NIGERIAN BEANS

Nigerian brown beans are what most Nigerians expect when one mentions beans. You can find them at your African/ethnic grocery stores usually called ‘african beans

Beans are a major source of protein -the protein content in Nigerian brown beans is higher than that in the common black eye beans- and a good source of soluble fiber which lowers your cholesterol and stabilizes blood sugar. They're great for heart health, too. Beans are also high in folate (folic acid) which can help protect against many health problems including heart disease and stroke and they are rich in blood building iron, vitamins B6 and B1, as well as potassium (for healthy heart and nerves), selenium (for great skin and chemical processes in the body), and other vital minerals.

Women in their child-bearing years and pregnant women are advised to take folate supplements and eat folate-rich foods to prevent birth defects and congenital disorders. Folic acid was shown to help people over 50 with short-term memory and cognitive function

Dietary fibers makes beans give a "filling" effect, that a little amount gives you a great sense of satiety. This is a desirable effect for weight loss, as you will not need "a lot" of servings to feel satisfied. High dietary fiber also means that you get the bulk effect needed for good bowel function, meaning you should have less problem with constipation, and many other bowel disease.

They are also a fantastic choice of energy for diabetics. Other Protective Ingredients. African brown beans is very rich in many ingredients that helps in protecting us against diseases such as cancer

Read on:

http://whitenaijagirl.blogspot.co.uk/2013/01/nigerian-beans.html

THE WORLD’S BEST DIET

A few years ago I had a very difficult time and as so many women when life is stressful I ate a lot. In a short period of time I put on so much weight that I started to feel uncomfortable. When I finally decided to do something about it, I did some research and I found the best diet ever.

So many of my friends asked me how I did it that I decide to write a book to explain how it works. Since then I introduced African foods in my diet and now I’m keeping my weight off successfully with Egusi soup and pounded yam.

My book is probably going to be called White Naija Babe Diet but I’m still working on it now. In the meantime I launched whitenaijagirl.blogspot.co.uk (very soon whitenaijagirl.co.uk) where I can share thoughts and ideas that are key to the book, including Nigerian culture, diet, Yoruba language lessons and provide example of things that really work when it comes to losing weight.

So let’s get back to a few years ago when I decided to not eat sugar and flour for a couple of days. This was my diet that I created after a lot of research. Much to my surprise, I dropped weight. FAST. I got so motivated I've kept it up.

No flour is easy. No bread, no regular pasta. Thai noodles are good - the glass noodles are made from beans, and they use rice noodles too.

The hardest thing is the sugar. It's in EVERYTHING. In salad dressing, sauces, ALL SUGAR. I also found out that sugar has a lot of name: Fructose, Sucrose, Corn Syrup, High Fructose Corn Syrup. If you see these things on labels, it simply means SUGAR.

Today I still do this diet more or less as I don’t want to lose more weight and because my diet now contains a lot of African dishes. I changed my old diet to a bit more African and it seems to work very well.

I've got three friends doing it and they've all lost weight! I told them give it three days - get on the scale today, do this for three days and you'll see results - AND THEY HAVE!!! LOTS!

What do I do?

• I eat rice. LOTS. But if I can I try to eat the healthier brown version. 
• I give it 3 hours before bed for my last meal of the day. 
• Drink a lot of water. 
• Take a Magnesium supplement - it helps burn fat and kicks up my metabolism. 
• Stop eating when I’m full. I’m telling myself things like: “You can have a snack later, don’t worry!” Try to eat smart: No fried food. No high-sugar fruits or juice. 
• Not a lot of red meat simply because it's high in saturated fat. 
• Try to do some exercise every day. Exercise is something I don't mind doing anyway. I do some walking and weightlifting because I've heard that your body will burn off more calories when you're resting if you have more muscle mass. 

For me it was easy, I don't eat much bread anyway, so I've never missed those. I ate some pasta, but it was never my first choice, so that was not a big deal for me. I only had some problem with giving up sugar but I found the solution for that already. Lots of people who are gluten intolerant eat this way all the time However, I know it's not for everyone, but it sure has worked for me.

Happy eating!


