Ahmed is a Food Scientist/Technologist first of all. A Web Developer, Seasoned Blogger, Astute Marketer, Food Enthusiast and Manchester United Lover. I read anything and everything available so I know so many useful and useless things.
In the past few months, the city of Lagos and its neighbouring communities had been unprecedentedly bombarded with trucks of watermelon like never before. I presume many more people are beginning to go the healthy way especially considering the many illnesses and diseases that stare us in the face daily.
In recent times, I have not been an avid consumer of watermelon due to my love for golden melon but the truth about this thirst-quenching fruits has to be told. Watermelon has so many nutritional and health benefits but these five under-listed are the five topmost reasons to consume watermelon fruits.
FIGHTS CANCER:
Although, scientists are still digging deep to make a conclusion on this claim but many of the previous tests and researches conducted indicated that the fruit which is amongst the best sources of antioxidant lycophene has the ability to fight cancer cells. This powerful lycophene has been linked to reduce the risk of prostate, breast, lung, uterus and colon cancer.
AIDS WEIGHT LOSS AND HYDRATES THE BODY:
Weight loss difficulty is faced by many overweights and obese. A good plan to include watermelon which usually contains more than 90% of water into your daily diet might be helpful. It will fill you up quickly while supplying very low amount of calorie.
Also, with the high amount of water and electrolytes; the occurrence of headaches, dryness and other conditions which result due to dehydration would become a thing of the past
BOOSTS IMMUNE SYSTEM:
Watermelon is loaded with vitamin C; an effective immune booster. Vitamin C strengthens your immune system and protects your body against free radicals and oxidative stress. It has also been quite effective in making wounds and injuries heal faster.
A good daily consumption of watermelon will prevent your skin from conditions like acne and thereby making your skin glow bright.
LOWERS BLOOD SUGAR:
Many diabetics crave for sugar but due to their condition, they cannot indulge in foods that will spike their sugar level. Watermelon, although sweet in taste, contains very low amount of sugar that is will not raise sugar level.
A plate of the diced fruit fills the belly while supplying small quantity of calorie which directly reduces the chances of high blood sugar.
LOWERS BLOOD PRESSURE:
Usually there is need for a balance between sodium and potassium levels in the body for a proper blood pressure. There are records of good amount of potassium and magnesium in this fruit that is very beneficial in terms of bringing down blood pressure.
If you do have people suffering from this condition, watermelon might just be helpful.
I don’t want to think there is anyone here who doesn’t know how much the importance of the heart is to the whole body. When the heart stops, then every other organ in the body dies sooner than later. In the next paragraph, I will quickly highlight the important functions of the heart in the body as a refresher or reminder.
The heart is an organ that functions as a pump for the movement of blood through the body. Different parts of the body require oxygen for proper functioning, the blood as we know carries oxygen from the lungs with it. It is important that oxygen gets to all parts of the body — the brain, muscles, in fact, all cells in the body. The heart does the job of pumping blood to these parts of the body. So, why wouldn’t you strive to keep your heart healthy?
It is not enough to just eat heart-healthy foods to have a heart that is healthy and functioning properly, we must also strive to minimize foods that have adverse effects on the heart. These types of foods have been implicated in cardiovascular heart diseases. We should try to minimize how much we consume them.
Top Heart-healthy Foods: Keep The Heart Functioning Properly.
Foods That Keep The Heart Functioning Properly
Walnuts:
Walnut again? Isn’t this walnut a super nut after all? We have mentioned it under different topics because of its health benefits and here it is again helping the heart. Eating about 140 grammes of walnut per week, reduces your risk of heart disease by half.
We mentioned in one of our articles about foods that help the brains by providing essential nutrients to it, that walnut is able to provide this function because it is very rich in omega-3 fatty acids. These are very good fats that reduces the level of your “bad-for-the-heart” LDL cholesterol and raise your “good” HDL cholesterol.
Almonds:
Almonds, just like walnuts is rich in these fats that help your heart by lowering the bad cholesterol levels. These types of healthy monounsaturated fats even help you lose fats when you eat them. Ironic huh?
Unsaturated fats are not just good for your heart, they offer another benefit by boosting serotonin levels during the day, which in turn help you sleep better at night. Add almonds to foods you snack on and enjoy these benefits. When I order my Ice Cream, I do with Almonds or Pecans.
Yoghurt and Milk
Yoghurt and Milk, especially the fat-free or low-fat types help reduce the pressure on the heart. Dairy products are known to be rich in Potassium – a mineral that has been linked to lowering the level of blood pressure.
When you consume low-fat or fat-free dairy or dairy products, you get little to no saturated fat, the kind of fat that can raise your bad cholesterol level. Other sources of Potassium are most fruits and vegetables. Examples include potato and banana.
The Bell Peppers
Thankfully, man soups cook in this part of the world usually contain the bell peppers blended with tomatoes, onions, etc. Many people just feel they add the red bell peppers in order to make the soup thick and redder in color. Yes, it does these things and makes the blend “attractive”.
The orange, yellow, and red colors of the bell peppers mean that they contain phytonutrients and additional antioxidants. These antioxidants help to make sure that our body can battle back free radical damage.
Garlic
Generally, we use Garlic as a flavouring for food but it has been used for a long time as a herb for medicinal purposes. It has been used for many conditions related to the heart and blood system. Some of these diseases include high blood pressure, high cholesterol, coronary heart disease, heart attack, and hardening of the arteries.
Apart from the fact that it can make the mouth smell, we should use garlic moderately and with caution as it might prolong bleeding. Therefore you should stay away from garlic at least two weeks before a scheduled surgery and probably menstruation.
