Men your nutrition matters too

April 13, 2022

It is very common for us to concentrate on women and children when it comes to nutrition but did you know men too have specific nutrition needs and it is important for them to pay attention to their nutrition needs. I love to say women have more biological demands on them but men as a population are larger and have more muscle mass than women so their physical demands tend to be more.

Key nutrients men need

Men

Proteins

Who does not want to have muscle, or at least look at muscles. (hallo ladies….) Men and women need good sources of protein in their diets. However, men’s protein needs may be proportionally greater, especially if a man is physically active. Protein is the building block of muscle, so an adequate supply is especially critical for men to maintain their mass and they also provide a long-lasting source of energy, so men feel strong and alert between meals. If you would love to grow your muscles, in addition to muscle building exercises at your favorite gym, you will need to increase their protein levels above the regular daily requirements. (I can help you with that or reach out to your dietitian).

The common practice especially here in Africa is that we turn to carbohydrate-heavy meals in the evening. They are satisfying and taste good no doubt, but men are better off eating the majority of their protein at dinner, because it helps their bodies rebuild muscle tissues overnight.

Calories

Men being more physical than women require more calories than women. The main sources of calories in the diet are carbohydrates, proteins and fats. It is important for one to march their calorie intake with the level of activity. Excess energy (excess calories) are stored in the body as fat and this does not help anyone’s health. A sports man or construction worker will require more calories than a man who has a more sedentary lifestyle like one who works at their desk all day. This important to note.

Calcium

Calcium is very important to men as it is for women and children. It is vital for healthy muscles, nerves, and bones. Osteoporosis is a reality and affects all genders. It is important to make sure your Vitamin D levels are in check because it is necessary for the absorption of Calcium. Your body produces vitamin D when you get 10 to 30 minutes of sunshine each day but some foods like dairy products are fortified with Vitamin D.

Selenium

Selenium is a trace mineral,a critical component for the thyroid gland, which controls your metabolism and growth. It prevents rheumatoid arthritis and heart disease. In men’s nutrition it is particularly important for keeping their reproductive organs functioning properly. Sources of Selenium include many whole grains and dairy products, including milk and yogurt, are good sources of selenium as well as pork, beef, turkey, chicken, fish, shellfish, and eggs contain high amounts of selenium.

Fiber

Men’s overall bigger size necessitates that the average male to have more calories each day than the average female. In addition men’s bodies require more fiber, to help them gradually absorb the nutrients in their food without dramatic peaks and valleys in their energy levels.

The best sources of fiber include vegetables and fruits such as leafy greens, carrots, and peppers which deliver the most fiber and other nutrients without breaking the calorie bank. Fruits too like apples, oranges, bananas and other varieties of fruit great choices since they are high in fiber and nutrients. Black beans, other legumes and whole grains are other healthy, high-fiber foods.

Omega 3 fatty acids

If you hear about fats and cringe in fear for extra pounds please hear me out. Omega-3 fatty acids are essential to your health yet the body can’t produce them on its own. This means you must get these nutrients from food. In men’s health Omega-3s are particularly important because they play an integral role in regulating cholesterol, blood clotting and inflammation. High cholesterol and persistent inflammation contributes to many ailments prevalent in males, like heart disease.

Men we need you alive and healthy please take care of your nutrition.

See you next Wednesday

DASH diet. What your heart needs.

February 23, 2022

As the heart month (February) comes to a close I thank you for being here with me as we talked about everything to do with heart health. We looked at why your heart health is crucial, how to improve and maintain our heart health and now we will look at how to eat healthy to lower blood pressure

DASH diet

DASH is an acronym for Dietary Approaches to Stop Hypertension. This diet is both a preventative and curative one that is designed to help treat or prevent high blood pressure (hypertension). Studies indicate that the DASH diet has the capacity to lower blood pressure in as little as two weeks, it can lower low-density lipoprotein (LDL). (I talked about how bad these are here, be sure to read it in case you missed it).

This diet includes foods rich in potassium, magnesium, and calcium. These 3 nutrients are very crucial in controlling blood pressure. Foods rich in saturated fat, added sugars and sodium are limited.

What to eat

The DASH diet is a balanced flexible eating plan aimed at creating a healthy eating style for the heart that is sustainable throughout your life. The diet includes foods rich in fruits and vegetables, whole grains, low or no fat dairy products, nuts and seeds, white meat like fish and poultry. It is important to always choose foods rich in potassium, magnesium, calcium, protein, and fiber. Limits foods rich in sodium and saturated fat.

This diet calls for a certain number of daily servings from various food groups of course depending on the number of calories an individual requires daily given their lifestyle. (A dietician can help you ascertain that) however on average here are the recommended servings per day.