Read on:
http://whitenaijagirl.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/the-worlds-best-diet-few-years-ago-i_24.html

HOW TO MOTIVATE YOURSELF TO DO SOME EXERCISE?

These are my tips to motivate you to get some exercise. Please let me know which one of them works for you. Looking forward to hearing from you.

One of the best motivational tips I’ve ever heard is that you have to act like you already lost the weight you are struggling with. Imagine that you are lean, imagine it very strongly. You can even look for your hero that you want to be like. Print out her/his picture and visualize it very strongly that you already have that kind of beautiful body. Find out what sort of exercise your hero does and copy it. Remember celebrities and very successful people are people just like us. If they can achieve something you can do the same too.

You can use the same technique when you are struggling to start your exercise for the day. If you don’t feel motivated then act like it. Act like you are super motivated and the funny thing is that you will begin to feel like it. Amazing!

So when you started to do your exercise but you are still very keen on it, start slowly. Look for a dynamic music and just start moving, put your leg to the right place, then the other one, then the other one…Don’t think of the whole program, just the actual set that you are doing. When you’ve finished move onto the next one, then the next one, then the net one…

Sometimes I make a deal with myself. For example I say: When I’m done with my exercise I can watch my favorite TV show. By the way TV shows. You can also use the time when you are watching TV to do some exercise.

My last advice is one of the most important: Find a reason why to do it. It’s quite difficult to motivate yourself to do exercise if you don’t even have a good reason for it. 

You can motivate yourself with the bikini season or that you want to look good for your husband. Important is that it gets you to work.

Read on:

http://whitenaijagirl.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/howto-motivate-yourself-to-do-some.html

WHAT DO NIGERIAN PEOPLE EAT?

I created a list of food that traditional Nigerian people eat. Please help me complete the list and don't forget to tell me what your favorite Nigerian foods are?
My husband and I eat most of these foods regularly and I personally love Egusi soup the most.

 

Adalu (beans mixed with corn)

Akara

Amala (ilafun)

Asaro (yam porridge)

Banga soup

Beans Combo

Beans ewa

Boiled groundnuts

Cassava bread

Cayenne pepper

Chicken stew

Chin chin  (sweets-fried pastries in strips)

Chopped liver

Coco yam

Cookies

Corn

Crab

Cranberry juice

Custard

Dodo (Fried Plantains)

Dundu (fried yam)

Eba

Efo (stews)

Egg

Egusi soup

Evaporated milk

Fish

Fried bean cakes

Fried rice

Fried yam chips

Fruit juice

Fruits like oranges, melons, grapefruits, limes, mangoes, bananas, and pineapples

Fufu

Gari (cassava powder)
Gala

Gbegiri soup  (ewedu)

Ginger

Ground rice

Ilalasepo (mixed okra)

Indomie noodles

Iyan (pounded yams)

Jollof rice

Kulikui (small deep-fried balls of peanut paste)

Lobster

Malt drink

Mashed cassava

Mashed yams

Meat pastries

Meat pepper soup (fish or beef pepper soup)

Meat pie - 580 kcal each

Millet

Moimoi - Moin-moin-(bean cake)

Obe didin (roasted goat)

Ofe onugbu

Ogbono soup

Ogi (pap)= cutard made with corn

Okro (okra)

Palm nut soup

Palm oil

Peanut oil

Pepper Soup

Plantain

Potato

Prawns
Puff Puff

Shrimp

Snail

Soy bean oil

Spinach

Suwe

Suya , a hot and spicy kebab

Tomatoes

Turkey

Tuwo shinkafa

Vegetables

White rice


Read on:

http://whitenaijagirl.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/what-do-nigerian-people-eat-i-created.html

PLANTAIN

To be honest I used to think plantain is just banana…period…. I was dead wrong. Today I know that plantain is not just simply a different food, it is one of the World's Healthiest Foods.

Before we look at its calorie content, let me tell you some great news about plantain. The fruit is low in fat, cholesterol and salt and high in fibre.

The potassium in plantain is very good for the heart and helps to prevent heart attack, cancer and stroke and helps lower blood pressure.