Green Tea
Green tea has been shown to help prevent cardiovascular heart diseases. A study carried out on 40,530 Japanese adults revealed that participants who drank more than five cups of green tea a day had a 26% lower risk of death from heart attack or stroke than those who drank less than one cup of this tea in a day.
Even though no adverse effect was reported in people that took the five or more cups of green tea, it should be noted that it contains oxalate, which can cause kidney stones. So, drinking tea moderately will still give you some health benefits.
Turmeric
Several studies have revealed that turmeric helps in maintaining heart health by reducing cholesterol oxidation, reducing plaque build-up, clot formation, reduce bad cholesterol (LDL), reduce pro-inflammatory response, etc.
Heart attacks are caused by atherosclerotic plaque buildup or high cholesterol levels, therefore, adding turmeric to your diet can help you reduce this risk by a great amount.
You can actually make your bananas last more days — in fact for another one week if you store them in some particular ways. This is not just a an article that will tell you to store your banana in the refrigerator to make it last longer. If that is what you thought you would see here, you are wrong because these are just some tricks that I learnt about, tried them out and found to work.
Making Banana Last More Days By Delaying Ripening
First, let us quickly run through what makes bananas (and in fact all our fruits) ripen in two paragraphs. When fruits are mature, they are harvested or plucked from the trees and kept where they can now get ripen for consumption. Fruits that are not mature before harvesting will just stay that way and not become ripe — no matter what you do to it.
When bananas get detached from their parent or damaged in some way, it commences ethylene production and ripening starts. Ethylene causes the banana cells to make all the changes involved with ripening — Chlorophyll (the green color pigment) is broken down, causing color changes; starches are converted into sugars, making the fruit sweet; acids are broken down, causing it to taste less sour; and pectin is broken down, making it softer.
So, how do you delay this ripening? Prevent all the agents of ripening from getting to your banana. How can you achieve this?
Buy Greener Bananas
Since banana ripens at a very fast rate — unless you want to eat your banana in a couple of days, get those bananas that are greener toward the stems (where the fingers join together) and more yellow on the fingers (not too yellow though).
When you get them, make sure they have no bruises on them as this will accelerate ethylene production and lead to quick ripening of your banana. So, even when they don’t have bruises when you buy them, ensure you handle with care such that they don’t get bruised as you take them home in your shopping container.
DO NOT Refrigerate The Bananas
As against what many would be expecting, do no refrigerate the banana that you have bought in the state recommended in Tip number one. Why? When you put the banana in the cold temperature of the refrigerator, it causes the cell walls of the banana to break down prematurely.
This breakdown allows the production of melanin (the pigment that gives us the color of our skin), turning bananas completely black. However, the inside flesh of the banana will still remain unripe because the cold would have prevented ethylene production, and hence ripening.
Let these bananas ripen under room temperature, then store in the refrigerator.
Keep your bananas away from other fruits
It may surprise you that just like some diseases, ripening is also contagious. So, if you don’t want your banana to ripe too fast, keep it away from other fruits (and vegetables) that you have. They produce ethylene and that can trigger ripening your bananas too.
So, the best practice is to take your banana away from other fruits and keep at room temperature (without putting them in any bag). If they are already fully ripen and you want to prevent deterioration, you can keep in the refrigerator.
Cover the stem of the Banana with Nylon
This method can make your banana last for another five to seven days. When you get your unripe banana and you want to slow down ripening, get nylon and tie around the stem of the banana bunch to prevent passage of oxygen, hence delayed ripening.
Another way to do this is to separate the fingers, but care must be taken not to cause injuries to the banana fingers. After separating them, you can now tie nylon around their stem. This is way easier than thing them together as a bunch.
If you have any other method that you use to make your banana last longer, please share with us using the comment box.
Are you in any doubt if that sachet of coconut chips you are about to eat and open was truly registered with NAFDAC? Is the product and packaging too poor in appearance to have been approved by the National Agency for Foods & Drugs Administration and Control (NAFDAC)? Well, the good news is that you can easily verify this by using your mobile phone or laptop.
Many people I spoke to — prior to revealing the information to them, did not know that it was possible to verify the authenticity of NAFDAC product registration number some processors put on their food packages. NAFDAC has done a very good job in this regard, we have to commend them.
How To Verify NAFDAC Registration Number of Products
This is very simple to do. All you need is your mobile phone or any device connected to the internet. Log on to the official website of NAFDAC and search for the product or the NAFDAC registration number. I have three ways of verifying that I would want you to check out.
Use the Printed NAFDAC Number
For example, go to nafdac.gov.ng/product-registration, if you search 01-7188 registration number in the search bar, you should get FUN BITES PLANTITOS SPICY PLANTAIN CHIPS as the product name. Also listed are the applicant’s name (the company that applied for NAFDAC registration number) and the active ingredients that make up the food under check.
I was particularly interested in the plantain chips because I see many of them on Lagos roads and I do wonder if they were ever approved for production. If the package they use for them were appropriate and if they were ever approved? But since I was able to check, no issues.
Use The Product Name To Search
You can go to the registered products search portal of NAFDAC at nafdac.gov.ng/product-registration. and type in the product name deployed on the package of the food you want to look up. In the screenshot below, I used Vitamilk.
The problem with searching with name is that you can come up with results of similar products and you then have to compare all the names with the one on the package. It happens when you use NAFDAC number too but often, they are variants of same products from a manufacturer e.g. Coca Cola and Zero Coke.
I use that second method when the NAFDAC registration is not legible or has faded away.
What is really not clear is whether NAFDAC updates this database very often. If not, you might get to see a newly-registered product in the market that you won’t find information about it online. We don’t know this, but what I know is that I have been able to find every product I searched for on that platform.
