Nutrition

Conquering heartburn with our diet

A balanced diet

In this chapter, we will be discussing how we can conquer heartburn with our diet.

Heartburn is a painful burning sensation in the chest and/or throat, which occurs when stomach acid and other digestive juices back up into the eosophagus (the tube that carries food to the stomach).

Almost everyone gets heartburn sometimes, but if you have heartburn more than twice a week, you may have gastroeosophageal reflux disease (GERD). Here is what you need to know.

A one-way valve sits just above the stomach, which opens to allow food from the eosophagus to enter the stomach, and closes tightly to prevent vice versa.

In GERD, this valve does not close tightly enough to prevent the digestive juices in the stomach from climbing up into the eosophagus, which irritates the eosophagus, leading to the characteristic chest and/or throat pain and discomfort.

Certain medications, foods and alcohol can bring on heartburn, and management of this condition may be medical or dietary;

Foods to include

• High fiber diet such as whole grains, fruits (with the exception of citrus fruits) and vegetables

• Foods rich in omega-3 fatty acids, such as salmon, flax seeds, and walnuts

• Water; it flushes out the eosophagus

Foods to avoid

• Fatty foods such as fried foods

• Coffee

• Tea

• Whole milk

• Spicy food

• Citrus fruits

Lifestyle changes

• Weight loss through exercises like going for walks, jogging, and riding bicycles

• Avoiding alcohol intake

To conclude, heartburn can be very uncomfortable and disabling, but it’s also very well controlled and prevented with the above measures incorporated into our diet and lifestyle, which are sure to keep us far away from the clutches of heartburn.

The writer is a nutritionist and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of Holistic Health Centre.

By Dr Bernice Korkor Asare

Nutrition

Benefits of velvet tamarind

Velvet Tamarid

VELVET tamarind (dialium guineense) commonly known as ‘icheku’ in igbo, ‘awin’ in yoruba and ‘tsamiyar- kurm’ in hausa, and ‘Yooyi’ in Ghana.

-High Antioxidant Power: The fruit is a good source of vitamin C and its consumption can contribute to satisfying the journal requirement that is 90 to 110 mg.

-Treats Scurvy and Infections: The fruit pulp has high ascorbic acid content vitamin hence used as a food supplement. The high vitamin C content boosts the immune system and helps the body against infections.

-Healing Wounds: The velvet fruit pulp has interesting content in calcium and magnesium. Calcium participates in ossification, to the muscular contraction, and to the blood clotting.

-Repairs blood vessel and fights Anemia: The velvet tamarind fruit pulp is rich in iron. It is indispensable for iron absorption; cloves repair and blood vessel formation via collagen synthesis. The pulp’s iron absorption is more efficient because of the presence of vitamin C.

-Prevention of Hypertension: The values obtained for sodium and potassium of the velvet tamarind fruit pulp were respectively Preliminary studies indicate that short-term potassium depletion also elevates bloodpressure in hypertensive patients. Potassium supplementation lowers blood pressure in hypertensive patients ingesting normal amounts of sodium.

-Reliefs Menstrual Cramp and stops Diarrhoea: The stem bark extract has significant analgesic property hence, can be used to reduce menstrual pain. You can take it along with papaya leaf, salt, and water to work effectively. It can also stop diarrhea.

-Hemorrhoids (pile): Piles are swollen veins in the anal canal caused by too much pressure in the pelvic and rectal areas and while not life-threatening, these veins can be very painful. A study performed on ethanolic leaves extract of velvet tamarind showed it to be beneficial for pile treatment.

Source: eprojectlibrary.com

Nutrition

Pinkaso

Pinkaso is a savory snack made from flour, onions, and pepper.

It is usually paired with Hausa koko (millet porridge) but can be equally enjoyed with any other breakfast cereal or beverage of choice.

Ingredients

-100 grams of all-purpose flour

-1 tablespoonful of salt

-2 grams of dry active yeast

-2 grams of baking soda

-10 grams of chopped onion

-5 grams of fresh pepper

-One bottle of 5 litres oil

Preparation

-Place all the dry ingredients into a bowl and mix and wash under running water

– Blend or grind the onion and pepper

-Add the blended mixture to the flour

-Pour flour in a big bowl and add yeast, salt and baking soda

-Mix into a dough and knead to activate the gluten in the dough

-When the gluten has activated, the dough will look stretchy

– Cover the bowl with cling film and place it in a warm place for the dough to rise

-Deep fry by heating the oil until very hot, then reduce heat to medium

-Fry on medium heat. To take portions of the dough, dip your hands in water, and take a small ball of the dough

-Using your thumb and middle finger, create a hole in the ball of dough and gently drop in the oil and fry on medium heat until golden brown and crunchy

-Remove the pinkaso and place it on kitchen towels to absorb some of the oil. Serve pinkaso with your favourite beverage