• Friday, March 29, 2024
businessday logo

BusinessDay

Eat right

Diet-Food

I am often at a loss when I arrive at an event and the food is placed before me. Gazillion amounts of food of different varieties. From when I was a little girl I just would look at the array of food and get tired even without touching anything. Still happens to me today. So as I grew older I began to learn how to eat right and how to eat appropriately. First off I was never really a pastry person. Although I loved cakes I did not gorge on it. Not for me meat pies full of potatoes and things that do not even resemble protein. I was famous for taking out the stuffing and throwing out half of the pastry which often tasted like sawdust. Then I found that as a people we liked yams and pounded yam and more rice. While I love all of these meals I am particularly partial to

Ponded yam. So I eat everything in moderation. Nutritionists will tell you that it’s about portion control. The older you are the better you should be at portion control. You do not have to eat all the food in your plate. That is so 1960. Take from the buffet what you know you won’t waste. When we are hungry, we think we should fill our plate. Our eyes and stomach tell us to put everything on our plate. Be wise. Listen to your head not the colors and put just enough. You can always go for second helpings if you are really hungry.

Read Also: Nigerians switch diet over rising food cost

Nothing beats a healthy and balanced diet. Eat right

Nothing says you should sit down and demolish your birthday cake alone. Again not wise. Some slices when it comes and a few slices with tea later in the evening. Skip tomorrow and have a slice with coffee the following day. I know some cakes are decadent but we must learn that as we grow older some things are difficult to burn off.

I love my finger licking egusi oh especially the one with ‘Kpomo’ stock fish ,chicken and orisirisi , I won’t lie but we must watch our intake of red oil which is very high in cholesterol. Moderation, not half a bottle. Also remember that Egusi otherwise known as melon seed is mostly oil.

So what about our intake of vegetables. Nigeria must take a prize for the most variety of vegetables anywhere in the world. Okra, Spinach, bitter leaf, Waterleaf, bitter leaf etc. so these are quite healthy and everywhere. You must know how to cook it not kill it. Our vegetable sauces are to die for. We have also imbibed other vegetables and modernized them into salads. Great stuff. Cabbage, lettuce, carrots, cucumber available in quantum in this blessed land of ours. However a lot of young people now eat only salads and nothing else. Listen , do not become the fad. A balanced diet is always the way to go. Don’t cut out the carbohydrates and fat in your diet completely. You can become ill due to deficiency of one or the other and you will be searching like Bongos Ikwue and Tu face for energy. It is what it is. Balanced diet and portion control. Watch those sweets. Those snacks dripping with sugar all over. Doughnuts dipped in granulated sugar, cakes with a dollop of cream. They do not do you any good. All opportunistic diseases are attracted by excess sugar. Just a little is good but not the one that gets you addicted. I used to be a sweet tooth but both my teeth and my age told me not so much anymore. Too much of everything is not good. Too much meat gives gout. Easy on those innards. They have high cholesterol. I love prawns but easy on those too. High cholesterol. Fish is great but if you eat one that is not well cooked or going, you stand the risk of food poisoning and salmonella.

We are in the era of food experimentation. Be careful with all those fancy menus. Although comedians have over labored these comments. You really do need to eat what you know.

My nutritionist tells me time of chowing matters. It can cause you discomfort and deposit fat everywhere if you are not careful. Eating eba and ponds at midnight is a wrong move. Legumes and beans are great but eating them at night leaves you gassy and makes everyone uncomfortable around you.

We must eat our fruits and vegetables as often as we can. They must be well washed especially if we are eating them raw.

Nothing beats a healthy and balanced diet. Eat right. Breakfast in the morning and dinner should be light and then in the afternoon you can do a heavy meal which you must work off. Nigeria has lots of good good like nuts and avocados, flaxseed and pumpkin seeds, fruits and vegetables especially a variety of oranges and mangoes. My favorites. Do not be sedentary. Make sure to exercise. Do not do the kind of exercise that will kill you. Ask your Doctor. Ask your nutritionist. Be healthy. Be happy. Be better.