Tag: Beans

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Food & Body

Foods That Help You Build Body Muscles

Foods That Help You Build Body Muscles
Photo: legionathletics.com

If you have placed yourself on weight training and various form of exercises in order to build muscle, be informed that there are a number of foods that can propel you towards your goal. These foods have been known to help muscle builders achieve their target. These muscle-building foods can help you add mass as you desire.

This article will be listing some foods (generally protein-rich) that help you build muscle. The general rule is to get about 200g of protein a day. A lot of people have claimed that you need whey protein supplements in order to just sell products but I can tell you that you don’t need whey protein supplements. All you need to do is just eat a whole source of protein with each meal every day up to a mass of 200g and you are doing it right.

Foods That Help You Build Body Muscles
Photo: legionathletics.com

The List of Muscle-Building Foods You Can Add To Meals

In order to build and maintain muscle, the body requires nine essential amino acids. They are the building blocks of proteins and they help the recovery and repair of muscle fibers after workouts sessions. Also, they allow the creation of more muscle cells.

Egg Help Build Muscles:

In the past, egg has been implicated in the development of cardiovascular diseases because of the Cholesterol content. As of today more and more research has revealed that dietary cholesterol and heart diseases are not connected for many people.

The cholesterol found in eggs yolks serves at the scaffolding for steroid hormones. It has also been shown that ½ a gram of leucine found in each egg is like can act as a fuel for your muscle-building fire.

Build Muscle Mass With Nuts

It has been found that eating nuts (and other protein sources) immediately after your workout or exercises enables muscle growth. When you consume them with exercises that task your muscles, e.g. weightlifting or pushups, you muscle-building goals can be achieved faster.

However, it should be noted that consuming extra protein will not lead to increased gains. You should only consume that which is required daily. Also, you should note that nuts are not complete proteins because they lack some essential amino acids. Research have shown that consuming them with legumes at the same time or on the same day makes them complete.

Care should be taken when eating nuts because they are majorly fat. Consuming them in excess to help build muscle can lead to weight gain.

Lean Beef, Yes Beef Helps In Muscle Building

I believe everyone should know that lean beef is high up there on the list of foods that help build body muscles. Lean beef contains a combination of protein with essential amino acids, B-vitamins, and creatine that work together to help muscle-building.

Rick Hall, a registered dietitian and nutrition lecturer at Arizona State University (Tempe) said, ”Protein is the most obvious nutrient in beef that can benefit anyone who is training.”

He further explained that beef doesn’t contain just any run-of-the-mill protein. It boasts an impressive collection of the nine essential amino acids and has a high biological value, which means it’s very digestible and usable by the body. In fact, studies show that foods with a high biological value are what you should hunt for to repair those muscles post-workout.

Brown Rice For Building Muscles

This is especially a very good option for vegetarians trying to build muscle. Since they would normally want to avoid foods from animal sources, cooked brown rice can serve as part of their protein source for mass building.

Since cooked brown rice contains about five grams of protein per cup and a relatively high amount of branched-chain amino acids, it automatically becomes a good vegetarian muscle-building food option.

Cooked brown rice has five grams of protein per cup. It also has a relatively high amount of branched-chain amino acids, making it a good vegetarian muscle-building food.

Beans and Peas Provide Some Protein

Plant proteins generally don’t contain complete essential amino acids. They are therefore best eaten with whole-wheat grains for the right amino acids profile for the body.

Even though they are not a complete protein, beans have a good amount of amino acids and have the benefit of being low in fat, full of fibre and relatively cheap.

There are numerous other food types like Salmon, Kefir, Scallops, Bison, Lentils and more like that. I only talked about these few because they are the muscle-building foods that you can get easily in this part of the world.

Now that you that foods can help help you build muscle as you exercise. You should find ways to include them in your diet to achieve your muscle-building goals faster.

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Food Processing

Some Funny Cooking Practices Done By People

Poor eating habits has been the major topic of discussion among many nutrition gatherings and symposia while neglecting the various cooking practices that many individuals have personalized thereby making them remain in the path of unhealthy living. It would even interest you to know how unconcerned these people are regarding their method of preparing certain meals and they keep neglecting whatever health issues this can result into.

Few days ago, I kick started a discussion in this area and I was completely shocked with the words spewing out from the mouth of some people, expressing the cooking practices performed by them. Let’s see some the very funny ones.

1. Adding Seasoning Like Maggi, Knorr To Beans

I was in a friend’s house, as we were discussion about football teams and matches, we heard a louder conversation from his neighbours in the ground flat. One of them who is a Hausa woman said with clear boldness that she can not cook beans for her family without adding 4 to 6 cubes of seasoning such as Maggi, Knorr, etc., with many containing Monosodium Glutamate. The other said she uses just two cubes. Immediately, we both became completely speechless. My friend later said she (Hausa woman) only has three children all below age 10.

Friends, food condiment like this does not have any nutritive value it supplies to our body. It is best to reduce the amount we add to our meals. Instead, use natural food condiments like ginger, garlic and onions that have been found to be helpful in human health.

