Nutrition
Celebrating Christmas the healthy way
Eat healthy during this festive season
In this chapter, we will go to town on the healthy dietary choices and return home on the ones to take in moderation or avoid completely.
To start us off, let’s address the fufu eaters. For us, we can eat fufu with any soup of our choice. Some of the best proteins to add to our soup are fish and boiled egg.
With meats, preferred will be white meats such as chicken, turkey, and rabbit. If it must be red meat, every fatty part must be trimmed off (lean meat), because red meats can increase our blood cholesterol, leading to conditions like hypertension.
For our rice dishes, optimal recipes include brown rice with any stew of our choice (protein choices, above will be applied here also), and to top it off, assorted vegetable salad can be added to the meals to make it healthier and it also increases its visual appeal, boosting appetite.
In preparation of our Christmas time pastries, we should choose fresh vegetable oil instead of old stale oils or animal fats such as butter and lard.
For our beverage choices, the best would be to make homemade juices from freshly blended and squeezed fruits.
Soft drinks and alcohol should be taken sparingly, because too much of these can predispose us to diabetes and liver failure.
If we can make these simple lifestyle choices, we can better our health and live long to enjoy many more Christmases.
All this being said, we must remember that portion sizes and the timing of our meals is key in making a lasting difference in our health.
I would love to wish us all happy holidays and a fruitful festive season!
By Bernice Korkor Asare
****
The writer is a Dietician and CEO of Holistic Health Consult
“Your diet your health, your health your wealth”
E-mail:info@holistichealth
—consult.org
Nutrition
Coconut yam porridge
Ingredients
-½ tuber yam
-Leftover stew substitute with fresh pepper mix
-Seasoning
-3 tablespoonfuls of salt
– 3 tablespoonfuls of coconut milk
-Half bottle of palm oil
– 2 tablespoonfuls of pepper
-3 tablespoonfuls of dried shrimp
Preparation
-Add hot boiling water to the dried shrimps and cover for about 10 minutes and then rinse clean with cool water.
-Peel yam and cut into chunks, wash and rinse clean.
-Add yam pieces to a pan and place on medium heat.
Add palm oil, pepper, coconut milk and little water just enough to cover the yam or at the same level as the yam.
-Add seasoning and salt, cover the pan with a lid and leave to cook on low heat.
-After five minutes, add the washed shrimps and continue to cook on low heat till yam is soft.
-Using a wooden ladle, mash yam into pieces but not to puree, leave some yam chunks if you desire.
-Check for salt and seasoning.
-Cook for another three-five minutes and take off the heat.
Source: myactivekitchen.com
Nutrition
Clear streets of hawkers, destitute
Dear Sir,
I want to use this platform to appeal to the Korle Klottey Municipal Assembly (KoKMA) to rid the streets of hawkers to make it convenient for commuters.
These hawkers have been on the streets, especially the Kwame Nkrumah Circle area for some time with a few attributing their stay there to political expediency.
Every inch of space for pedestrians have been covered by their activities, leaving commuters to sometimes walk on the streets with the vehicles.
As if that is not enough, the rest of the space has been occupied by destitute and ‘junkies’.
With the election over, the Assembly must be seen to be clearing the mess these group of people have created.
Fact is, moving around the area has become a challenge as one has to tread carefully in order not to step on any wares on sale.
It is not a good and comfortable sight at all and I believe this will be the right time to clear the area to ensure some sanity in the area.
Regina,
Bubiashie