It is a good source of vitamins A, B6, and C which helps maintain vision, good skin, and build immunity against diseases, explains the World's Healthiest Foods website. Plantains contain probiotics that aid colon and kidney health.

The bad news is that a large portion of the calories in this food come from sugars and as research shows sugar the main cause of obesity.

The Produce for Better Health Foundation states that a half of a plantain is considered one serving. A half of a plantain contains 110 calories, consequently 1 whole plantain contains 220 calories (raw and cooked).

Most of us, however, like fried plantain instead of the cooked version and we don’t even know how high price we pay for that pleasure. One single slice of plantain contains 68 calories and calories from fat are 32. If you break down the calorie content in fried plantain you get the following: 44% fat, 54% carbs, 2% protein.

So my advice is, even though plantain is such a great source of vitamins and minerals, try to eat it in the morning or maximum at lunch (never in the evening) if you want to lose weight. As we know protein can help you lose weight and plantain contains more carbohydrate.

Read on:

http://whitenaijagirl.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/plantain-to-be-honest-i-used-to.html

PREVENT STRETCH MARKS

Congratulations, if you’re pregnant! Having a baby is a wonderful experience. I bet it would be even more wonderful if we wouldn’t end up with stretch marks after the 10 months pregnancy.

The bitter truth is that between 75 and 90% of women develop stretch marks during pregnancy. As you put on weight, your skin is gradually stretched further and further, usually causing darker lines on your body. Stretch marks can appear on the thighs, buttocks and on the breasts as they get bigger.

But don’t worry there is always a solution. When I was pregnant I found some tricks and tips that can help you prevent your skin from damaging.

Your intake of certain foods has a huge impact on your skin elasticity. Increase your intake of the following foods to keep your skin healthy and help prevent stretch marks.

• Vitamin E to increase skin elasticity. You can find vitamin E in Breakfast cereals (the best is unsweetened porridge), nuts, tomatoes, spinach, carrot, pumpkin, pepper, broccoli, sweet potato, fish, mango. 
• Eat nuts and seeds (Brazil nuts, Almonds, Walnuts, sunflower seeds, pumpkin seeds) 
• Vitamin C (hot chili pepper, bell pepper, broccoli, kiwi, papaya, oranges) 
• Zinc (oysters, roast beef, pumpkin, squash, dark chocolate, lamb, peanut, crab) 
• Silica (banana, wholegrain bread, raisin, green beans, carrot, rice) 
• Drinking lots of water 

And my last advice is: It’s normal to put on weight, but try not to “eat for two”. The extra calories that a pregnant woman should take to nourish the baby are about 300 extra calories per day.

Enjoy your pregnancy!

Read on:
http://whitenaijagirl.blogspot.co.uk/2012/08/prevent-stretch-marks-congratulations.html

WEIGHT-LOSS MYTHS

The following myths are general myths that I came across so far. Please comment and tell me what the Nigerian ones are.

You have to do cardio exercise to lose weight. (Walking, running, cycling, skipping)

I have to admit that it took me a long time to realize that cardio is not the best way to lose weight. A few years ago I believed I had to run to lose excess weight or keep it up. Today I know that I was wasting a lot of time with running.

You don’t need endless running in the gym to become slim! You have to work out with weights! You have to understand that the more muscle you have the more calories your body burns even when you are sleeping, this is because muscle burns more calories than fat.
Now twenty minutes exercise with weights is more than enough for me to keep myself fit.

You have to eat less if you want to lose weight

Good news for food lovers like me is that you don’t have to reduce the amount of food you eat if you ant to lose weight. The trick is to eat the right food at the right times.

Forget very low calorie diets because it is too hard to maintain. Every time I tried to eat very little I finally gave in and ate more calories than I needed, causing weight gain.

Apart from that, not eating decreases metabolism and your body thinks that you are either starving or fasting and reduces your metabolism to keep your most important organs working. You do lose weight but when you start eating your metabolism is still slow and your body thinks that may be this is the last time you will eat (as you've been starving). Consequently you actually start gaining even more weight.

Fat makes you fat
In my experience it is usually excess carbohydrate consumption, and not excess fat consumption that is causing weight gain!