We have also seen drugs and cosmetic products carrying numbers that can be sent to some special SMS shortcodes in order to verify if the products actually came from the company that was printed on it. This way, we can know products that were imitated and we hope we can see this on food products soon.
Removing the shells of boiled eggs can sometimes be a pain. If you cook and eat eggs often, you would instantly understand what I am talking about. Nobody really likes an egg that has been bruised all around while trying to remove the eggshell. I have tried several tricks recommended by people in the past to smoothly remove eggshells but they all did not work every time.
This trick I am going to share with you works 100% of the time. I have used it over and over again but I never thought of sharing with you here on FoodsNG until some days ago when a friend visit and said “Wow, this is cool”, while I was trying to remove the shells from two eggs I boiled. This was when I realized I should share it with more people.
So, how do I smoothly remove the shell from my boiled eggs?
Steps for smoothly peeling boiled eggshells!
First of all, you must have at least two boiled eggs to remove shells from. Boil your eggs and make sure they are hard enough before you take them off the burner.
Take a bowl of cold water and put these eggs in there, immediately after taking them out of the cold water.
Now, get a glass cup and fill about half of it with cold water
Put the two eggs in the glass cup and use your right hand palm to cover the open end
Place your left hand palm below the cup and shake the cup as seen in the video above
Now, remove your eggs and smoothly peel of the shells flawlessly.
How To Easily Peel Eggs With Iced Water
It is advisable to use older eggs for boiling. If the eggs were previously in the refrigerator, bring them to room temperature before boiling. Now it is time to boil your eggs, make sure they are boiled enough and then turn the stove off.
Leaving the cooking pot on the stove with the eggs still inside the water. After 14 minutes, place the eggs into ice water and it should peel easily inside.
There is also the microwave option but this does not come without its own dangers. It is one of the reasons we are not going to talk about it in this article.
If you like this and try it out, share the outcome with us. Also, if you have any Food Recipes, Food Tricks and Hacks, share them with us by sending to foodsng2015@gmail.com and we shall post them on FoodsNG.com, BBM Channel and give you credit for it.
Many people cannot differentiate between food roasting, grilling and baking, therefore, they use them interchangeably. This has led to the inappropriate use of these words — some know that they are different but just don’t care to know the differences while some others don’t know they are different food processing methods and mean different things.
In this article, we are going to explain the meaning of each in cooking and outline their difference. Maybe that “roasted corn” you say every time isn’t a result of roasted after all. While these cooking methods involving the use of dry heat are nearly identical in today’s kitchen and usage, there’ are still some few things that set them apart.
What are the differences between Roast, Bake and Grill?
I know this might come to many as a surprise, even though many people confuse grilling and roasting, it is actually roasting and baking that have more similarities. Grilling is very easy and should not be confused with any of the other two.
On the next pages, you will see the differences between grilling, roasting and baking of foods and examples of foods that we use each one for.
What is Grilling?
The grilling of food involves the application of dry heat from either below or above in order to cook food. Now think of those foods that you process this way — you are grilling them and not whatever name you have been calling it before. The heating of the food is by radiation.
A very common food we apply grilling to is meat where the meat to be cooked with dry heat is provided with high and direct heat from below with the help of smoking wood or hot coal or charcoal.
In countries like the United States and Canada, if the heat used to cook the food is provided from above, the process of cooking is called broiling. It is important to note that grilling pans are now used these days. The method of heating here is by conduction.
Common foods that we grill include meat and corn. So, do you think calling “roasted corn” by that name is right?
Roasting Vs Baking
The structure of the foods and the type of foods are the major factors that distinguish these two processing methods. Roasting involves cooking foods that already have a solid structure and shape outside the container before the cooking process starts at all e.g. meat and vegetables. Baking, on the other hand, involves foods that lack the definite structure before heating, then become solid during the cooking e.g. cake and bread.
Foods that are roasted are done in an open, uncovered pan, while food items that are baked may be covered and done inside an enclosed oven area or equipment. Also, the temperature for roasting is higher than involved in baking — about 205 degrees Celcius compared to about 175 degrees Celsius.
Now don’t get roasting and grilling confused because roasting is done in front of or over a fire or bed of coals while grilling involves placing food on a grill situated a few inches over the charcoal, where the intense heat cooks foods quickly. Roasting takes place at a slower pace since the food is not that close to the heating charcoal.
Since grilling is fast, it is possible to end up with a food that is ver brown outside and a bit uncooked inside, this is not the case with roasting as it makes use of slow heat over a long period of time.
In recent weeks, we have discussed very serious food matters relating to food security, food safety, foods that help parts of the body and food recipes. Today, we are adding some sort of fun to our learning by talking about foods that look like the parts of the body they help.
Foods That Look Like Parts Of The Human Body They Help
I know you may be tasking your brain already, trying to think of one that you know already. Don’t worry, I am going to share some interesting ones with you here. You go through the pages to see all these foods and the part of the body that they help. Have fun while learning too.
1. The Carrot and The Eye
The cut section as seen in the image below has patterns of radiating lines that look like the pupil and iris of the human eye. It may not be a coincidence that the beta-carotene present in carrots help the eyes. The beta-carotene is good for our overall eye health.
When we eat foods that contain beta-carotene, our body converts it into vitamin A. The vitamin A ultimately gets converted into retinol that is being used by the eye for certain functions.
2. The Walnut and The Brain
This is the most striking of them all — the resemblance between the walnut and the human brain. Taking a look at the picture below, you would agree with me that they share this amazing resemblance between themselves and the former helps the latter — they (walnut) are often referred to as “the ultimate brain food”.
