Are you being tricked into buying unhealthy food?

Many consumers are now looking into what they are eating and buying and as a result, reading food labels more. Food labels can be very helpful except when they are not. It is like some of the information on the food labels is put there to give you a headache.  Some food production companies will say things that don’t make sense to confuse you and make you buy their products. Don’t worry though, we got you. What should you look for in a food label?

The information in food labels vary depending on the food product and the laws of the country the food was made at. But for a typical food label, this is what you should expect;

1. The Serving Size

Not all the food labels you come across will look like the one above. This is Kenya; some of them will be black and white and some will have so little information you might think it was made by the secret service.

All in all, the first thing you should look for in a food label is the first thing on the food label which is the serving size

The serving size is not the amount you put in your bowl, plate or cup. Foods vary when it comes to serving sizes so always check the food label. Most foods will have one serving as 100g or 1 cup. Just to be clear, one cup is not equivalent to the biggest cup you have in the house. One cup is something between 200 and 240g. Sometimes the food label will also have total number of servings in that one container.

Calories per serving

This is the amount of calories you will get from eating one serving size of a food product. If you are watching your weight, remember, the more servings you take, the more calories you eat. If for example the serving size of biscuits is 2 biscuits and that gives you 80 calories, eating 4 biscuits will give you 80×2=160 calories. The calories per serving section can also help you judge if a food is healthy or not. If the food has too many calories, it could mean that it is high in fat and sugar. Compare the total calories to the calories from fat or sugar. If a food product has 250alories per serving and 110 of those calories are from fat, it would mean that almost half of the calories from that food are from fat which is very unhealthy.

General Guide to Calories

• 40 Calories is low
• 100 Calories is moderate
• 400 Calories or more is high

The General Guide to Calories provides a general reference for calories when you look at a Nutrition Facts label. This guide is based on a 2,000 calorie diet.

Amount of nutrients

If the nutrition label is color coded, you will have two parts. One will be yellow and the other part will be blue. The yellow colored nutrients are the nutrients you should limit and the blue ones you should get enough of.

Limit These Nutrients

Notice that the yellow color nutrients are fat and sodium.  From high school chemistry, we know that salt is composed of sodium and chloride. The sodium part is the part that is of interest when it comes to health. PS, food can have little salt and still be high in sodium. This is because some foods are high in sodium even in their natural state e.g. one large egg will have 170 milligrams of sodium. This is kinda high seeing as you need to keep your sodium intake at 2400mg for healthy individuals and 1500 for people with hypertension.

Remember, for good health, you have to keep your consumption of saturated fat, trans fat and cholesterol as low as you possibly can.

The nutrients in blue are the nutrients you should take enough of.

As a rule of thumb, buy food products with more blue box nutrients and less yellow box nutrients.

Percentage Daily Values

At the bottom of the food label, there is normally a foot note and it mostly reads, “Percentage daily values are based on a 2000 calories diet. Your daily values may be higher or lower depending on your calorie needs.”

Depending on our height, weight, sex, and age, we all have different calorie and nutrient needs. To calculate the calories you need in a day check out http://kabubaaa.blogspot.co.ke/2015/01/how-to-lose-weight-fast.html

Percentage daily value is a scale that helps you know what percentage of a nutrient you are getting from the food product as compared to what you should get in a day for good health. For example, the recommended dietary intake of vitamin C is 60mg. if a food has 30 mg of vitamin C per serving, then it is providing 50% of the daily value and it will show 50%DV and if another food product gives you 80 mg of vitamin C per serving, then it is providing 133% DV. Use this scale to compare the nutrient content in different products.

Quick guide to %DV

• 5% DV or less is a little
• 15% DV or more is a lot

How about nutrition claims?

On a food product, the front labels are as attractive as a politician’s speech just before an election. They will have all this claims and promises. While some are actually true, some of them are just there to make you think the food product is healthier than it actually is.   Research shows that consumers will buy a food product more if it has nutritional claims and manufacturers are using this to their advantage. So which claims are true and which are there just for sales? 