In fact avoiding fat might cause weight gain.
Perhaps what is more useful for people to know is that eating different foods (carbs, proteins, fats and fibre) will affect how much you eat and how often via hormones! Ho many people know this?

Meals high in protein, keep you "fuller for longer". Eat too many carbs, and your body will have no choice but to store the extra energy as fat! In addition you will feel lethargic in the process, and then you soon feel hungry for more carbs! Carbs aren't bad, they are needed to give us energy however its very easy to overeat them!

Skipping meals is a good way to lose weight

Like I said earlier, you need to keep your metabolism fast if you want to lose weight. By skipping meals you can only achieve slow metabolism, a bit of weight loss and a lot a of weigth gain when you start eating again.

If you want to lose weight you still need to eat. Just reduce your portion sizes, eat fresh foods not processed meals , swap snacks such as crisps, chocolate bars etc for rice crackers, nuts and fruits. Cut back (or cut out) on alcohol.
Only eat as much as you need, don't overdo it just because you can.

These are my advice. I hope I could help.

Read on:

http://whitenaijagirl.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/weight-loss-myths.html

OGBONO SOUP

My husband and I cooked some ogbono soup a few days ago and I became curios about ogbono. I wanted to find out what exactly it is and (because I'm interested in nutrition) I also wanted to know about the medical/herbal value of the seed.

I found out that Ogbono seed is being sold in America as a drug for weight loss. Ogbono helps weight loss by increasing the levels of leptin in the body, a hormone that reduces the apetite and it reduces the amount of blood sugar converted to fat.


The nutritional value of one serving (150mg) of Ogbono soup is 470 calories but most importantly case study done in America actually showed that Ogbono helps to achieve weight loss.


I'm definitely convinced about the importance of Ogbono soup in my diet with a little exception of some ingredience. My husband likes putting cow tongue in the soup but as a hungarian girl I'm still not used to eating tongue! Other than that Ogbono soup is delicious.

RECIPE:

Ingredients:

• Assorted Meat and Fish: Beef, Shaki, DryFish, Stock Fish
• Ogbono Seeds: 2 handfuls
• Palm Oil: 3 Cooking spoons
• Vegetable: Frozen Spinach (you can also use Pumpkin leaves or even Bitterleaf)
• Crayfish: 1 handful
• Pepper and Salt - To taste
• 1 medium size Onion
• 2 Stock cubes (Maggi/Knorr)

Pour the palm oil into a clean dry stainless steel or aluminium pot. Set on the stove and melt the oil at low heat. Remember, only melt the oil, do not allow it to heat up.
Once melted, turn off the heat and add the ground Ogbono.
Use your cooking spoon to dissolve the Ogbono in the oil.
When all the Ogbono powder has completely mixed with the oil, add the meat/fish stock (water from cooking the assorted meat and fish). Set the heat of your cooker to low and start stirring. You will notice the Ogbono start to thicken and draw.
Keep stirring till the Ogbono has completely absorbed the meat stock.
Add a small quantity of the hot water and stir till the Ogbono has absorbed all the water. Repeat this process till you get a consistency that is shown in the video below.
Making sure that your heat is set to low, cover the pot and start cooking. Once it starts to simmer, stir every 2-3 minutes for 20 minutes.
So what you'll do is: every 3 minutes or so, open the pot, stir every well, scraping the Ogbono that sticks to the base of the pot, cover the pot and cook for another 3 minutes.
After 20 minutes, the Ogbono should be well cooked and you will begin to perceive its nice flavour and aroma.
Add the assorted meat and fish, ground crayfish, salt and pepper to taste. The Ogbono may have become thicker from the cooking. If so, add a little bit more water and stir very well. Cover and cook till the contents of the pot is well heated up.

If you prefer your Ogbono Soup without vegetables, turn off the heat and serve but if you like to add a vegetable then keep reading :)
When the contents of the pot have heated up, add the vegetable (frozen Spinach used in the video). Stir very well, cover the pot and turn off the heat. Leave to cook for about 5 minutes and serve with Fufu.

read on:
http://whitenaijagirl.blogspot.co.uk/2012/09/ogbono-soup.html