Walnuts have an abundance of with DHA, a type of omega-3 fatty acids, an essential fatty acid that helps keep the brain functioning normally. A large part of the brain is made up of what is normally referred to as “structural fat”.
It needs high-quality fats like the omega-3 fatty acids to function properly by keeping the brain fluid and flexible. Walnut is very rich in these omega-3 fatty acids.
3. The Ginger and the Stomach
Many forms of ginger that you will buy as a whole would have one part that has a shape looking like the shape of the human stomach. The resemblance is not as striking as that between the walnut and the brain but they sure bear some resemblance in their shape.
I grew up seeing adults using ginger ale drinks to help relieve stomach aches and upsets. Ginger on its own is also a helpful digestive that helps digest food. It is a known remedy that chewing on fresh ginger helps digest heavy foods.
4. The Celery and the Bone
Celery, when you remove the leafy part sure look like the bones of the forearm — ulna and radius. Celery, botanically known as Apium graveolens, is rich in calcium — the essential mineral for bone formation in the human body.
This is not just the end about how celery helps bone formation, it also contains vitamin K, which along with the essential minerals magnesium and phosphorus, helps make the proper absorption of calcium in the body possible.
5. The Avocado and the Uterus & Cervix
Cutting avocado horizontally as shown in the image below make sit shaped like the uterus and cervix together. It look like Uterus and helps the uterus in some ways — it has been reported to help with hormonal balance and work against the development of cervical cancer. The most interesting part is this…
Just as it takes 9 months for a baby to fully develop in the mother’s womb, it takes an avocado exactly the same 9 months to grow from a blossom into a ripened fruit! Isn’t that amazing.
There are more but these are the top 5 I found interesting and decided to share with you!
I love cakes and those that make cakes for me know my love for the chocolate flavour. I have friends that make cakes and I have a sister that does that too, so, it’s a kind of blessing. Don’t get me wrong I don’t eat cake every day and I don’t crave it, but I do eat it when I feel like.
I make orders for chocolate cakes at times like these and keep inside the refrigerator. Don’t copy me if you don’t exercise because you would only increase your chance of adding weight. I recently discussed with some of those that make cakes for me and they agreed to share some simple chocolate cake recipes but they haven’t. I learned some myself and I am posting them for those that might be interested.
Simple Chocolate Cake Recipe
There are so many recipes for chocolate cakes that turn out fine and delicious, but when I talk about simple chocolate cake recipes, I am referring to those that meet the following criteria that have been set by me:
Contain chocolate
Small in size (you can actually make into any size)
Have ingredients that are easy to get around
Will be ready in about an hour
Delicious
Hence, the reason for just 3 to be discussed in this article. This post has taught me that different people have different ways of making their foods. Therefore, if you have a good, delicious simple recipe for chocolate cakes, share with us and we will credit you for it.
Simple Chocolate Cake Recipe Number 1
Ingredients:
1 cup white sugar
1 1/8 cups flour
1/2 cup cocoa powder (use the unsweetened one)
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1/2 cup butter or (margarine if you can’t get butter)
1 egg
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup cold, strong, brewed coffee
Instructions:
The first thing you need to do is to put on your oven and let it heat up to around 170-175°C.
Lubricate the inside of the pan you decide to use with butter, some groundnut oil or margarine
Sift the flour, cocoa, baking soda and salt together and set on one side.
Take a bowl and cream butter and sugar together until you get the light and fluffy texture.
Add the egg and vanilla to (4) above and beat well.
Add flour mixture in (3) above, alternating with coffee. Beat together.
Bake at 175°C for 40 to 45 minutes and you will get the cake pictured above.
How To Make A Chocolate Chip Cake
Ingredients for the cake
200g plain flour
220g dark brown soft sugar
4 tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
1 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
75ml vegetable oil
1 tablespoon vinegar
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
250ml milk
170g plain chocolate chips
Instruction for preparation
Preheat the baking oven as in the previous procedure to 175 – 18°C
Lubricate and flour the square tin you want to use (20cm for this)
Add all the flour, dark brown soft sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda and salt in the prepared tin.
Mix these ingredients well together with an eating fork.
Make three round holes in the mixture of the ingredients and pour oil in the first, vinegar in the second and vanilla in the third one.
Pour milk inside, over all the ingredients and mix with a fork until well blended.
You can now pour the chocolate chips over the top.
Bake in the preheated oven for 30 minutes and you will see that the case would have risen above the tin.
Allow the cake to cool in the tin for 15 minutes
Cut and serve from the tin.
If you try these out on your own, let us know how it turns out
If you have another chocolate cake recipe that is simple (easy to make), please share it with us by sending it to foodsng2015@gmail.com. We shall duly credit you for the recipe. Thank you!
Have you noticed how a large population of Koreans (Asians in general) keep looking slim and healthy throughout their lifetime? Well, their diet plays a significant role in how they look and their health. You can try some of their foods once in a while and see how delicious and nutritious they can be. We will mention a few of these Korean foods in this article and give you recipes for them in some of our future articles.
Korean Foods To Help You Lose Weight / Body Fat
The low-calorie soups and foods eaten in Korea are probably one of the reasons obesity is still relatively rare in South Korea. We learned from a 2010 estimate that just about 33% of adults are overweight or obese — this was against the 68 percent figure in the United States of America.
One of the foods and eating traditions that probably help keep Koreans slim and healthy is one that involves including soup at every meal. This single act means that they get filled up on a relatively low-calorie but satisfying food. Studies show that soup eaters tend to eat less high-calorie fare later.
