At which traffic light are you?

March 16, 2020

Traffic lights have 3 distinct colors. Unless times have changed, this is one of the first lessons a growing child gets. I still see the big words on the black board; RED is for STOP, YELLOW is for GET SET, GREEN is for GO. My young self always got excited when we got to traffic lights and I saw these colors. My teachers at that moment in time felt like magicians and the fact that I could interpret the colors added to the glow. But we are not talking about road signs today. We will use the traffic light colors to help us put our food habits in order. Call it the Food traffic lights

GREEN (Best choices)

With these choices of food, you are SAFE. These are foods that will do your body so much justice. They are usually good sources of important nutrients, low in saturated fat (bad fat), added sugar and/or salt, lower in energy, higher in fibre. They follow the recommended food groups religiously.

grain (cereal) foods, mostly wholegrain and/or high cereal fibre varieties
vegetables and legumes/beans
fruits
milk, yoghurt, cheese and/or their alternatives, mostly reduced-fat
lean meat and poultry, fish, eggs, nuts and seeds and legumes/beans

YELLOW (Choose carefully)

With these foods you want to be so careful at the portions you serve or consume. Foods in this category have moderate amounts of saturated fat, added sugar and/or salt. They contribute excess amounts of energy if taken frequently. Limit the portions if you must eat them more often.

Refined cereals
sweet and savoury muffins, fruit breads, sweet pastries and slices that are a small to medium serve size or have been modified (e.g. reduced levels of fat and/or sugar and include fibre).
Full cream diary products like milk and yoghurt
Artificially sweetened soft drinks.

Yellow foods and drinks should not dominate the choices available. Offering mostly ‘yellow food’ items will eventually provide excess energy at the expense of nutrient-rich ‘Green food’ options that are needed for optimal health and vitality.

RED (Limit these)

These are foods I love to call reward foods. You do not reward yourself every second, hour or week. Keep it simple. Once in a while keeps the game exciting. So should be with these foods too. These foods more than often are the ingredients to being overweight and obese as well as other chronic diseases if consumed frequently.

All deep fried foods.
Plain and flavoured cakes, cream-filled cakes, sweet pastries, sweet pies and slices.
High fat processed meats
Pastries for example pies, pasties, sausage rolls, samosas.
Cream filled biscuits, chocolate biscuits and any sweet biscuit.
sugar-sweetened fruit drinks
Alcoholic, carbonated and caffeinated drinks

On this highway street called life, take a pause and check which traffic sign you have got to respect, lest you crash.

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2

Nutrition

Liver and Pregnancy

March 9, 2020

My friend (let us name her Grace) walks into her salon, gasping for breath like she just finished an olympic marathon and throws her weight in the red fluffy chairs she finds in the lobby. Grace cannot believe that just two flights of stairs could get her this weary, but when you are pregnant and in the final lap, even a stroll in the backyard will leave you feeling like a hike to the top of the hill.

As soon as she is settles her now enormous weight that she carries around like a drum, the hunger pangs begin to dig in. They bite so hard that she muffles a silent groan as she asks her stylist to get her the waiter from the built-in restaurant. At this moment in time her taste buds are craving for liver, so she orders for french fries and liver.

As if not sure whether to say it or not, the waiter leans in and whispers to Grace, “I would not advise you to take liver in your state’ and briskly walks away like his job is on the line for this one statement he has made. Grace eventually changes her order but she is greatly disturbed because no one has ever warned her against eating liver especially when she is pregnant. Grace quickly sends me a text telling me the whole ordeal and asks me to clarify.

LIVER and PREGNANCY

From time memorial Liver is generally considered a healthy food that is rich in minerals, vitamins and protein, but it contains high amounts of preformed vitamin A. (A more scientific name is called retinol). Preformed vitamin A is found in animal products like eggs, milk, and liver. Too much of this type of vitamin A in your pregnancy diet can cause birth defects in your developing baby, especially during the first months of pregnancy. The other type of vitamin A is called provitamin A (carotenoids), which are found in fruits and vegetables. There’s no limit to the amount of carotenoids an expectant mother can safely consume, so you don’t have to worry about getting too much vitamin A from fruits and vegetables.

