KEEP CALM AND LOVE FAT

Fat should be an essential part of our daily diet. 20 – 35% of your daily energy should come from fat. This means that a person on a 1800 calorie diet should consume 40-70 grams of fat a day.

20-35% is quite a significant value. What does the body do with all that fat?

Provides energy

Fat provides most energy per gram. While carbohydrates provide 4 calories per gram, fat gives you 9. Even though carbohydrates should still be the main source of energy, fats are a good backup for when your body has no available carbohydrates.

Absorption of fat soluble vitamins

There are two types of vitamins. Water soluble and fat soluble. Water soluble vitamins include all the B vitamins and vitamin C. These vitamins are absorbed into the body using water as a medium. The other type of vitamins is the fat soluble vitamins. These are Vitamins A, D, E, and K. Fat soluble vitamins rely on fats to be absorbed and stored. If your diet is very low in fat you might end up deficient of these fat soluble vitamins.

Protection of vital organs

Cars have shock absorbers and humans have fat. All vital organs have layers of fat surrounding them. This protects the organs when we encounter sudden impact or physical trauma. The fat absorbs all the shock it can so the next time you fall and your liver doesn’t get hurt, thank the fats in your body.

Structural functions

Body cells are made of membranes and the membranes have fat as an essential component.

Fat also maintains normal body temperatures, helps in production of hormones and maintain healthy hair and skin.

Disclaimer; not all fats have health benefits

When buying fats, you should try as much as possible to make them monosaturated or polysaturated. Now before you think that am using big words to show off let me make it simpler.

 Best fat sources include:

ü  Oil from fish sources

ü  Olive oil (oil from olives)

ü  Oil from nuts (peanuts, macadamia, cashew nuts, almonds etc)

ü  Oils from seeds (sunflowers, sesame, flax seeds, etc)

ü  Avocadoes

Good fats have more than functional purposes. They also protect against some conditions and support good health. For example, omega 3 fatty acids (fish oil, cod liver oil, flax seeds, and canola oil are good sources) can do the following:

ü  Support healthy pregnancy

ü  Reduce the risk of heart disease and stroke

ü  Protect the brain against memory loss and dementia

ü  Reduce symptoms of depression and bipolar disorder and can even help prevent them

ü  Ease joint pain and arthritis

ü  Reduce the risk of cancer

ü  Sharpen the memory and reduce mental fatigue

When shopping for omega 3s and their supplements you will see a lot of EPA, DHA and ALA. Relax we got you.

EPA (Eicosapentaenoic acid) and DHA (docosahexaenoic acid) are normally from cold water fatty fish while ALA (Alpha-linolenic acid) is from plant sources.

Cold pressed oils are made without the use of chemicals or heat to extract the oils from their sources. They are a little pricey but if you can afford them they are the best.

Healthier Ugali

Show me a Kenyan family that goes for a week without eating Ugali and I will drop my jaw in disbelief. Ugali is so popular in Kenya that a rise in Unga (maize flour) prices makes us demonstrate. It is not just a Kenyan thing. Many African countries have their own version and name for ugali.

Now that we all eat ugali and quite frequently, how can we get as many nutrients from ugali as possible?

Use whole grain flour

Remember the kisiagi flour you think only people from the village should eat? Well… we get more nutrients from that flour so go all village with ugali. The bran, which is the outer part of the grain that is removed in the production of refined flour, is packed with fiber and minerals.

 100 grams of bran will give you 316% of the dietary fiber you need in a day, 29% carbohydrates, 23% Selenium, 16% of the iron, 15% Magnesium, 13% Niacin, 8% Vitamin B6 and 4% calcium. Now are you sure you still want to buy flour with all that removed from your maize flour?

Explore other grains

Maize is not the only grain used to make flour for ugali. Millet for example makes really healthy ugali.

One cup of cooked millet provides 10% of your daily carbohydrates, 12% protein, 12% Vitamin B1, 8% Vitamin B2, 12% Vitamin B3, 9% Vitamin B6, 8% Folate, 17% Phosphorus, 24% Manganese, 19% Magnesium and 14% Copper. These sound like insignificant numbers but they are very good numbers for a cup of a single cooked grain.

Mix grains

If you feel crazy enough, mix your grains. Maize would go well with a little wheat and it makes it healthier as you get the nutrients from the wheat too. While mixing grains, don’t go overly crazy because too much fiber makes it difficult for you to get the vitamins and the minerals from the ugali. Maybe just mix two grains at a time.