Here are some simple Korean foods that have ingredients that have been proven to help lose weight. You should check them out and maybe try them out in Korea restaurants or check out their recipes and make it yourself at home if you are the type that doesn’t like eating outside — maybe because of risks of food poisoning in restaurants or cost of the foods.
Kimchi is a Korean food — it is a fermented spicy cabbage that has health benefits in people who consume them. The benefits include a lower risk of flu and improved cholesterol levels. It has now also been revealed now that Kimchi could help you lose weight.
Kimchi does this by helping to lose some weight and with its abundance of good gut bacteria. Researchers believe that these good gut bacteria may help fight digestive problems caused by obesity. This Korean food is spicy — it contains Chilli pepper, which naturally contains Capsaicin.
Proponents of Capsaicin also claim that the compound can help speed up metabolism and reduce fat tissue, as well as curb overeating by reducing appetite.
A study from 2009 also revealed that capsaicin helped decrease a hunger hormone called ghrelin. This will help reduce the desire to eat, thereby taking in fewer calories. The other ingredients such as the vegetable — cabbage, and others like ginger will contribute their quota too.
“If a person eats some kimchi with every meal, it’s possible for them to lose five kilograms (about 11 pounds) in a month,” says a professor from Seoul Health College, Korea.
Doenjang jjigae is a type of Korean food consisting of tofu, vegetables and soybean paste. In case you do not know what Tofu is — it is the coagulated soy milk. You can easily make this or buy it. The tofu stew is low in calories and fat while also rich in essential nutrients including calcium and potassium.
A 1-cup serving of the stew contains just about 90 calories. Considering that this food also has a high filling effect, you get filled up easily while eating less calories.
A recent 12-week study on subjects consuming this Korean food revealed that the Doenjang supplementation group had significant reductions in body weight (kg), body fat mass (kg) and body fat (%). As this soup is very low in calories, it makes a good choice for people that are trying to limit their calorie intake for weight loss.
The European Union (EU) has banned some Nigerian foods from being exported into Europe, PunchNG reports. The food items banned from Europe till June 2016 are beans, sesame seeds, melon seeds, dried fish and meat, peanut chips and palm oil. This is a setback for a nation that desperately needs to expand its export basket to boost domestic agricultural activities and create jobs.
Why Did The European Union Suspend These Food Exports From Nigeria?
The first answer someone gave to is that “they hate us and don’t want us to prosper. They look for every opportunity to make us look bad.” I don’t know about this but what I know for sure is that they need these agricultural products for their own food too and would not want it to stop coming to them.
What is now the problem? Why did they ban these agricultural foods?
First of all, it is not that they hate us. They don’t!
According to the European Food Safety Authority, the rejected beans were found to contain between 0.03mg per kilogramme to 4.6mg/kg of dichlorvos pesticide, when the acceptable maximum residue limit is 0.01mg/kg. The embargo is a reflection of our inability to adhere to global standards, and this has come to haunt us at the international level again.
For some time, the EU has been warning Nigeria that the items constitute a danger to human health because they “contain a high level of unauthorized pesticide.” The pesticide is applied when the products are being prepared for export. The EU said it had issued 50 notifications to Nigerian beans exporters since January 2013. It is baffling that the Nigerian authorities didn’t take any significant steps to reverse the situation.
Likewise, the United Kingdom also issued 13 border rejection alerts to Nigerian beans exporters between January and June 2015.
The question on my mind is, “how do we preserve these foods for our own local consumption?” We really need to know this. Is it the same way as those we export? If so, don’t you think NAFDAC should ban the use of these pesticides too?
Paul Orhii, the Director-General, National Agency for Food and Drug Administration and Control said that exporters caused the problem by not complying with regulatory requirements for semi-processed and processed commodities.
Both the deficiency and too much intake of Calcium into the body have severe health effects — both negative — and we have to eat just the amount needed by our body. Don’t get this wrong, we need Calcium to help form and maintain healthy teeth and bones. It is one of the most important minerals needed by the human body.
This article will highlight the important functions of Calcium in the body, the benefits of calcium and side effects of “too low” and “too high” intake of Calcium. This will be outlined when we discuss the Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for every class of people — children, adults, pregnant women, lactating mothers, etc.
We will also talk about “what is too low” and “what is too high”, as well as common foods high in calcium.
Benefits of Calcium to the body you should know;
Calcium helps our body with:
Building strong bones and teeth
Clotting blood
Sending and receiving nerve signals
Squeezing and relaxing muscles
Releasing hormones and other chemicals
Keeping a normal heartbeat
So, what are the conditions that could arise from not consuming enough calcium and those that could arise from consuming too much calcium;
Side effects of Calcium in the body
The body needs enough supply of Calcium to perform the functions listed earlier in this article. Increased intake of calcium for a short period of time does not normally cause side effects but this could change over a prolonged intake.
Consuming higher amounts of calcium over a long period of time raises the risk of kidney stones in some people. There is also a side effect when you don’t take enough. People who consume an inadequate amount of Calcium over a long period of time can develop osteoporosis (thinning of bone tissue and loss of bone density over time).
Recommended Daily Allowance of Calcium
The Recommended Dietary Allowance (RDA) for this mineral called Calcium is telling us how much Calcium most people should get each day. The amount of calcium we need hugely depends on some factors such as age and gender. Other factors, such as pregnancy, illnesses, bone mass, are also very important in determining the RDA.