ü        When making a food label, manufactures are required to list the ingredients from the one that is most abundant to the least abundant in the food product.  This means that the top three ingredients are what the manufacturer used most of. If the first three ingredients are whole and healthy, the food product has a high likelihood of being healthy. If the first three ingredients are refined grain, sugar, and hydrogenated oils, then the food product is likely unhealthy.

ü  Another thing to check is the number of ingredients. The higher the number of ingredients, the more processed the food is which means it has little health and nutritional benefits. As a rule of thumb, is if the ingredients list is longer than 2–3 lines, you can assume that the product is highly processed.

ü  If a product claims to be multigrain it is easy to assume that it is high in fiber. This is not always true. If on the back of the pack you check the fiber content and its low, the food product is made from more than one grain but it is is very processed. Keep in mind that you need around 30grams of fiber a day.

Quick guide to fiber

·         Source of fiber means the food contains at least 2 grams of fiber in a serving

·         High source of fiber means at least 4 grams of fiber

·         Very high source of fiber is at least 6 grams of fiber.

ü  For a food to be considered "Low fat" it should contain no more than 3 grams of fat a serving.

ü  The claim "Cholesterol-free" means that the product has a very small amount (less than 2 mg of cholesterol per serving) and it is also low in saturated fat and trans fat.

ü  A food claiming to be sodium free should contain less than 5 mg of sodium per serving

WHY YOU SHOULD BE EATING BACTERIA

Don’t roll your eyes yet; I still recommend hand washing and other sanitary practices. There are good bacteria though and for optimum health we need to include them in our diet. The best way to include these microorganisms in our body is fermentation.

Fermentation is a metabolic process that converts sugar to acids, gases, or alcohol. Examples of readily available fermented foods include; yoghurt, butter milk (mala), porridge, mursik, cheese and pickled vegetables. There are more products of fermentation but for the purpose of this post we will concentrate on the above food products.

Benefits of fermentation

ü  Probiotics. These are bacteria for therapeutic purposes. To prevent bad bacteria from growing in your gut/intestines, you have to eat good bacteria. In the absence of good bacteria, bad bacteria flourishes which is not good for your health. Yoghurt and mala are very good sources of probiotics. Yoghurt makes a very healthy and tasty snack too.

ü  Increases micronutrients in food. Some bacteria can increase levels of vitamins in food, especially B vitamins.

ü  Makes food more digestible. If you are lactose intolerant, fermented milk is a good way to get all the health benefits of milk. This is because lactose (form of sugar in milk) is broken down during fermentation. Also, fermentation microbes produce enzymes that break down cellulose in plant foods, which humans can't digest, into sugars which are well tolerated by the human digestive system.

ü  Prolongs the shelf life of food. Fresh milk has a shorter shelf life than fermented milk. Sometimes when milk threatens to go bad you can just ferment it. One thing though, pasteurized milk (milk you buy in packets) will not have the desired outcome. If you want to make mala at home, use milk that has not been pasteurized. Different types of bacteria have different preferences and the kind of bacteria we are after does well in unpasteurized milk.

ü  Gives food aroma and flavor. Don’t you like it when mala, yogurt and cheese taste like they were not made from milk? This gives milk products variety. You can have fresh milk and cereal in the morning; have ugali and mala for lunch and not feel like you are sick and tired of milk.

NB; when buying fermented food, make sure it is good quality food. Not all yoghurt will be a result of fermentation. Some people are out to make quick money so make sure you choose products from brands you trust. Most pickles sold in supermarkets will not have probiotic effects because the product is pasteurized for canning or bottling.

Eat anything you want and lose 12 kilos a week!!!

Did anyone believe the claim above?

Why do we believe in fad diets so much?

A fad diet is a diet that promises quick weight loss through what is usually an unhealthy and unbalanced diet. Fad diets are targeted at people who want to lose weight quickly without exercise. Our need for quick fixes makes us vulnerable to anyone who claims to have a solution for weight loss.

It’s sad when we start seeing food as a cause for being fat and disfiguring. Food should be seen as a source of energy for our bodies. Food should bring joy and not sadness.

