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Fattening Foods Do Not Exist

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Recently during a seminar, I asked a group of women to name the foods they think are fattening, they immediately called out: white bread, butter, white rice, doughnuts, cakes, potato chips,  dodo ( fried plantain), eggs and sweets etc.

Most of us are familiar with the term calories, especially  if we have ever counted them in a diet! But what are they?  Calories are the amount of energy our bodies get out of the food we eat. They measure food energy.

Eating food is like filling your car with fuel. Foods provide the fuel your body needs to run on. Just about five to ten litres of fuel  enables your car to go a certain number of kilometres, food allows your body to move and function. How long it functions depends on the amount of energy (number of calories) you put into your body through the food you eat.

If you don’t fill up your tank with fuel, the car can’t start and won’t run. If you don’t feed your body with good food, it can’t function properly and they won’t stay healthy.

Most people associate calories with weight. If a person is overweight, he has to cut calories to lose, or watch his calories in order to maintain his weight. Unfortunately, many people do not understand enough about the caloric value of food to be able to balance their energy input with energy outgo.

There is no such thing as fattening food in the sense that you will get fat just because you eat any given food. A food can make you fat only if you eat more total calories than you are using up in your daily activities. Any food, even orange juice, carrots, or cabbage, can make you fat if it is consumed when you have already had your daily quota of calories.

We often fool ourselves about the amount of food we are eating. If one-half cup of ice cream has 150 calories, we forget that a full cereal (pap) bowl can have as many as 500-700!

Another easy way to mount up hundreds of calories is to add butter or sugar to our meals. You can add as many as 350 calories to the innocent  little 90-100 calorie slice of wheat bread or combining a small bowl of beans with fried plantain. These extras are high in fat, something known to cause hardening of the arteries and heart disease.

I have seen youngsters and adults alike eat a handful of chocolate chip, biscuit, rinsing them down with a large bottle of soft drink. Want to guess  how many calories you can consume that way?  Don’t be surprised if it is 600-750, or even more!

The average adult man or woman who is working in a sedentary job  can eat only a total of 1500-1800 calories per day without gaining weight! Can you understand  why it is so easy to gain weight on a typical Nigerian diet? Just 150 unneeded calories a day result in a weight gain of six kilograms in a year.

A fast food meal of fried rice, french fries, or fish sandwich and a soft drink totals from 900-1400 calories. After a lunch like that, there aren’t many calories left for dinner!

With all this talk about burning calories, you wouldn’t think that under eating is a problem, but it is. Low-calorie eating will damage your metabolism. Even 1200 calories is too low for most people.

We each burn a large number of calories while just resting. Lying still for twenty four hours, you burn about  60 to 70 percent of your total calories. That rate of calorie burn is called  your resting metabolic rate ( RMR). It is different for  everyone, and it’s determined largely by your age, weight, and lean body mass (or muscle). It can also be influenced by other genetic or hormonal factors. To protect and enhance your metabolism, never eat less than your RMR for a sustained period of time. Otherwise , after several days, your body’s engine will begin to gradually slow down.

Perhaps your relationship with your car will help you better understand how this works. Have you ever waited to fill your fuel tank until after the warning light goes on? I bet you have! In fact a close friend said she had gone so far as to figure out that she had exactly forty kilometres after her light went on before she actually ran out of fuel. You would think her car would figure this out and start to conserve fuel when she gets  that close to the bottom of the tank. No! It just keeps burning fuel at the same number of kilometres per litre.

However the body is a much smarter machine What happens when you consistently eat less calories than your resting metabolic rate requires is that your body starts to have a conversation with itself that sounds something like this: “Hey, here she/he goes again. She/He is not even going to feed us enough calories for basic survival. Slow the engines….all systems cool down to basic maintenance. We will not starve !

Yes your body actually slows down the rate at which you burn calories. So for many dieters, a dangerous cycle begins. And over time, your Toyota jeep has been converted to an incredible economy car – like the original Volkswagen Bug! Now this is great if you’re worried about never having enough food on the table or going into a time of severe famine. But for those of us who enjoy food, it’s best to keep those engines  burning high.

A 50-year old, 5 foot 7 inch, 63 kg female, resting  metabolic rate is about 1400 calories per day. Yet how many of us have been on 800-, 1000-, or 1200-calorie diets? For a clearer idea of your RMR, multiply your current weight, times  10 for women and 11 for men. If you are 68 kg  your resting rate is about 1500 calories.

Does your  RMR seem high to you? It may, but don’t fall into old diet habits and eat less than that number. Remember that the only way to burn fat and protect your metabolism is to eat and burn. That means eat your RMR and move, move, move!