Infants (Adequate Intake)
0 – 6 months: 200 milligrams per day (mg/day)
7 – 12 months: 260 mg/day
Children and Adolescents
1 – 3 years: 700 mg/day
4 – 8 years: 1,000 mg/day
9 – 18 years: 1,300 mg/day
Adults
19 – 50 years: 1,000 mg/day
50 – 70 years: Men – 1,000 mg/day; Women – 1,200 mg/day
Over 71 years – 1,200 mg/day
Pregnant and Breast-feeding women
14 – 18 years: 1,300 mg/day
19 – 50 years: 1,000 mg/day
Up to 2,500 – 3,000 mg a day of calcium from dietary sources and supplements appears to be safe for children and adolescents, and 2,000 – 2,500 mg a day appears to be safe for adults.
The following list can help you determine how much calcium you are getting from food:
Calcium-rich Foods List
Some foods high in calcium include:
1. Cheese
2. Yogurt
3. Milk
4. Sardines
5. Dark leafy greens vegetables
6. Fortified cereals such as Corn Flakes (they can have a lot of calcium in one serving, make sure to check the “Ingredients Listing” and “Nutritional Compass” on the food pack)
7. Soybeans
8. Fortified soymilk (check the label)
For those that are lactose intolerant, you only need to go for dairy food options that do not contain lactose e.g yoghurt, in which the lactose had been converted to lactic acid.
Sardines and dark leafy vegetables are also easy to get and not costly. Soybeans and fortified soy milk made from the beans can also be very good sources of calcium. Not all soy milk is rich in calcium, so check the label to see if they are fortified.
Sleeplessness is a condition that is fast becoming common in the lives of many and a whole lot of the people struggling with these are completely unaware that foods can actually be helpful in triggering drowsiness or sleepiness. The unhealthy thing about this condition which is technically called insomnia is that it affects the entire body function and activities.
Tiredness, sluggishness, and moodiness could become your daily expressions. It has even been reported based on various researches that certain minerals are critical in the remedy of insomnia.
Photo: health.usnews.com
Ask a few of your friends or colleagues – How was your night? Did you sleep well? I bet many of them will tell you that they had a difficult time sleeping. Usually, so many factors are involved but foods can be a good remedy especially if you consume the foods at dinner. Let’s check some of the foods that can help induce sleep.
1. Herbal Tea:
Herbal Tea is one of the foods that has been helpful in making people get some sleep for many decades. In fact, there are many tea varieties that make people be more sleepy. These teas are known to put the body in a relaxed state. A popular herbal tea known to be effective is chamomile tea.
A cup of tea before bed will help you relax and fall asleep faster. Lemongrass tea is also known for helping you fall asleep. Caffeinated teas should be avoided as you all know they work in the opposite direction.
2. Yoghurt:
Dairy products are loaded with calcium and yogurt can be helpful in removing the stress out of your body and this helps you fall asleep more easily. Calcium helps the brain make use of a certain amino acid called tryptophan to manufacture a sleep-inducing substance called melatonin.
This explains why dairy products, which contain both tryptophan and calcium, are one of the top sleep-inducing foods. It is not advisable to consume whole milk products because they are not better tolerated at bedtime compared to healthy bacteria loaded yoghurt.
Banana is a super night snack particularly for those hoping to gain few pounds of flesh. Asides this, research has shown that a certain mineral such as magnesium is effective as a natural remedy for insomnia.
A lack of this mineral may cause you to wake up after a few hours and not return to sleep. Other magnesium-rich foods include spinach, nuts, seeds, fish and whole grains. Fortunately, it is one of the foods you can healthily snack on at night.
4. Fish
We have said so much about fish before. As a person, I prefer fish to meat. They contain more nutrients and the fats in many of them are the healthy type and more beneficial. There is no way we want to look at it, eating fish is better than eating meat.
Most fish—and especially salmon and tuna—have a significant amount of vitamin B6. Vitamin B6 is needed to make melatonin – a sleep-inducing hormone triggered by darkness. This has also been confirmed by an article published in the Annals of the New York Academy of Sciences.
5. Almonds and nuts rich in Magnesium
Almonds contain tryptophan and magnesium. These two components help to naturally reduce muscle and nerve function while also steadying your heart rhythm. You would note that many of the foods we have mentioned above too either have magnesium or tryptophan.
Other nuts and seeds that are rich in magnesium include, almonds, sunflower seeds, Brazil nuts, cashews, pine nuts, flaxseed, and pecans.
You may want to add these nuts to your diet. They are even easy to snack on at night before you go to bed. They will relax you and help induce a good night sleep.
6. Sound Night Sleep? Eat Cherries!
I have heard and read uncountable times that the best way to get a good night’s sleep is to increase your melatonin intake. We talked about this melatonin under yoghurt as a sleep-inducing substance. Some other foods foods other than yoghurt contain it too.
Cherries, along with nuts and oats, are a natural source of melatonin and, when eaten regularly, can help regulate your sleep cycle. I guess this is why some people would ask that you add coffee to their oat when they take it as breakfast – they don’t want to be sleeping about.
People have reported that alcohol and milk chocolate help them sleep but I wouldn’t recommend that. Alcohol makes you wake up with a hangover and you don’t want to eat chocolate just before going to bed.
7. Honey
It has been found that honey contains glucose, which tells your brain to shut off orexin. Orexin is the chemical that is known to trigger alertness. So, when glucose tells your brain to stop the supply of orexin, you become less alert (somewhat dull) and feel sleepy.
When you are taking honey for this purpose, you should not overdo it. One tablespoon for a good night’s sleep is more than enough. Make sure you get the real honey though. See how to identify real honey.
Please note, you should avoid eating heavily at night particularly close to bed time as it will affect your sleepiness. Other foods that I find to be effective in inducing sleepiness include garri, potatoes and some other carbohydrate loaded foods.
Understand the saying “different strokes for different folks”. What works for someone might not work for the other. So, we would like to hear from you to share foods that you eat which triggers sleepiness.
