African foods and weight loss - using what is available

Garri/eba with okra soup and grilled mackerel 

Coming from West Africa where most of our staple is very high in carbohydrates (Garr/eba, rice and soup made with palm oil) cutting it off entirely is almost impossible for most people. This is because it is what is easily accessible. Therefore, for people trying to drop the excess pounds in this part of the world, it is often a bit of a worry as to how they can sustain their weight loss effort. This most times pushes them into starving themselves in a bid to sustain their effort. However, this is a dangerous/ unhealthy approach at maintaining a good weight loss programme as starving does our bodies more harm than good.

Beans with grilled salmon and pineapple

I still incorporate my traditional diets into my weight loss meal plan and I have been able to maintain my weight loss progress. The key to attaining this as I keep emphasising is portion control, good timing of meals, drinking lots of water (esp before meals), exercising regularly and having a great self will (See my other postings on these issues).

Below is a compilation of some of the various foods we eat in West Africa and their rough calorie estimates:

FOOD TYPE	TOTAL CALORIE	FAT(g)	PROTEIN(g)	CARBOHYDRATE(g)
Cooked long grain rice( 1 cup)	242		4.4	5.3
Brown rice cooked (1 cup)	216	1.8	5	44.8
Ofada rice	311
Jollof rice	800
Tomato stew	293 (excluding meat)
Pounded yam( small serving)	400
Garri/eba ( 1 cup)	360	0.6	1.1	87.3
Whole wheat flour	407		16	87
Plantain flour( 1 cup)	437
Plantain( unripe med size)	120		1	31
Plantain( ripe, med size)	230		1.6	61.9
Okro soup( 1 serving)	105( without meat)
Banga soup	440( without meat)
Palm oil (1 table spoon)	120	13.6	0
Boiled yam (1 cup, cubbed)	158
Egg( boiled, med size)	72		5.8	0.6
Titus sardine( with oil)	260	18	23	0
Titus sardine(without the oil)	130	6	23	0
Indomie noodles( 1 pack)	342
Akara( bean cake)	71 (depending on type of oil used)
Mackerel 100g	160-230( depending on type)	9.3	20.8	0
salmon	130-170
croaker	108

This table as I said is just a rough estimate (guide). It might, therefore, help you to determine what to have and how much you can have.

Also remember as a guide: eat 1/3 of your usual portion and increase your vegetable and fruit intake as measuring out in cups at times can be very cumbersome.

Keep well and stay active!!!!