Note: If you are more than 30 percent over your recommended weight, it may seem like eating your RMR calories is excessive. In this instance, you may be able to eat slightly lower than your RMR  without damaging  your metabolism if you are 25 or more kilograms overweight , I encourage you to seek the advice of a registered dietician or licensed professional to determine the  right minimum calorie requirement for you. I believe that most obese individuals can safely lose weight eating no more than 2000 to 2400 calories per day.

For example if you are a 5 foot 8 inch woman, weighing 100kg, your RMR  is about 2200 calories. It is probably safe for you to eat about 2000 calories a day which is 200 calories less than your RMR.

You need to also know that while calories are not nutrients some nutrients do provide calories (energy). Carbohydrates, fat, and protein give your body energy because they contain calories. When you are on a diet, you count calories from foods containing one or more of those nutrients.

While vitamins and minerals do not provide calories, some B vitamins makes it possible for the body to make the best use of the energy that carbohydrates, fat, and protein provide.

Think of it as trying to open a can of liquid condensed milk. You have to use a can opener to open the can to get the milk out. You don’t get milk from the can opener; you get it out of the can.  But you need the can opener to get to the milk. Water and some of the vitamins and minerals are like can openers . They get the energy value out of the carbohydrates, fat, and protein we eat.

New studies have shown that even moderate dieting creates a rebound phenomenon. This means that the body wants to bounce back to it’s old weight. Only slow and steady weight loss that doesn’t “shock” your body will last.

STAYING ACTIVE

AEROBIC TRAINING: Get at least 150 minutes a week of moderate aerobic activity or 75 minutes a week of vigorous aerobic activity. However, to effectively lose or maintain weight, some people may need up to 300 minutes a week of moderate physical activity. You also can do a combination of moderate and vigorous activity. Moderate aerobic exercise includes such activities as brisk walking, swimming , cycling,  and jogging. Vigorous aerobic exercise includes such activities as running and aerobic dancing, jump rope and jumping jack.

STRENGTH TRAINING:  Do strength training exercises at least twice a week  in other  to strengthen you muscles.

Strength training can include use of weight machines, or activities such as rock climbing, stair climbing or heavy gardening.

As a general goal, aim for at least 30 minutes of physical activity every day. This chart below shows the estimated number of calories burned while doing various exercises for one hour. Specific calorie expenditures vary widely depending on the exercise, intensity level and your individual situation.

Let’s connect  @ [email protected] or send me a personal message at www.facebook.com/BodyConfidenceFitnessClub. I will answer the best questions

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Posted in Nigeria News. A DisNaija.Com network.

Source: PM News

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Nigeria News

Kano Transfers Over 1,000 Almajiris To Different States Amidst COVID-19 Pandemic

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The Kano State Government on Saturday said it has transferred 1,098 ‘almajiris’ to different states of the country.

The commissioner for local government, Murtala Garo, disclosed this while presenting a report before the state’s task force on COVID-19 at the government house, Kano.

Almajiris are children who are supposed to be learning Islamic studies while living with their Islamic teachers. Majority of them, however, end up begging on the streets of Northern Nigeria. They constitute a large number of Nigeria’s over 10 million out-of-school children.

Mr Garo said the Kano government transported 419 almajiris to Katsina, 524 to Jigawa and 155 to Kaduna. He said all of them tested negative for coronavirus before leaving the Kano State.

Despite the coronavirus test done in Kano for the almajiris, the Jigawa government earlier said it would quarantine for two weeks all the almajiris that recently arrived from Kano.

Mr Garo said another 100 almajiris scheduled to be taken to Bauchi State also tested negative to COVID-19.

In a remark, Governor Abdullahi Ganduje said the COVID-19 situation in Kano was getting worse. He appealed for a collaborative effort to curtail the spread of the virus in the state.

Mr Ganduje, who commended residents for complying with the lockdown imposed in the state, said the decision was taken to halt the spread of the virus.

Kano State, as of Saturday night, has 77 coronavirus cases, according to the Nigeria Centre for Disease Control.

The decision to transfer the Kano almajiris is part of the agreement reached between Northern governors that almajiris in each state be transferred to their states of origin.

However, even before the latest agreement by the governors, the Kano government had been transferring almajiris to other states and neighbouring countries after it banned street begging in the state, most populous in Northern Nigeria.

Despite the transfers, however, no concrete step has been taken to ensure such children do not return to Kano streets as there is freedom of movement across Nigeria although interstate travel was recently banned to check the spread of the coronavirus.