Characteristics of fad diets

Calorie restriction

These are diets that ask you to take fewer calories than your body needs in a day. Our bodies require energy for our daily activities, protein to build &repair the body, vitamins and minerals to boost our immunity and keep us healthy. All this comes in the form of food and when you restrict the amount of food you take in, you are also restricting the amount of nutrients your body gets in a day. Calorie restricted diets work for a while, you will lose weight quickly as you lose water weight but it will all come back the moment you start eating again. Restricting calories also lowers your metabolism meaning that you burn fewer calories and store most which then leads to weight gain.

They promise rapid weight loss

These diets promise and sometimes deliver rapid weight loss. This sounds very good but the happiness is short lived because all you lose is water weight which comes back leaving you feeling sadder. Safe and permanent weight loss is slow, and it takes work but once you lose the weight you can keep it off.

They eliminate whole food groups

To help us consume foods in the right proportions, food is put into five groups depending on the nutrients they provide. These groups are;

Ø  Grains and cereals,

Ø  Vegetables legumes and beans

Ø  Fruits

Ø  Meat, poultry, fish, dry beans, eggs and nuts

Ø  Milk and dairy products

If a diet asks you to eliminate any of the food groups, it means that there are nutrients you do not get and it could cause deficiencies.

They include super pills

These pills will claim to block the absorption of fats, calories or carbohydrates and suppress appetite; which is a waste of money. If you do not want your body to absorb a lot of fat, just don’t eat food high in fat. You don’t need a pill for that. Fat is essential to the body. It helps absorb fat soluble vitamins (A,D,E, and K). Simply chose healthy fats and use them in moderation.

The diet requires you to only eat specific foods or foods in certain combinations

Although some nutrients are best absorbed in combinations e.g. iron and vitamin C, fad diets ask you to eat very specific foods and not to mix them with other foods. The human digestive system is very capable of digesting different foods at the same time. Don’t be duped into eating cabbage soup and avoid other foods when there is no scientific evidence to support that.

They do not include exercise

To lose weight you simply have to spend more calories than you take in. in addition to weight loss, exercise improves your overall health and helps to keep the lost weight away. Exercise is a very important part of good health and any diet claiming that you do not need exercise is not  a healthy one.

So how do I choose healthy diet?

A healthy diet is a diet that includes healthy foods, in the right proportions combined with adequate physical activity. An ideal diet is long term and it changes person’s eating habits and lifestyle. While a fad diet will make you lose weight fast, it won’t help you keep the weight away.

Guidelines for a healthy diet include;

·         Consume a variety of cereals and grains preferably whole

·         Choose lean meat (with fat trimmed) and include fish and poultry in your diet.

·         Eat plenty of vegetables, legumes and fruits

·         Include milk and milk products in your diet

·         Choose healthy fats and use them in moderation

·         Consume moderate amounts of sugar

·         Drink plenty of water.

·         Choose foods low in salt

·         Get enough exercise 

Amazing uses for banana peels

I hate to take food from goats, pigs and cows but I have to. PS, am not the kind of person who uses the whole goat after slaughter, including the voice and hooves, but I have to be that person when it comes to banana peels for the following reasons;

They whiten teeth

Are your teeth stained from drinking too much coffee? Or have they just lost their luster and shine? The potassium in banana peels helps in whitening teeth. For best results, choose a banana that looks just ripe which is when the potassium levels are highest.  Wash the banana thoroughly and wipe it before you peel it. Rub the inside of the banana on your teeth until they are completely coated in banana paste. Take time to rub it to make sure your teeth are well coated and leave it for about ten minutes. Brush your teeth with toothpaste and save money you could have used to whiten teeth.

Soothe skin irritations

Rubbing fresh banana peels on bug bites, stings and other skin irritations helps ease the pain and the irritation. The minerals, vitamins and fruit acids are super great for your skin too so go all out.

Remove warts

Tired of warts that won’t go away? Don’t worry, nature has your back. Just rub a piece of ripe banana on the warts every night before bed and watch them fade.

Add it to your juice blend

Banana peels are full of vitamins and minerals and adding them to your juice means boosting your vitamins and minerals intake. To do that, make sure you choose bananas with fresh looking skin and wash them well preferably with water that has some vinegar in it.

