideration....
The amount of carbs we need in our bodies depends on a lot of factors: age, sex, lifestyle and type of work/vocation we do. Consuming too much carbohydrates (of any type - not just those from Nigerian food) and not expending the energy they provide in your body will lead to weight gain, because the excess energy is converted to fat. Over time, this will lead to obesity and possibly type 2 diabetes.
While some people take a drastic action by removing carbohydrates from their diets completely, (evident in some fad diets), instead, I would advocate you eat them in moderation taking into context your age, sex and lifestyle. More importantly, get an understanding of the content of your food, ie find out more about their calorific composition and let this guide you on how much you require/should eat on a daily basis!
As an example I have provided details of one of Nigeria's most popular yam dish; pounded yam.
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| Calorie Content of Pounded Yam |
Get full calorie and nutritional data of over 200 Nigerian food and food ingredients from my mobile App Cook! Nigerian. Available on iTunes to download instantly.
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Hello there, how are you doing? iTunes kept telling me the app wasn't available
ReplyDeleteHiya, thanks so much for the interest. Cook!Nigerian App is currently unavailable on iTunes. A newer version is being developed. Thanks again for stopping by.
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