2. Adding Sugar To Yam

Growing up in a family where we never used sugars in tea, pap, custard and garri, it became culture shock when I recently discovered that many house wives add some table spoons of sugar to yam when cooking in their quest to make it sweet. I can only laugh in Ijebu.

Yam is a calorie dense food. Adding some sugars to it will only increase the calorie. No wonder the sudden rise in the cases of diabetes. For me, it is only a bad cook who does this. I stand to be corrected.

3. Frying Two Eggs With A Whole Bottle of Oil

This apparently sounds like an exaggeration but the truth has to be told. During my undergraduate days, a friend of mine appeared to have made a joke out of this – he was serious. He explained how a lady fried 2 eggs for him with close to a bottle of vegetable oil. Then, I never believed him until something of same extent happened to myself and a friend when we both visited a lady who obviously wanted to impress us. Sincerely, it was in the ratio of two eggs to 1 bottle of vegetable oil. We managed to eat three slices of bread each. As she steps out to pick her clothes when it was drizzling, I quickly rushed to drain the oil. No wonder she is overweight.

4. Adding Salt To Garri

This does not taste nice at all. I cannot fathom why anyone would do this. You would probably think this is an habit for the young children but as I surprised to hear of individuals who still do this. There has been a lot of campaign concerning the effect of consuming high amount of sodium. Yet, some people still indulge in this habit of soaking garri of all foods with pinches of  salt. Haba…..Take am easy.

No doubt, some of you are practicing some or all of the above listed habits. The need to avoid them is critically important as they can lead you to unwanted debilitating health conditions. As a practicing nutritionist, the conditions I see and hear of on daily basis are scary and some of these unhealthy habit could be the leading cause.

You could share some other ones you do or you are aware of.

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Food & Nutrition Food Recipes

Beans & Corn (Adalu): How To Cook This Balanced Diet

cooked adalu maize and beans

A balanced diet within appropriate quantity  is what has help many to stay quite healthy while others are battling with many conditions. Clearly, based on a simple questioning I carried out, a lot of people are of the opinion that a balanced diet is usually expensive to prepare. Far from it, you can eat a well balanced diet from your everyday food supplies without breaking the bank.

Beans and corn (locally called Adalu in Nigeria), is one combination of food that can provide you a balanced diet without hassles.  While it appears like a meal of only protein and carbohydrate, other macro and micro nutrients which constitute a balanced diet are all present. I had never looked deep enough into this meal until recently when my mum came visiting and cooked the meal for me. It tastes so delicious, its been more than 2 years that I had a taste of the meal.

cooked adalu maize and beans

What Is A Balanced Diet?

This is a meal which contain the right amount of all the food groups which have the ability to supply adequate energy and nutrition to the body for growth, repair and development. The bolded words are very key. Too much of healthy food may no longer be healthy. It is essential to get adequate amount.

Why Is Beans & Corn (Adalu) A Balanced Diet?

The major food groups are protein, carbohydrates and fat which fall into macro nutrients and vitamins and minerals which fall into micro nutrients. For your food to be balance, it must contain all of these nutrients in the right proportion with the macro nutrients taking most of the portions.

The beans will be supplying adequate amount of primary protein while the corn will supply carbohydrates and fibre. You will remember clearly that the meal is prepared with pepper including tomatoes supplying vitamins and minerals while palm oil is  providing some amount of fats. One thing mum does to make her beans and corn a delight is to slice up to two big bulbs of onions to a six servings of the meal. Onions is loaded with plenty anti oxidants and vitamins.

RECOMMENDED: 3 Tricks That I Use To Cut/Dice Onion Without Crying

How To Make This Beans & Corn Porridge

Mum does it in a very simple way and it turns out very well. Get your corn, usually more than the beans. Wash properly and cook until it is almost ready to be consumed and keep. Wash your beans and pour into a pot containing boiling water, slice one or two  big bulbs of onions into it. Cook for over an hour depending on the variety of the beans. When it is soft, pour your per boiled corn and cook for another 20 minutes. Add palm oil, salt and blended pepper as appropriate and cook for another five minutes. Your beans and corn porridge (called Agbado ati ewa by the Yorubas and generally Adalu)  is ready.

Meals like these are fast going into extinction particularly among young breeds. We prefer to choose other foods options many of which are processed foods that do not seem to supply adequate amount of nutrients. Try to give this meal called Adalu a trial on a Sunday evening. I bet you would love it.

ALSO SEE: How To Cook Beans To Avoid Passing Out Gas After Eating

Categories
Knowledgebase

Top 5 Foods That Make You Fart Asides Beans

fart smells

At exactly 8:50am on Saturdays morning, I was still lying in bed. Not too long from that time, I heard a loud sound from my brother’s room – “Poooooooouu”. I had to rush to know what exactly happened because it was repeatedly loud. On getting there, he gave another loud “Poooouuuu”. It was then I knew my big brother was farting. Then I couldn’t but burst into laughter. I have been with him over the weekend and he had not consumed beans – since beans are popularly seen as the food that causes flatulence. But far from it, his farting was as a result of other foods he ate.