Polish your shoes and silverware

To do this, simply rub the banana peel on the shoes or the silverware the n rub with a soft cloth.

Treat acne and improve your complexion

Just like with all the above fixes, rub the inside of the banana peel to help improve the appearance of acne and to give your skin a glow.

Feed your flowers and plants

If all the above is not for you, you could always let your flowers and house plants soak in all the minerals and vitamins from the banana peels  but maybe shred the peels into small pieces to make it look good and intentional and not like you just littered your flower bed.

 lastly, if you are starving, and your neighbor wants to throw banana peels away, volunteer to help throw them for him/her then go to your house and eat them. They are totally edible so don't worry

Simple Secrets for Healthy and Fast Breakfasts

Have you ever wondered about those doctors and nutritionists who insist on preaching the breakfast gospel? As in, do they have normal lives with kids to get ready in the morning, missing/undone homework, last minute wardrobe malfunctions, traffic and the like? Do they know what time I have to wake up and what time I went to bed? Well, I am one of those people who preach the breakfast gospel and I do because food is the fuel for the body.  For adults it gives us energy to do everything from blinking to lifting heavy objects. For children, food provides energy, helps them grow, gives them the ability to learn and pay attention etc.

For anyone who is trying to manage their weight, eating breakfast helps you prevent having a sugar crush at around mid morning which would cause you to crave unhealthy food and devour the first thing you see which is not good because the first thing you see is almost always unhealthy.

Some people are willing to try the whole regular breakfast thing but they just don’t know where to start; if you are one of those people, don’t worry because we got you. Below are ways to make breakfast making simple and less time consuming.

The secret to simple and fast breakfasts is early planning. This saves you time and a headache.

For example;

Ø  The next time you make chapatis, make extra for two breakfasts

Ø  Make enough pancakes for two breakfasts and keep them in the fridge

Ø  Boil root tubers e.g. nduma (arrow roots) and ngwaci (Sweet potatoes) as you watch TV in the evening or as you help your kids with their homework.

Ø  Make your own cereal. During the weekend or when you have time, make your own granola. It is simple and the best part is you decide what goes into it. Check out this link for a simple granola recipe. http://kabubaaa.blogspot.co.ke/2016/05/simple-granola-recipe.html

Other simple breakfast ides include:

Ø  Store bought cereal with milk and a fruit. When buying cereal, make sure it’s the kind that is full of fiber and not the kind that is all sugar and color.

Ø  Bread. When buying bread, I recommend whole grain bread. Whole grain bread is superior to white bread in that it has fiber which is associated with many health benefits. Whole grain bread also is high in Vitamin B6 and E, magnesium, folic acid, zinc, copper and manganese. It also helps you stay full for longer which is good especially if you are trying to manage your weight.

Ø  Oatmeal

Ø  Leftover food. Other than saving you time, it also helps you prevent food wastage.

Ø  Sandwiches. These are especially good for kids because they find them fun and you can add fillings to make them super healthy. E.g. nut butter, banana and sesame (simsim) toast. 

  Eggs. Good thing with eggs is that you can prepare them in numerous ways and most of the various ways to make them are not time consuming.

Simple Granola Recipe

Breakfast is a tricky meal especially for working mothers. All nutritionists and doctors will tell you to make this meal the heaviest and the healthiest and you want to give the best to your family; but who has time to make all that with the morning hustle?! If you are in a situation where the heart is willing but time is not on your side don’t worry, we got you!

Ever heard of granola? This is a breakfast cereal made of very healthy and nutritious ingredients and all you have to do is add milk to it and you have a healthy, nutritious breakfast. Good news is that you can buy granola from most major supermarkets. Bad news is that it will cost you a small fortune! Before you get sad, remember that we got you! So, below is a simple granola recipe. What I love most about granola is it you get to use the fruits and nuts you love. It also saves lots of time and energy as it keeps for long.