Pair your ugali with good protein sources

When I talk of a good protein source I don’t just mean meat, chicken and fish. Beans are also a good protein source. The amazing thing is, the amino acids absent in beans are abundant in maize and when you pair ugali and beans you get better quality proteins.

Can I add margarine to my ugali?

It is ok to add margarine to ugali especially for children because it adds flavor. Healthy, normal physically active people will burn the margarine like they would other fats. For those on strict weight loss diets count the calories from the margarine when logging your daily caloric intake.

Ugali is affordable, readily available and healthy. What makes it very healthy is its lack of sodium, cholesterol and additives. The method of cooking ugali also makes it healthy so go ahead and enjoy our staple food.

What do potatoes bring to the table?

Potatoes are one of the healthiest foods in the world. The healthiest foods are foods that give you most nutrients with least calories. The foods should also be readily available and affordable.

To tell the level of health in a food, we use nutrient density as a measure. Nutrient density is the amount of nutrients in a particular food in comparison to the number of calories. A nutrient dense food will therefore have the most nutrients while having the least amount of calories.

One medium potato (medium potato is about the size of a computer mouse) has about 110 calories and is also packed with the following nutrients:

Potassium

That medium potato has 18% of the Recommended Dietary Allowance for Potassium and this comes with zero fat and zero sodium making potatoes good at lowering blood pressure.

(Recommended Dietary Allowance, abbreviated as RDA means the amount of a nutrient you need to eat in a day)

Vitamin B6

A medium potato will give you approximately 20% of the Vitamin B6 you need in a day. Vitamin B6 is used in the body to convert the food you eat into energy.

Eating potatoes can help with depression, lack of sleep and attention deficit hyperactivity disorder. This is because the Vitamin B6 in potatoes helps create brain chemicals that play numerous roles in the nervous system.

Vitamin C

One medium potato will give you 45% of the Vitamin C you need in a day. Vitamin C is helps boost your immunity making it hard for common cold and other infections to catch you, Vitamin C makes you look younger and healthy because of its antioxidant effects, it helps with wound healing, helps your body absorb iron, and much more.

Iron

You get 6% of the Recommended Dietary Allowance for iron from a medium potato and the Vitamin C in the same potato helps with the absorption of the Iron. Iron does not just help make red blood cells but it also aides the transport of oxygen in the body.

Fiber

Fiber aides digestion, helps with weight loss and lower blood cholesterol.

Because of all the above nutrients; potatoes make you have smooth creamy skin, make you look younger, boost your immunity, make digestion easier, reduce the chances for depression and help prevent anemia.

Potatoes are a super food but if you cook them wrong you do not get all the above benefits. When you fry potatoes (French fries and crisps) what goes wrong?

Two things;

        i.            You increase your consumption of fat which when accumulated leads to obesity, arteriosclerosis (this is when your arteries harden making it hard for blood to flow through), type 2 diabetes and other lifestyle diseases. The world will not end if you eat fries once in a while unless you are addicted to them and you can’t eat a reasonable serving size and walk away (in that case you should run when you see fries). It is ok to eat them sparingly but they should not be part of your regular diet.

      ii.            When you eat fries, you eat a lot of trans fat. This is the type of choice of fat for making French fries commercially.  Trans fats are formed when liquid oil is turned to solid fat by adding hydrogen. This is done by manufactures to add shelf life to the oil, flavor and texture. Trans fats are the bad kind of fats which increases the risk of getting type 2 diabetes, heart disease and stroke. They also lower your HDL (High Density Lipoproteins). HDL is the good kind of fat. Good and bad fat coexist in inverse proportions. When one goes up, the other goes down so if you want your bad fats (Low Density Lipoproteins) to go down you should increase your HDL. Avocado oil, canola oil and olive oil are good ways to raise your HDL.

 Is Gluten a Fattening Monster?

If you read food labels, am sure you have noticed that there is an increase in everything gluten free. Before you decide to ditch gluten, let me provide some more information about it to help you make an informed decision.

Gluten is a protein made of two other proteins namely glutenin and gliadin. This protein gives wheat flour dough its elasticity, makes it rise and keep its shape, and gives food products a chewy texture. Gluten is the reason you can use wheat flour to bake and make chapatis and not maize flour. Sources of gluten include; wheat, barley and rye.

