Various modes to lose weight with Nigerian Food

There are ten modes to lose weight with Nigerian Food.

Eat less Carbohydrate

The typical Nigeria Diet is heavy on Carbohydrate, a sample daily food utilization might include: Yam for breakfast, Eba or garri for lunch and Rice for supper. Most food guides suggest 6-7 portions of grain products (Carbohydrate based) for adult female & 8 portions for adult male.

To place things in perspective, daily carbohydrate requirement for the average adult, based on a 2 thousand Calories diet will be 3 hundred gram per day. In food Lingo, 300g  of carbohydrate will consist of: 2 slices of bread for breakfast (70g), 2 cups of garri (156g) for lunch and 11/2 cups of rice for dinner (68g).

The body store excess carbohydrate as FAT & continuous excess carbohydrate consumption result in increase weight gain. When trying to lose weight, it is enormously vital to watch carbohydrate ingestion, consuming under the daily carbohydrate necessity means that your body will be forced to access stored energy (fat) which translates to weight loss.

Example of Heavy Carbohydrate Nigerian foods: Garri, yam, pounded yam, semovita, spaghetti, Rice, cornflakes, bread, cocoyam.

Consume less palm oil

Palm oil & palm kernel oil are high in saturated fat and calories. Due to the high calories and fat content in palm oil, avoid using this & if you must, use only a small amount. Also when you purchase precooked items (e.g. plantain chips) look at ingredient list. Most chip companies fry their sweet chips in palm oil; avoid these in so far as possible.

Watch the salt (magi)

We introduce lots of salt into our diet when we cook with packaged seasoning mixes. The typical seasoning like Knorr, Maggi, Adobo etc. contains high amount of salt in them, accumulate more table salt to dishes that previously contain these seasonings means salt overload.

Salt in itself has little to no calories, but high consumption of salt leads to short-term weight gain as it causes the body to preserve water. On the contrary, low consumption of salt will result in temporary weight loss as it causes the body to eject water. It is significant to note that salt has no direct interaction with fat gain or loss; on the other hand excess water preservation will make a person appear bigger than they actually are.

 Watch What You Drink

We consume loads of surplus calories from drinks, as we are more liable to pay more interest to what we eat than drink. Drinks are equally as significant when it comes to weight loss. Pop (Soda/minerals) should be avoided all together. Some drinks that are professed as Healthy drinks can also contribute to extra weight gain, a usual 300ml of malt drink such as contains 48g of Carbohydrate, and this is the same as one cup of white rice.  The point is not that you should not consume health drinks (malts & juices), but don’t neglect the calories in these drinks when it comes to your daily diet.

Choose Meat Wisely

It’s extremely difficult for Africans to ignore red meat; it is a staple in most soups & sauces. If you must eat red meat, make sure to trim off as much excess fat as possible. The suggested red meat option for dieter is goat meat; goat meat is comparable to beef in protein but contains 50% less calories & extensively less fat.

Oven bake and oven fry (avoid deep frying)

I am sure it is a no brainier that we should avoid fried foods when trying to lose weight. Fried foods introduce high amounts of calories, oil and fat into our diet which makes it more difficult to lose weight. An alternative to frying is oven frying and oven roasting. With a fraction of the oil required for deep frying, oven frying helps to save a bundle of fat and calories.

Avoid high calorie snacks (gala, Fan Yogo, lacasera, buns, chin chin, Puff puff, plantain chips

The typical snack on the Nigeria street contains less than 225 calories. When trying to lose weight, snacks are diet sabotage. It is extremely easy to consume high calories snack & ignore the calorie count. Its okay to indulge every now & again but do not underestimate the effect of small chops and small snacks on your diet. Carry healthy snacks in your purse, so you’re not forced to buy unhealthy street munchies. High fiber munchies like granola bar will help you lose weight. 

Eat Spicy Foods

Hot peppers have been shown to move up your metabolism, but the real advantage of peppery food is that they sluggish your eating.  When you eat excessively fast, by the time your body signals it is full, you have overeaten. Eating more slowly is a good weight-loss strategy & making food spicier is an easy way to do it. Also spicy foods require water, by increasing your water intake you feel full faster.

Eat More Fiber

Fiber helps you feel full sooner & stay full longer which means binge eating and less snacking. Foods that are high in fiber include Legumes and Beans.

WALK, WALK, WALK and exercise

The last point is not about food, but weight loss cannot be achieved with food alone. To lose weight, you have to expense more energy than you consume & an easy way to expense energy is to exercise. Exercising does not always require gym memberships; try home workout DVDs, walk for 30mins a day, go to the park with your kids (nieces and nephews), join a sport league like soccer and volleyball, take the stairs. Any activity that elevates your heart rate for an extended period of time counts as a workout (all you married folks can get creative). It does not really matter what exercise agenda you chose, you just required to be consistent.

Good Luck with your weight loss purposes!!!