Is it possible to follow a healthy diet? The answer to this question can be likened to a question like, “can the Christian be Holy?” The answer to both questions is a big yes. After going through the lent season, in preparation for Easter, people should be able to make sacrifices about their diet.
Food forms part of the things that make us happy since it quenches the bad feeling of hunger. We have the ability to differentiate between sweet, bitter, sour and neutral tastes in the mouth. No one likes to take anything bitter. No one wants his or her food to be bitter or tasteless.
Aside taste, sight also plays a role in accepting food. People would naturally be attracted to a very colourful food. Some would want the food garnished or coated with something that would make the food look nice.
Some people cannot eat food that is prepared without spices, frying and a lot of oil. It becomes a taboo for such people to eat food that is prepared in the natural healthy way.
You would be making a mistake if you add just a little amount of salt to food for some people even though we are not supposed to be taking too much salt.
It is a must for men to eat their wives’ food even when it is late in the night lest there would be fight in the house. To avoid any such troubles, the man would eat late meals and soon develop pot belly leading to heart disease.
Addiction to work and office hours makes it difficult for some people to settle for proper food during the day. They would rather be taking some fruit juice or soft drink while working during the day. This practice is also bad.
To make a difference in your health, there is the need to make a move to change the aforementioned bad eating habits. This would involve lots of sacrifices.
Healthy food can look, taste nice Most food that looks nice is likely to be very unhealthy because of the things we use to make the food look nice. The same applies to nice tasting food as well.
The icing on the cake is some kind of coloured sugar which when eaten can be dangerous. Our groundnut soup is more acceptable to the average Ghanaian because of the oil that settles on top of it.
The same can be said of palm nut soup and palava sauce. Following this natural likeness for food can be a recipe for disaster so we need to change.
When done without so much oil, kontonmire stew is healthier and can taste great as well. A bowl of palm nut soup and ground nut soup can also be healthy if the oil on top of it is removed.
Those who fetch the oil and place it on top of the soup when they are eating make matters worse. There is the need for change; this calls for sacrifices.
When using meat to make stew, you can do well by putting it straight into the stew after steaming. There is no need to fry the meat before putting it into the oily stew again.
I know this will be difficult for you to change; but it is a good thing to do. I am glad to inform you that fried fish is not the only companion one can use for kenkey. Grilled fish is a healthier option.
When grilling be mindful of the use of cubes; it is better if you grill the fish by yourself rather than buying it from restaurants and the wayside. You can even use steamed fresh fish.
Food colour is of no nutritional value but has very bad health implications. It is better to find natural means of making food colourful than the artificial means.
Use naturally coloured ingredients like kontonmire, carrots, tomatoes and the like for your meals if you need some colouring; you just need to be innovative about it.
You also need to be very patient and innovative when cooking without all the artificial spices and cubes. This will help make the taste of your food good and acceptable to the consumers.
Food vendors should also have the health of their patrons in mind when doing mass production of their food.
• The writer of this article is a Dietician at Trust Hospital & Clinics. Grab copies of his book titled: “Diet, Health & Wellness” and his video/ audio diet advice on CDs. Contact: 0244090262, Also available at Kingdom Books and Stationery Shops.
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