Are there people who should not eat gluten?

Although they are few, there are people who cannot eat food products with gluten without getting sick. In America, this about 1% of the population. There is no data for Kenya but you get the picture. Celiac disease is a condition where the small intestines get inflamed (inflammation is when a part of your body swells up, turns red, feels hot and painful)when someone eats anything  with gluten.

People who have celiac disease should completely avoid foods with gluten for the rest of their lives. There are other people who don’t have celiac disease but present symptoms of people with celiac disease when they eat food products with gluten. This is called non-celiac gluten sensitivity.

 The symptoms include; diarrhea, stomach upsets, abdominal pain, bloating, fatigue and headaches.  Now before you swear off gluten, you should get tested to see if you are sensitive to gluten or have celiac disease.

If very few people have celiac disease why is everything on the market gluten free nowadays?

There are claims that a gluten free diet has slimming effects and now everything is suddenly gluten free. Most people go on these diets without even knowing what gluten is. Because so many companies are making gluten free products and suddenly everything says gluten free most people think that gluten must be bad and unhealthy. I totally get it when my clients think that and their argument is, if it’s not a big deal why is it on so many food packages today? Those companies are just trying to sell their products and keep up with a new food fad. Gluten free does not mean low calorie or healthy.

Unless you have celiac disease, gluten and gluten food products are totally safe and healthy. At the end of the day we all make our food choices but swearing off gluten has it downsides. For instance:

ü  You give up a wide range of healthy foods. It is hard to go for a day without touching food with gluten. Wheat products including bread, chapatis, mandazis, cereals, pasta etc are part of our every day food choices.

ü  People who follow a gluten free diet have low levels of the vitamins and nutrients found in plenty in foods with gluten eg Iron, Calcium, B vitamins, zinc, Magnesium and fiber.

ü  A gluten free diet is  expensive and very hard to keep up.

At the end of the day, losing weight and health are dependent on choosing the right foods, eating them in the right proportions and getting a little physical. Don’t be fooled by the gluten free on the packaging.

Apple or Banana a day... Which keeps the doctor away?

I now know why minions love bananas. An apple a day keeps the doctor away but a banana a day does more magic.

If you were to take a 100 grams of banana and 100 grams of apples, this is what you would get from each medium fruit with the skin off.

Fruit	Banana	Apple
Serving Size	100  grams	100  grams
Calories in medium fruit	89    calories	48    calories
Carbohydrates	22.8 grams	13.81grams
Fiber	2.6   grams	2.4    grams
Sugar	12.2 grams	10.0  grams
Protein	1.1   grams	0.3     grams
Vitamin C	8.7   grams	4.6     grams
Vitamin E	0.1   grams	0.2     grams
Fat	0.3   grams	0.2     grams
Potassium	358  mg	107    mg
Water	74.9 mg	85.6   mg

The amount of fiber in both fruits is almost the same. Protein and vitamin C are higher in a banana which is also a plus.

ü  Because a banana has more calories in 100 grams than an apple, snacking on a banana will give you more energy than an apple will.

ü  A healthy adult needs about 4.7 grams of potassium a day. Bananas are a good source of potassium. Other good sources of potassium include; Lima beans, sweet potatoes, potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, cabbages, kale (sukuma wiki), soy beans, spinach, avocado, dates, raisins, guavas and lentils.

ü  The fiber, potassium, vitamin C and vitamin B6 in bananas support heart health and reduce cardiovascular complications and blood pressure.

ü  Want to get over a hangover or long distant race dehydration? Other than losing water during dehydrating activities, we also lose electrolytes. Bananas help you get back the electrolytes you lost. They are also good after bouts of diarrhea.

ü  Bananas make you happy. Bananas have this amino acid, tryptophan, which is converted to serotonin in the brain which is basically a good mood neurotransmitter. They also help you preserve memories.

ü  The potassium in bananas helps reduce muscle cramps meaning that they are good after workout snacks and perfect for preventing night leg cramps.

ü  Because they help reduce cramps and make your mood better, bananas are perfect for women on their periods.

ü  In addition to the above, bananas help with bone growth, digestion, helps protect against type 2 diabetes, helps prevent asthma in children, helps prevent against cancer, helps prevent anemia, and helps to stabilize blood sugar. All these is because bananas are packed with Vitamin B6, Vitamin C, Potassium, Manganese, Fiber, Biotin and some Copper.