When he woke up, he did not waste time to ask me – “What is the cause of my farting? I have not been indulging in beans, yet I have been farting; he said. I replied him in pidgin – “Bros, No be only beans dey make person fart ooo” It was then I thought it will be necessary to share an article on flatulence on this page. Let’s quickly see what causes flatulence.

What is flatulence?

This is commonly known as farting. It is the exit of gas through the anal. When someone farts, it could bring about a level of laughter or complete embarrassment depending on the type of gathering you find yourself. Hey! Do not get caught up in any mess.

fart smells

What Causes Flatulence?

Flatulence is usually caused due to incomplete digestion process followed by fermentation. Food substances that are not absorbed in the human intestines accumulate in the colon, where they are fermented by bacteria, leading to production of gas. The smell of the gas depends on the foods eaten and the types of bacteria that acted on it while the sound is as a result of the outward forceful flow of air that makes anal tissues vibrate. Some people also lack specific enzymes needed to break down certain foods, which then get acted upon by bacteria and create gas. You can read more on the article on how to cook beans so that you don’t fart after eating them.

So, What Are The Top Five Other Foods That Cause Flatulence In People?

Before sharing the list of the foods, it is important to let you know that – what causes flatulence in Mr. A may be completely different from that of Mr. B. It is sometimes based on body types and intestinal structure of each individual. At the end of this article do no forget to share the food(s) that you have identified which make you fart.

Click on pages 2, 3, 4… below to go to pages containing the list of foods;

Categories
Food Processing

How To Cook Beans So You Don’t Fart After Eating

cooked beans

Let me first of all make something clear before I start discussing about the topic of this post. We all call the common bean (Vigna unguiculata) that we eat beans, beans – but beans is a is a common name for large plant seeds of several genera of the family Fabaceae (alternately Leguminosae) which are used for human or animal food. The common one that we eat is called Cowpea. It has a number of common name such as crowder pea, blackeyed pea, southern pea.

Beans generally are rich in protein, while many of them are high in fiber and antioxidants. Beans are good for reduction of our waistline as well aid in disease prevention. Despite all these benefits, which many people are aware of, a lot people want to stay clear of Cowpea because they start farting or passing out gases after eating it. This does not have to be so because there are ways that you can cook your beans, such that you won’t have to be clearing the room hours after.

cooked beans
COMING SOON: Many Benefits of Beans That Make Them Superfoods

Before I talk about the methods that you can use to cook beans to prevent farting after, let me explain in clear and concise terms what causes this flatulence. Beans contain a class of carbohydrates called Oligosaccharides (e.g. raffinose and stachyose), some of which cannot be processed by our digestive system.

When we eat beans and they get to our intestine, the Oligosaccharides remain there as we do not have the enzymes or any other thing whatsoever to digest the. After the Oligosaccharides pass into our large intestine, the bacteria present there start to break them down. During the process, the bacteria release several different types of gases, mainly hydrogen, nitrogen and carbon dioxide. About 33% of these bacteria also end up producing methane and this is the one that smells.

Click below to pages 2 and 3 below to see the tips for cooking beans so that you don’t pass gas after eating…

Categories
Food & Body

5 Foods That Help Fight & Reduce Belly Fat

In one of my previous articles in which I talked about the relationship between beer and pot belly, I promised to write an article listing foods that can help to reduce belly fat. I am here to fulfil that promise now. There are many reasons why you accumulate fats in the belly and I am going to discuss some while mentioning others in the process too.

You are definitely not being kind to your body if you can’t go a day without downing a bottle of carbonated drink. All these sugars ultimately get converted into fat in your body and depending on your sex, age and rate of metabolic activities, the fats might end up being stored in your tummy.

Eating late at night is also a bad habit that contributes to belly fat. Our body naturally breaks down the food we eat but this rate reduces when we go straight to bed after eating. We do not expend the energy we have, so the body does not try to break down the food to supply more energy. The best practice is to eat not later than 6pm in the evening and make sure we do not go to bed immediately after. When we go to bed on a full stomach, it also increases our risk of developing acid reflux and indigestion, since gravity is no longer able to pull everything in our belly straight down.

Belly Fat
Photo Credit: infomazza.com

If you deprive yourself of fats because you think it contributes to accumulation of fat in your body, you are wrong. There are very good and beneficial fats that help the body. The irony of it is that foods such as avocados, olive oil and seeds work well in eliminating belly fat for you.

Endeavour to get enough sleep everyday, adults should get about seven to nine hours of sleep each day. When we refuse to get enough sleep, the level of cortisol (stress hormone) in our body increases and causes the craving for sugary foods. We consume these sugary foods and add more calories to the body. Overeating, depriving our body of protein-rich foods and genetics also have their roles in how we process and store fat in the body.

Healthy eating and living in general will helps us reduce fats in our body but there are also foods that we can include in our diet to reduce belly fat. They help fight and reduce the fat in our tummy.

List of Five Foods That Help To Reduce Belly Fat

Navigate through the list of the foods by Clicking 1, 2, 3… below!