Whole Grains – 7-8 daily servings

Fruits – 4-5 daily servings

Vegetables – 4-5 servings

Nuts, seeds, and legumes – 4-5 servings (per week)

Low or fat-free dairy products – 2-3 servings

Meat, poultry – 2 or fewer servings

Sweets – less than 5 servings (per week)

Fats and oils – 2-3 servings

Diet tips

Add more vegetables and dry beans to your diet

Read food labels to choose products that are lower in sodium

Add a serving of vegetables at lunch and at dinner

Replace the full fat or cream with low fat or skim dairy products and have that any time.

In cooperating a fruit to your meals or have it as a snack

DASH diet summary;

Eat more whole grain foods, fish, poultry and nuts

Eat more fruits, vegetables and low or fat free dairy products

Limit sodium, sugary drinks, sweets and red meats

Cut back on foods that are high in saturated fats, trans fats and cholesterol

Eat for your heart

If you are hypertensive or know someone that is, kindly share this article with them and slowly begin making dietary changes that will guarantee you a more comfortable life. If you need more specialized help in this regard, kindly reach out to a nutritionist/dietician near you or contact me and I will be of help.

Thank you for celebrating heart month with me, I believe many hearts have been saved. Now let us meet in the new month of March. Some like to call it Women’s month.

See you next Wednesday.

Nutrition

Anyone can start 2022 in a healthier way.

January 12, 2022

The new year is a good place to start if one is looking to make some good habits to use throughout the year.

Anyone, absolutely anyone can start 2022 in a healthier way. The new year is all about setting new habits to be one’s best self and this is what we are here to do today.

What are some healthy choices for meal plans?

Planning meals is the best way if not the only way for one considering a healthy meal. It does not matter if the meal is for a weaning baby, adolescent male, lactating mother, or elderly female. When we are talking healthy, we are not referring to a grassy diet, healthy meals can still feature your favorite foods.

A healthy eating plan:

Emphasizes vegetables, fruits, whole grains, and fat-free or low-fat dairy products.
Includes lean meats, poultry, fish, beans, eggs, and nuts.
Limits saturated and trans fats, sodium, and added sugars.
Controls portion sizes.

We eat in a variety of places including home, work, restaurants, name it. As a result we have more control of the food choices available in some places than we have in others. I will tell you the place you will have the most control is home-cooked meals for which you have the most control. It is therefore important to take the time and plan ahead to make sure you have healthy options available.

Do you want start your year in a healthier way? Let us start here;

Have a healthy mindset

It all starts with the mind. A healthy mindset enables you brainstorm your favorite meals, and think of ways to make them healthier: whether by swapping out a less healthy component for a healthier one in your recipe, switching up the cooking process, or incooperating vegetables and healthy fats in your meals, having healthy meals shouldn’t be a problem with the right mindset.

Looking for how to develop this healthy mindset? Read this, it will help.

Organise your kitchen

Things get easier and more enjoyable when better organised. Creating space in the kitchen will make it easy for one to love to cook healthier meals while you can see every ingredient, all the produce as well as foods that are about to go bad so that they can be utilised in time. It is the best way to get excited about a healthier meal and let alone prepare one.

Pantry Staples: A Master List of Everything You Need — It gets easier if you can see most of what you need to use if your meals are to get healthier

Plan your meals

Meal planning is one knowing what they will eat ahead of time. Planning meals helps one create a healthier routine that become part of one’s life for good. Planning meals also makes it easier for one to incorporate healthier options in food like whole foods, healthier snacks like fruits and nuts as well as healthier cuts of meat to mention but a few.

I made a detailed blog about meal planning and just incase you missed it, find it here and thank me later.

Make time to cook

Having and making time to prepare your own meals or supervise someone cook will guarantee you a healthier meal for you and your family. You will successfully cut out the convenient food options which are far from healthy many of the time because they have a lot carbs and oils. Try to use as much previous preparation as possible to save as much time as possible. We live in a busy world.

Do not forget to use those kitchen tools, get some quality ones if you can because one thing for sure is that it will make cooking easier and more enjoyable.

Philips XXL Airfryer Review 2021: It Cooks Large Meals Quickly & Cleans Easily — An air fryer is a good quality cooking tool for you to start 2022 in a healthier way.

Look for inspiration

We are in an era of social media where everything is handed down easy in exchange for your data. Once in a while look up healthy interesting cooking options and look for inspiration. Get your inspiration ready and move your way up the healthier ladder.

Recipe Book Stand Holders — Cook Books Holders — Eatwell101 — Explore

Do you have some ways you are making sure you start and stay healthier in the new year? Share with us and who knows, we could learn a thing or two from you.