We cannot talk about the health benefits of potassium without mentioning sodium. Sodium one of the ingredients in salt and other foods like beets. To get most benefits from high potassium foods, make sure that your potassium sources are also low in sodium. Don’t get me wrong, you need about 2.3 grams of sodium a day (which is like half a teaspoon) and 4.7 grams of potassium a day. Thing is, it is easy to get sodium from salt and so even after choosing foods low in sodium you are still very likely to meet your sodium needs. On the other hand, too much sodium puts you at a higher risk for heart disease and fluid retention. 

The best thing about bananas is that they are very affordable. An average banana in Kenya goes for about 10 Shillings and at some areas you could get them for less.

So, go bananas and enjoy health.

Get your children fit and have fun doing it.

It is sad that a country that has starving children is also seeing a rise in children obesity cases.

All parents want to protect their children from disease and harm. Making sure that your children have a healthy weight is a good place to start.

Obese children are more likely to have risk factors for cardiovascular disease, pre-diabetes, sleep loss, bone and joint problems, and social and psychological problems such as stigmatization and poor self-esteem. Obese children are also likely to be obese adults and therefore at risk for heart disease, type 2 diabetes, osteoarthritis, some form of cancers, low self esteem and stroke.

Before I blame parents, teachers, caregivers and the children themselves, I would like to acknowledge that things have changed. I was a free range kid. Playing outside was very safe and being indoors counted as punishment. As a result, I had skinny legs decorated with injuries and marks but I was very healthy and within the recommended weight range. It is hard for parents to have their children run outside with homemade toys today but it is not impossible. Below are some of the ways you can make your kids exercise without making them hate you for it:

ü  Make it fun. Kids get bored easily and if you make their exercise too structured they will hate it.

ü  Limit screen time. It is easier to let your kids watch TV because then they are so calm and you could get so much done but then they do not get the so much needed exercise. Cutting your child’s TV time might not be easy but it is worth it in the end.

ü  Lead by example. According to the American Academy of Child and Adolescent Psychiatry, if one parent is obese, there is a 50% chance that their children will be obese as well. Translation, if you want your children to be healthy, be healthy.

ü  Encourage sports in school. This goes beyond signing them up for school activities. It helps when you attend their soccer games, swimming competitions, basket ball games and any other game your child is into.

ü  Mix it up. Kids get bored so quickly. They can’t even play one game for long without getting bored so when you are writing a list of activities for them, make sure they are varied.

ü  Let your children be in charge. While mixing the activities up, let your children help put the list together and the terms of exercise as a lifestyle choice. That way, they feel that they were part of the decision making and they are more likely to stick to it as opposed to when they feel like it was imposed on them.

ü  The more the merrier. If you are not very sure of how to keep your children busy and active, let me assure you that you are not alone. This means that you can look for parents in your situation and arrange play dates. Play dates not only help your kids make friends, get physical and healthy but they also mean that you take turns watching the kids play giving you time to take care of some business when it is not your turn.

ü  Get the extended family involved. I remember when I visited my grandmother every holiday and I would play with my cousins all day every day. I also got very fluent in my mother tongue and the adventures I had cannot fit in a book leave alone a blog.

ü  Incorporate chores into the exercise. Walking the dog and polishing floors are good examples of how chores and exercise could go together.

ü  Make it a family thing. This will not only help every member of the family get healthy but it will help the family bond. Talk of hitting two birds with one stone!

ü  Do it for a cause. Run a marathon or walk for a good cause. In addition to those health benefits, it will teach your children to care about others.

ü  Take time to enjoy nature. Going for hikes and walks to places that make you feel one with nature will help with creating variety and helps you get some fresh air. Ps, it also helps you get very good pictures for Instagram and Facebook.

Remember that exercise is a lifestyle thing. It is not something you do for day or two and take a year off. When choosing activities for your family’s fitness, make sure that they are sustainable.

7 Adopted Habits That Are Killing Kenyans

Kenyans are just so amazing. They are hard working, resilient and easily adapt when need be. But is our adaptation slowly killing us? We are not just changing our methods of doing things to increase efficiency, we are also changing our eating habits and lifestyles and it is clearly hurting us. The following are some of the habits that we should reconsider;

Fast foods

Some people deliberately choose to eat fast foods daily but others do it because they feel like they don’t have a choice. For those who deliberately make bad choices there is no other solution, just eat right. There is the other kind of person who wants to eat healthy but he/she has no time to prepare healthy food or he/she doesn't know where to find affordable, healthy food near the office or place of work. If you fall in this category, my advice would be pre preparation.