UPDATED [More foods added] – One common issue about the difficulty in producing babies amongst married couples is the low sperm count and sperm quality. If you doubt this information please schedule a meeting with a medical laboratory scientist who has records on those who come for testing. The statistics will shock you. Based on our tradition and cultural values, women have been erroneously labeled as the reason behind the lack of babies in many homes and as such called barren while in truth sometimes it is the hefty looking man with a low-quality sperm that needs to be checked.
It is on record that low sperm count affects approximately one in 25 men. Stress, obesity, hormonal conditions and poor nutrition have been found to impact sperm health. If you and your partner are planning for a baby, a nutritional overhaul is a good place to start, to support healthy sperm production and development – although other approaches exist.
Two things are important in sperm quality; First is sperm motility which is the ability of the sperm to move in the female reproductive organ or through the water to reach the egg and second is sperm morphology which is also called teratozoospermia. It describes what the shape and size of sperm should be for proper fertilization. The foods listed below have been found to be effective in proper motility and morphology of sperm.
Ginseng for Boosting Sperm Quality
The popular Asian Ginseng plant has been used by the Chinese in the cure of many ailments. No wonder it is making this list. It is a powerful herb known for its extraordinary effects on improving virility in men. It increases s*x drive and also enhances your s*xual performance.
It has been found to be quite effective in men with erectile dysfunctions, increasing semen volume and sperm production. Ginseng can be obtained in Nigeria from marketers of nutraceuticals and supplements.
Garlic
As a lover of garlic, the all-round health effect is laudable. It is a very effective condiment that has been used for many years in the treatment of various physical ailments including heart problems and respiratory infections. What most people don’t know is that it is also a potent aphrodisiac and very effective in boosting sperm volume.
It contains a compound called allicin which improves blood flow to the male s*xual organs, increasing sperm production and semen volume. Garlic also contains Vitamin B6 and selenium which controls the secretion of s*x hormones and reduces sperm damage.
Walnuts:
Walnuts had been one nut I love to eat as a young child but never knew of its numerous benefits. It is the only nuts with appreciable levels of omega-3 fatty acids, which many studies of male infertility have linked to better sperm quality, says researcher Wendie Robbins, Ph.D., of the UCLA Fielding School of Public Health.
A daily consumption of this nut has the ability to aid proper sperm production.
Fatty Fish
A study published in the Journal of Nutrition found that men eating a higher amount of oily fish experience a boost in their sperm count by a massive 65% and the interesting part is that getting result is almost immediate because when you eat a fatty fish containing about 10% fat, you can get the boost by the night of that same day. Amazing? Yeah, I thought so too.
The best fish for fats that contain the DHA and omega-3s include salmon, swordfish, tuna and sardines. This post was updated to include these sources of sperm boosters because some of them are common here, easy to get and also inexpensive.
Carrot and Leafy Vegetables:
If you are truly serious about improving your fertility and sperm quality then a diet rich in vitamin A must be regularly consumed by you. Carrot is one vegetable loaded with this nutrient.
According to a study which was carried out by researchers from Harvard School of Public Health and Universities in Canada, Copenhagen, Murcia, and New York, it reveals that there is an association between higher dietary consumption of food that contains more carotenoids and better sperm motility and a greater number of sperm cells.
They looked at young men’s diets and analysed their sperm samples. They found that men who ate a higher amount of three antioxidants found in fruit and vegetables had sperm with better motility and morphology. The three antioxidants in question were: beta-carotene – found in carrots, lutein – found in lettuce and spinach and lycopene – found in tomatoes. It is also critical for you to make sure that you’re getting enough folic acid, because low levels may lead to birth defects such as spinal Bifida and hydrocephalus.
Men with low levels of folate have more sperm with chromosomal abnormalities. The need to increase your sperm count, production, and motility is important and to do this, eating lots of dark green veggies and fruit may help.
Thanks to the new breathe of fresh air in the recent regular supply of few hours of power provided to major towns and cities in Nigeria which is seemingly better than what it had been about a decade ago. Asides these few weeks, Nigeria is notable for constant blackout or incessant power supply, so the need for housewives and our mothers to preserve their foodstuffs lies in the use of other alternatives to prevent these items from deteriorating.
How To Store Some Common Foods Without Refrigeration
In this short post, you will be learning how best to preserve some of our common food items without necessarily affecting the quality to an unacceptable level.
1. EGGS:
There has been a serious debate particularly between the Americans who believe eggs are to be refrigerated to prevent bacteria proliferation and the Britons who disagree and feel that eggs can be stored at room temperature long enough without leading to bacteria infestation.
As this argument continues, a research center took time to subject these claims to a test and found out that after a period, both storage forms of eggs were free from bacteria and safe to consume. In view of this, it is clear that you can keep your eggs at room temperature on the shelves of your kitchen particularly the Nigerian types that had been vaccinated against salmonella and other bacteria.
My simple advice is that without refrigeration, do not buy eggs you do not plan to consume within two weeks. Although, eggs stored at room temperature have been found to store longer than two weeks.
2. MEAT:
Staying at quite a distance to the market seems to make many households to imbibe the culture of storing meat as they can not dash out to the meat stores whenever they feel like to purchase fresh meat. So, they buy in bulk. While you cannot trust the electricity situation in Nigeria, the tested ways that can prevent meat spoilage are salting and drying.
As a young boy, my mum practices this method when we newly relocated to another environment. The salting inhibits the growth of microbes and pushes out more moisture while the drying eliminates the moisture which usually acts as a conducive environment for bacteria multiplication leading to spoilage.