Nutrition, Recipes

6 Healthy habits to ride with in 2021

January 25, 2021

Am I the only one who feels like this has been the shortest January lived so far? Very dramatic yes but too short for a January. Oh and less cruel I must say. For me at least. But regardless we move.

This first month has been packed with lots of activities and it could be the reason I feel it is short that one could forget it is the first month of the year. There is always something about the flip of the calendar, there is always a renewed energy to reinvent and re-strategize certain things in life although this year I have heard so many people say they will go slow about it given the way way 2020 turned out. Being an ambassador for healthy living, let me share 6 habits that I would recommend to ride with in this year.

1. Look out for the seasons

Who has heard the notion that eating healthy is expensive? A friend of mine confessed that he would love to eat fruits everyday as recommended but they are just expensive and he cannot keep up. Well guess what, it is just about time you stopped buying expensive health foods that you cannot keep up with and start buying seasonally. An apple a day keeps the doctor away true but if you know you can afford to spend 1000/= for just one apple daily, how about finding out what fruits are in season that time. Is it bananas, mangoes or pineapples? When things are in season, they tend to be more affordable so you will not feel the strain of eating healthy. If peas are not in season and the prices are not favorable, what alternative legume is in season? Buy that and wait for the peas to bounce back. It usually does not take long. One way of knowing whether a particular food item is in season or not, you will see a difference in the prices on the market to what you expect them to be.

2. Embrace variety in your meals

The habit of eating the same exact thing everyday needs to stop, even when this is a healthy choice. Variety is the key of health. Having the same thing every day, week on week is never going to help you reach peak energy levels. I understand that at times this is what we have most available to us but I also cannot ignore the fact that it could be the most convenient choice in terms of cooking. The way this can be beaten is by planning way in advance. This is something we call meal planning where you sit and brain storm on the meals that you plan to have the whole week for yourself together with your family. Variety can be as simple as having beans on Monday with potatoes and dodo to having beans in groundnut paste with rice and Sukuma on Tuesday. When you plan in advance, it helps you to be well prepared rather than trying to figure out what to cook after a frustrating day at work.

3. Look out for interesting healthy recipes

Making healthy meals does not require complicated recipes. The trick is to make the recipe very easy until it becomes a default. Very many times when you talk about recipes, very many people are quick to say that they do not have an oven so those recipes can not work for them. Well just to help us understand, a recipe is a set of instructions that describes how to prepare or make something, especially a dish of prepared food. So looking out for interesting healthy recipes can be as simple as looking at someone cook a particular dish in a different way than you cook it or even trying to cook something a little different from the way you normally do. Some time back I visited a friend and saw the way she cooked her posho (ugali). She added butter and salt as she cooked it and boom I had discovered a new recipe. A healthy one at that because this person had added value to the ordinary dish that I have eaten for most of my life.

4. Band wagon dieting needs to take a rest

Put up your hand if you are currently on a diet because you have seen it being overly advertised online or because your friend said this is the wonder diet to get rid of your tummy.

Many people have fallen victim of attempting to do diets that are not tailored to their nutritional needs only to be disappointed later when it does not work or even harmful to their own health. There is a lady I know who was recently diagnosed with scurvy ( a disease caused by a deficiency of vitamin C, characterized by swollen bleeding gums and the opening of previously healed wounds ) and this is because this lady was convinced to do the keto diet as it it would be her ‘wonder drug’ for the tummy she had that had refused to go ever since having her twins. Unfortunately this lady decided to take up this diet and even did not consult a professional and ended up doing it wrong hence falling victim of scurvy. If you must subscribe to a diet, at least reach out to a professional to give you an informed guide.

5. Break a sweat doing something you enjoy

The pressure to stay fit and have a ‘perfect’ shape is real and unfortunately very many people begin an unending journey of things they do not exactly enjoy only to fall out in just a matter of weeks. I for one have been a one embarrassingly unfit human but each time I would try to do exercises, I would give up on day two because by this day every part of my body is screaming in pain. After so many failed attempts, a dear friend of mine suggested that I should try to do dance routines since I love to dance. From the very first day I tried, I knew that this relationship would last. My fitness has greatly improved and it is something that I do without even trying so hard. So how about you look for something you enjoy doing and you shoot two birds with one stone.

6. Your body is not their body

Last but not least, the pain of comparison is not worth it. We have seen people want to alter their bodies for the perfect bodies they have seen on Instagram. I am sorry to break it to you that the bodies you see online are not all a result of healthy eating or exercise. Many of them are a product of filters and body shapers. Let the goal here be to adopt healthy eating habits and lifestyle and like they say, the rest will fall in line. Do not forget to have routine medical checkups rather than waiting when the body is falling apart.

May this year be a year of rediscovery in terms of our healthy life styles. We can make healthy fun and enjoyable

Healthy lifestyle