Benefits of eating Liver during pregnancy

Liver contains some vital elements that are considered essential for a mother and her baby during pregnancy, which makes consumption of liver quite a beneficial choice. (This is done with caution like we have discussed above)

Liver is a good source of proteins which are the core source of energy every pregnant woman must have in good amounts through out pregnancy, and she can get enough of them from the liver.
A child’s neurological development is one of the first things that happen as soon as conception takes place. Liver contains folic acid which plays a key role in the protection of the child within the womb as well as boosting the child’s neurological development.
Vitamin A directly impacts the development of eyesight and immunity of a developing child and there is no doubt that liver has plenty of this.
The mere fact that liver has an overwhelming presence of iron, is one of the major reasons why pregnant women need to consume liver since it reduces risks of anemia and keeps the blood healthy.

How much liver is safe for consumption?

If I told you, this is how much of the liver you can eat in a day, I would be telling a lie. There is no benchmark at how much proportion of liver is considered safe in which form for a pregnant woman. The proportions of vitamin A in it are quite substantial so it is quite easy to overdo them if one has regular consumption of liver. Therefore, it is generally advisable to keep its consumption restricted to once a week or twice a month.

The ball is now in your court, take that bite in your liver with caution the next time you are pregnant

4

Nutrition

Where did it all go?

January 24, 2020

For the larger part of 2018 and 2019 there are trends that came and had their time and they seem to have taken a vacation to some place no one knows. And being a nutritionist I will talk in the line of health and lifestyle

Okra — ‘The lady’s fingers’

First it was okra, there was a time where you would not move 100 meters in Kampala without seeing a girl with a water bottle that contained some green french bean like things in her bottle. The water would be slimy but that did not matter. As word would have it most took it with the promise that it is a very good lubricator and who would not want to make things better down there hence the popularity of this vegetable. Whether it delivered this promise or not we don’t know but towards the end of 2019, it seemed to have lost it’s fame. Here are some of the benefits of okra, and based on these you will decide whether to give it one more chance or not.

Did you know that Okra is actually a fruit? A fruit is defined as anything that contains seeds and since Okra has seeds it qualifies to be a fruit, but because it lacks the sweetness of a mango or a strawberry, it is regarded as a vegetable.

2. Okra is also known as ladies’ fingers perhaps the reason it is famous among the female generation.

3. When storing okra for later use, never wash it as the moisture will cause it to become slimy. Instead, put in a paper bag and refrigerate.

4. Okra doesn’t have to be cooked to be eaten. This is why many opted to put it straight away in drinking water.

5. This small vegetable is a superfood. It is low in calories, but high in calcium, protein, carbohydrates, fat, fiber, and magnesium. It also contains a good dose of vitamins C, K, and A, and can enhance the immune system.

6. Okra has many health benefits and has been found to reduce asthma symptoms, prevent diabetes, relieve constipation, and help those suffering from exhaustion and depression.

7. Okra can keep skin smooth and help prevent pimples as well as rejuvenate hair. For your hair, just slice okra horizontally, boil until it becomes very slimy, cool the brew, mix with a few drops of lemon, and then rinse your hair out with it.

So the ball is in your court, now that you know of what benefit okra is, you may decide to bring it back to your diet or not.

Chia seeds

This was another that took the country by a storm though this was mostly attributed to the aggressive marketing that was done by those that were dealing in it. Given its relatively fair affordability the market was flooded with these small black and or grey things. It was a wonder food many were told. But again like all things, they come and have their time and in a short while the excitiment is gone and we move on. So here is what you did not know about chia seeds

1. Chia seeds are a nutritional punch made up of protein, fat and dietary fibre. In addition there is a mountain of minerals including calcium, magnesium, iron, and phosphorous.

2. Tiny as they are, chia seeds are packed with loads of fiber. They have about 20% of the fiber which is soluble. The beauty about soluble fiber is that it promotes a healthy digestive system by feeding the good microbes in your gut.

3. Chia seeds have a capacity of absorbing alot of water which means they bulk up and give you a full feeling for longer. So many on weight loss journeys, this is a very good way to deal with those hunger spells.

Let us not throw away trends before we get the best from them as much as possible. I will soon share some of my favorite recipes using okra and chia seeds. Be on the look out.