 

Sourced From: Premium Times Nigeria

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Nigeria News

COVID-19: ‘Bakassi Boys’ Foil Attempt To Smuggle 24 Women Into Abia In Container

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By Ugochukwu Alaribe

Operatives of the Abia State Vigilante Service, AVS, popularly known as ‘Bakassi Boys’ have arrested 24 market women hidden in a container truck, at Ekwereazu Ngwa, the boundary community between Abia and Akwa Ibom states.

The market women, said to be  from Akwa Ibom State, were on their way to Aba, when they were arrested with the truck driver and two of his conductors for violating the lockdown order by the state government.

Driver of the truck, Moses Asuquo, claimed he was going to Aba to purchase stock fish, but decided to assist the market women, because they were stranded.

A vigilante source told Sunday Vanguard that the vehicle was impounded while the market women were sent back to Akwa Ibom State.

Commissioner for Home Land Security, Prince Dan Okoli, who confirmed the incident, said that  smuggling of people into the state poses great threat to the state government’s efforts to contain the spread of COVID- 19.

 

Sourced From: Vanguard News

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Nigeria News

Woman Kills Her Maid Over Salary Request

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Operatives of the State Criminal Investigation and Intelligence Department (SCIID), Yaba of the Lagos State police command have arrested one Mrs Nene Steve for allegedly killing her maid, Joy Adole

The maid was allegedly beaten to death by Nene for requesting for her salary at their residence located at 18, Ogundola Street, Bariga area in Lagos.

Narrating the incident, Philips Ejeh, an elder brother to the deceased said that he was sad when they informed him that his sister was beaten to death.

He explained that the deceased was an indigene of Benue State brought to Lagos through an agent and started working with her as a maid  in January 2020.

‘’She reported that her boss refused to pay her and anytime she asked for her salary she will start beating her.

She was making an attempt to leave the place but due to the total lockdown she remained there until Sunday when her boss said she caught her stealing noodles and this led to her serious beating and death,’’ Ejeh said.

He called on Lagos State Government and well- meaning people in the country to help them in getting justice for the victim.

The police spokesman, Bala Elkana, stated that the woman and her husband came to Bariga Police  Station to a report that their house girl had committed suicide.

Detectives were said to have visited the house and suspected foul play with the position of the rope and bruises all over the body which confirmed that the girl had been tortured to death and the boss decided to hang up the girl to make it look like suicide.

He said: “The police moved on with their investigation and found a lot of sign of violence on her body that she has been tortured before a rope was put on her neck.’’

He added that the police removed the corpse and deposited it in the mortuary for autopsy to further ascertain the cause of the death.

Elkana said the matter has been transferred from Bariga police station to Panti for further investigation while the couple have been arrested and will be charged to court.

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Boko Haram Attacks: Buhari Summons Urgent Meeting Of Service Chiefs

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President Buhari and the Service Chiefs in a meeting. (File photo)

Ostensibly alarmed by the latest killings of dozens of soldiers by Boko Haram insurgents, President Muhammadu Buhari has summoned an urgent meeting of Service Chiefs to find ways to stop the trend. 

He has also dispatched the Minister of Defence, Mansur Dan Ali, to the neighbouring Republic of Chad for an urgent meeting with President Idris Deby and his defence counterpart. 

Knowledgeable sources said in Abuja on Friday that the president is worried by on the deterioration of security situation on the Nigeria – Chad Border that has led to the recently increased Boko Haram terrorism in the area.

The sources which did not want to be named in Abuja said: “Nigeria has a Chad  problem in the Multi-National Joint Task Force (MNJTF) put together to secure the Lake Chad basin areas and repeal the Boko Haram terrorist attacks against all the countries neighbouring the Lake.”

The sources noted that Chad is believed to be having their own internal security challenges and this has reportedly led to their pulling away their own troops manning their own border around Lake Chad,  saying: “That lacuna is being exploited by the Boko Haram terrorists, who go in and out of Nigeria, Niger and Cameroon to launch terrorist acts.  This is a clear illustration of the fact that terrorism is beyond national borders.”

When contacted, the Senior Special Assistant to the President on Media and Publicity, Garba Shehu, confirmed that the Defence Minister is going to Chad but said he is unaware of the purpose. 

Meanwhile, the military authorities are said to be in the process of identifying the families of the latest victims with a view to making contact with them. 

Credible sources revealed that it is the reason the president is yet to make any pronouncement on the matter. 

“The President has called an urgent meeting with the Service Chiefs, as well as the fact that families of the latest victims of the Boko Haram are being identified and contacts made before a government pronouncement on the tragic attacks. This, it is understood, is the reason for the silence of the government over the incident,” the source said. 

 

Sourced From: Tribune

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