Ingredients

ü  3 cups rolled oats (not instant)

ü  3 tablespoons brown sugar

ü  1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon

ü  1/4 teaspoon salt

ü  1/3 cup honey

ü  1/4 cup vegetable oil

ü  1 teaspoon vanilla extract (optional)

ü  1/2 cup dried fruit (use any fruit but make sure it is diced or in small pieces)

ü  1/2 cup coarsely crushed groundnuts.

Tip

To coarsely crush groundnuts put them on a clean chopping board and roll with a rolling pin. You get best results if you use roasted groundnuts and if possible use them with the skin on.

Directions

ü  Pre heat the oven at 180°C

ü  Place the oats, brown sugar, cinnamon, and salt in a large bowl and stir to combine; set aside. 

ü  Place the honey, oil, and vanilla in a small bowl and stir to combine. Pour over the oat mixture and mix until the oats are thoroughly coated. 

ü  Spread the mixture on a thin, even layer baking sheet. Bake for 15 minutes, then stir and continue baking until the granola is very light golden brown, about 5 to 15 minutes more. 

ü  Cool the granola to room temperature, stirring occasionally, about 20 minutes. (Note: It will harden as it cools.) 

ü  Add the fruit and nuts or seeds to the baking sheet and toss to combine.

ü  Keep at room temperature in an airtight container for up to 1 month.

 ENJOY

Simple Meal Planning Techniques

Is it just me or are evenings getting shorter?

Short evenings are bad news for working parents who have to get home, make sure homework is done, meals are made and eaten, dishes are done after the meal, baths are taken etc! All this has to be done between 6pm and 10pm. As if that wasn’t tough enough, we now have permanent traffic to worry about. Thanks to traffic, some days you will get home at around 8PM or 9PM. So what should we cut from the evening and what should we keep? Surely we can’t cut baths or homework! Good news is we can do something to reduce the time it takes to prepare meals and that is where meal planning comes in.

Basically, meal planning is the planning of the menu for the next few days or even an entire month. It involves meals to be prepared as well as the items needed to be purchased in order to prepare that food.

Benefits of meal planning

ü  Saves you the time you would need to run to the shop everyday to grab items to cook

ü  Saves you the headache of thinking what dish could be made with the one tomato and three potatoes you  have in your pantry. (Ever gone home and tried making a meal from what you have and the only thing you have is dania? SMH!)

ü  You plan for healthy and delicious meals

ü  You can plan for variety (Has your son ever asked you why school food is better than yours? Heartbreaking right?)

ü  It is cheaper in the long run

ü  You only buy the foods you plan to cook so food is not wasted

For how long should one plan?

This depends on the time it takes for you to go shopping. If you shop weekly especially for vegetables you can make weekly meal plans or make a two week plan then replenish what you run out of after a week.

Steps to meal planning;

Making a menu for a week or two

When making your menu, remember to pick foods that require equipment you already own.

Make a shopping list

Use the menu you made in step one to determine the items you need to buy. Check what you have in the house and add the items you don’t have to the list.

Make your list flexible enough to be able to substitute items just in case you don’t get what you planned for and to take advantage of any bargains you find at the shop/market.

Actual Shopping

Choose a shop or market where you can get all the items on your list. If possible, do your shopping on a market day. That way you get the freshest items and you also get variety.

Another tip is to eat before you go shopping. Going shopping on an empty stomach makes you buy a lot of unhealthy junk food and you also don’t stick to your shopping list.

If possible, buy foods you consume frequently in bulk because it is cheaper that way. Another trend I have noticed coming up is food chamas. This is where a few, say eight people, make a budget to buy food in bulk then divide it amongst themselves. This makes it a lot cheaper because when you buy sugar in a bag you get a better price.

Pre prepare

When you get home, chop the foods that can be stored chopped e.g. meat, sort items that need sorting and boil whatever that can be boiled e.g. beans and githeri.

When storing food in the fridge, divide it into portions your family consumes in a meal. E.g. if your family eats around ½ kg of meat in a meal, freeze meat in ½ kg portions.

Cook perishables first

Some foods don’t keep for long even when put in the fridge. Cook those foods first. Later on, you can use the freezable foods and other foods that are not perishable.