This means preparing your meals on your day of and storing them in your fridge. It is easier and less energy consuming than it sounds. You do not have to make a different meal for every day. You can make two or three big meals then pack them in different containers depending on the number of meals you need. This is also very energy and time saving as you don’t have to make your meals every day.  

Abandoning traditional foods

How many of us have arrowroots or cassavas for breakfast? I won’t judge because I had bread for breakfast. It is easier to pick a loaf of bread than to buy sweet potatoes that you have to boil before you eat. Everything good comes with a price and boiling tubers for health is a small price to pay for health. This does not stop at breakfast.  Our indigenous foods were and are still super healthy. They provide little calories with lots of minerals and vitamins. They are also low in sodium and the sugars are all healthy because they are natural. Time to enjoy all those bitter vegetables you thought were a form of punishment as a kid.

Eating processed meats and foods

Processed foods are high in sodium, sugar, saturated fats and other additives that we do not want in our bodies. They are also low in fiber, vitamins and minerals. Funny thing is that we pay so much for these foods and it does not make sense to pay so much for food that has been stripped of all the nutrients.  These leads to lifestyle diseases like obesity, gout, hypertension etc.

Gout is a condition that occurs when urate crystals accumulate in your joints, causing inflammation and intense pain of joints. Urate crystals can form when you have high levels of uric acid in your blood. Foods like steak, seafood, organ meat and red meat in general raise the amount of uric acid in the blood. Alcohol and drinks sweetened with fructose, which is fruit sugar, are also contributors. No normally, the body has a way of eliminating the uric acid through the kidneys but if the body produces too much uric acid or the kidneys excrete too little there is a buildup that leads to the inflammation and the pain.

Lack of exercise

We are a hardworking nation and as a result we have been able to buy cars and live in houses that have elevators. That is very good but it also means that we exercise less and are less healthy as a result. Exercise has more than aesthetic benefits. It helps you feel more energetic and helps prevent all the lifestyle diseases in the book. It also helps improve some conditions you could be having.

PS, if you have a medical condition, see your doctor before you decide to start strenuous exercises.

Being underweight

As a nutritionist I preach healthy body weight and not skinny. When you are underweight, you are definitely not getting all the nutrients that you should be getting. There is a specific amount of nutrients that your body requires in a day. For example, a healthy female adult needs about 75 milligrams, and about 18 milligrams of iron a day. This list goes on for all the vitamins, minerals, proteins, fats and carbohydrates. All of the above should come from a balanced diet with adequate calories and if you are underweight you are probably not eating enough food meaning you are definitely not getting all the nutrients you should be getting.

Being underweight also weakens your immune system meaning you get sick easily and take longer to get better. You also lack energy which makes you feel drained and tired all the time and not just physically but mentally as well. It also makes it hard for women to conceive and causes delayed or interrupted menses.

Lack of sleep/ rest

With an increase in the cost of living and a 24 hour economy, most Kenyans are working more and sleeping less. But we need adequate sleep to be able to perform normally as humans. Lack of adequate sleep leads to fatigue which causes an increase in the probability of accidents.

Sleep disorders and chronic sleep loss can put you at risk for: Heart disease, heart attack, heart failure, irregular heartbeat, high blood pressure, stroke and diabetes.

Our ability to pay attention, stay alert, reason and solve problems depends on the state of our minds which can be severely affected by lack of quality sleep. Moreover, during the night, various sleep cycles play a role in integrating memories in the mind. Therefore, if you don’t get quality sleep you will not be able to retain what you learnt during the day.

Lack of sleep also kills sex drive, makes your skin look waaay older than it actually is, impairs your judgment and decision making, makes you gain weight, makes you irritable and may cause depression.  So get some rest and then chase the money.

Prescription Drug abuse

What happened to sleeping headaches off? Prescription drugs are good but only when they are really needed. At the end of the day, medicine is poison that is made in proportions that make us feel better. The benefits outweigh the risks but only when you are seriously sick.  Before you pop those pills for that headache, try drinking water and taking some rest and if doesn't work, use medicine hopefully prescribed by a doctor.