The truth is, nothing tastes better than fresh food items. However, avoiding spoilage while still retaining some nutritive value is key. My advice is when you are ready to cook your meat, wash it well in water to remove or reduce the salt concentration. Usually, you do not need to add salt to the soups or stews.
3. VEGETABLES:
The way to follow in storing vegetables is quite broad and one needs to be extra careful. If you go to the grocery store and pick up any vegetable you find; then, you seem unserious in your quest in keeping vegetables as most of the vegetable displayed are either too ripe or have been infested. You have to be picky.
Also, particularly in the superstore where vegetables are sold, some of them have been refrigerated in the past. So, no form of other storage will help apart from refrigeration. It is advisable to choose your veggies with varying degrees of ripeness so that they can be kept at room temperature and last a week or two.
It should be noted that vegetables store differently. For leafy veggies, it is smarter to remove the coloured ones to avoid the spread of the colouration. Aerating them will also help in moisture loss and this method can keep them from a few days to a week.
Do not hesitate to share how you preserve your food items asides from refrigeration.
Hello friends, it is time to learn how to make my favourite stews. People around me ask-why I love this so much. I answer; because it is healthier than most of others stews we consume daily.Do not forget to read from the previous article I posted on how garden eggs can improve your health.
If you have not eaten garden eggs sauce before, this is a one time opportunity to give it a shot and you will be thankful you did. Lets go straight to the steps involved in making garden egg sauce delicious.
Ingredients for making Garden Egg Sauce
10 average size of garden eggs ( I prefer the white ones)
5-6 pieces average size of pepper, 2-3 pieces average size of tomatoes and one large size of onions.
Iru ( Completely optional), Cube seasonings and Salt
Palm oil (3 cooking spoons). You could add more if need be
2-3 Boiled Titus fish or smoked fish (I prefer the roasted one)
Some amount of water
Method Of Preparation
Purchase about 10 fresh average size green or white type of garden eggs. Wash then clean in a running water.
Cut and dice into tiny pieces and pour into a powerful blender.
Add enough water to make the blades of the blender oscillate.
Blend until it has a very smooth thick consistency.
Pour the pasty garden egg into a clean cooking pot and cook for 2-3 minutes until it further thickens under low heat. Ensure you continuously stir to avoid burnt garden egg puree. Keep this aside.
Dice a big size onions into smaller pieces and set aside.
Use a hand blender to blend two to three average size tomato and plenty pepper (rhodo) and set aside. If you do not like pepper you could reduce the ratio to your preference. You could pound this to form a paste if you can.
Using your clean hands, cut your roasted fish into smaller pieces and set aside.
How To Make The Gargen Egg Sauce
Pour about three cooking spoons of palm oil into a clean non sticky big frying pot or pan placed on a cooker. Ensure low heat.
When the oil is hot, had you diced onions. I seriously love onions, so I used a very big size. Stir for about 15- 20seconds.
Add your prepared garden egg paste and allow to cook by covering the pot under low heat for about 10minutes. Do not forget to stir during this period. This should be done when the little water in the garden egg puree disappears. You must stir once in a while to avoid burnt sauce.
Add your grated or pounded pepper, Iru pete (Mashed locust beans but optional based on your preference) and cube seasoning and salt to taste. Allow to cook for some minutes. You could add a little water to give room for the further cooking but ensure you sauce ends up in a thick consistency usually with no water.
Add the boiled Titus or roasted fish and stir. Do this not more than 90 seconds.
Your garden egg sauce is ready to be served with boiled or fried yam, boiled or fried plantain and boiled rice
If you do have time to try out this recipe, do not forget to share your experience here. In fact you could be adventurous with the ingredients to make the sauce.
The hassles and difficulty involved in making pounded yam through the conventional way of using mortal and pestle has led many people to delete the meal from their family’s menu. In recent times, the proliferation of an alternative — poundo yam; a powder/ flour type that produces a similar result appears to be the way out.
However, many people especially those familiar with the original taste of pounded yam were not satisfied with the taste and the stretchy form of the poundo yam dough. This could be as a result of added preservatives and other additives that have impeded on the quality, appearance and other organoleptic properties of poundo yam.
Photo: urnaija.com
How To Process Poundo Yam With Blender
While this dislike for the powdered alternative appears to be growing geometrically in number, it will surprise some of you to know that making pounded yam can actually be done with a good food processor popularly called powerful blender. The good thing about this is that you know exactly what goes into the making of your pounded yam. Hey! let’s see how this is done.
Ingredients for Poundo Yam
A TUBER OF YAM
SALT (Optional)
WATER
Method for Preparing Your Own Poundo Yam
Cut the tuber of yam into pieces and peel the skin.
Cut the yam pieces into smaller pieces and wash under running water thoroughly.
Pour into a cooking pot and add enough salt to taste if you do not mind and water to cover up the yam. Do not forget to cover the pot.
Check the yam for tenderness. Normally the yam should be quite tender between 20-30 minutes. If not keep on cooker until tender.
When tender, drain the water and pour the yam into a clean plate.
Using a knife or a folk, mash the cooked yam pieces so that the blades of the blender can easily run through them.
Pour the mashed yam into a food processor or blender.
Run the blender for few seconds (6-10s) and stop. Do this twice or thrice before running the the blender until the yam turn dough like and stretchy. Do that to the remaining cooked tender yam pieces.
Scoop out the stretchy yam dough and do not forget to dress it up in the plate to form a nice looking pounded using a big plastic spoon or what is called Igbako by the Yorubas….Yea….Your pounded yam is ready
Serve with a delicious Egusi Soup, Vegetable soup or just any other soup of your liking.
Absolutely, you can eat pounded yam without going through much difficulty. Try this out with a good blender or food processor and get back to us as regards the result.
