Quail Eggs versus chicken Eggs? which is Better?

Almost everyone in Kenya has heard the craze that caught people about quail eggs and how they should begin keeping quail birds since they are much better nutritionally. Ideally most people believe that quail eggs are the miracle food that anyone has made in a long time! Most believe that if they take it they will improve their brain power, become more healthy, their diseases will go within a day and so on.

But how true is this? Well, just like the way we consume fish and obtain benefits of it, quail eggs have to be taken over time for any nutritional goal to be achieved! Doing my research to support the claims that have been made to people about the benefits of the egg, I have not found any scientific research that backs up their benefits. Infact, all claims that have been made over the internet seem to have come from farmers and producers of the egss who aim to make money out of innocence.

But since this article is meant to compare quail eggs with chicken eggs, lets stick to the subject.
 If you do a simple google search of the nutritional value of chicken eggs compared to quail eggs you will be surprised to find the results indicating that quail eggs have far much more cholestrol as compared to chicken eggs. Infact taking just one is not enough, not to mention the expense of about 70 shillings per egg compared to the normal 10 to 12 bob for a chicken egg.

Put aside what you have heard or been told and look at the following nutritional information:

Then look at the following information about chicken eggs:

So for one let no one lie to you that you can loose weight through eating quail eggs.Their cholesterol level is 844mg compared to the 372mg of the same amount of eggs! That aside the claims about healing anaemia, anti-aging, immunity boosting, weight loss and all other hearsays are simply hearsays! They have not been scientifically proven yet and one can only rely on them at their own peril!

The key to healthy living is through eating variety of foods to reach health goals. Pinning this on one "magic food" fails to meet the major idea of having varieties of food on our plate to achieve healthy goals!

I know you have questions..post them here..

No single food provides all the nutrients our bodies need to function well, the key to healthy eating is to eat varieties of real foods. When we learn to eat healthy foods in the right proportion, we wouldn’t be looking for miracles in one single food. - See more at: http://zonefitness.com.ng/quail-egg-versus-chicken-egg-which-is-better/#sthash.82L7pU7M.ERzbeXmr.dpuf

When the story about quail egg being the “cure for all diseases” began to spread, the first I did was to look at the nutrition content of the egg. - See more at: http://zonefitness.com.ng/quail-egg-versus-chicken-egg-which-is-better/#sthash.82L7pU7M.dpuf

When the story about quail egg being the “cure for all diseases” began to spread, the first I did was to look at the nutrition content of the egg. - See more at: http://zonefitness.com.ng/quail-egg-versus-chicken-egg-which-is-better/#sthash.82L7pU7M.dpuf

So What Happened Over that Holiday?

Happy new year friends!!!

I must say that am excited about this year and the way it has began for me. I would love to hear how you battled with the chicken, goats, cows, fish, ugali, rice, chapati and emerged victorious without gaining too much weight that you probably were not sure about!

Mmmh I must admit that holiday was too food-tempting! I remember when I travelled during the 24th of December and all I began doing on the way was indulge in little pieces of nyama choma and some soda! Yes, even a nutritionist has her days!.

Arriving home, I was met with the open arms of two chicken that had been assorted to fit dinner. One of them was deep fried while the other was grilled. On the side was some ugali and some beef as well as some vegetables to push the meat around. Ofcourse like the guest I was told to sit down and be served.(you know how coming from the city and reaching the surbabs is taken). So I sat and up came a plate heavy with the chicken and beef alongside the ugali and only a spoonful of vegetables!

Woooh I just remembered the post I had done the day before but my eyes couldn't help it! I began indulging and as they say the rest is history! Now just like you am wondering how much I weigh!

Not to worry though, January might worry the weight and fat away! But how much would you be weighing and what is the best thing to do?
You may be surprised that you have not changed weight but I want you to take this simple exercise and comment below and I will tell you what to do!

1. Go take your weight
2.Take your height in metres and square it
3. Divide your weight by the figure of  height you have squared
4. What did you obtain?
If you got 18.5 to 24.5 then your weight is normal
If 25 and above then you are either overweight or obese
below 18.5 then you are underweight and might be close to being malnourished!

5. So what to do?
I will ask you what do you plan to be your activity level this year? If your BMI measure that you did above is high choose to take stairs instead of a lift
Take a walk instead of that drive
Exercise and you will find that your body adjusts.

I know you have enough questions...Post them here

IS THE BROWN BREAD YOU ARE CONSUMING THE REAL HEALTH DEAL?

With an increasing consciousness about health and hygiene, a large number of consumers are making the switch from white bread to brown bread or whole wheat bread at their breakfast tables. However, there is little awareness about why is brown bread considered healthy or what constitutes brown bread that makes it healthy. As a result, most people succumb to marketing tactics of companies that add caramel to white bread to make the color brown and advertise it as wholesome and tasty!

In some extremely lazy manufacturing, but inspired marketing, much of the ‘brown’ bread you’ll find in the supermarket is simply the same white bread with brown coloring, often CARAMEL, added back into it. Hardly the healthier choice it’s made out to be.
Likewise, ‘wholemeal’ bread with a bit of chemically treated wheat germ added back in, or ‘multigrain’, with a sprinkling of softened grains, hardly makes up for what the main ingredient – refined wheat flour – has gone through.
The fact is, the vast majority of breads from the big manufacturers are just slight variations, a little coloring here, a sprinkling of seeds there, of the same extremely unhealthy processed bread.
But the hullaballoo of wanting to eat brown bread as the healthy bread could all be distorted in kenya! This is because almost 80% of brown bread sold to us is not genuinely brown. The best bread to eat is the whole wheat grain bread that you can find in supermarkets and normally has a darker colour and is more expensive!
True whole wheat bread, if you can find it, should be a healthier option. Whole wheat bread is made with the wheat germ and the bran included and is hopefully not as heavily processed or full of chemical additives as most commercial loaves. It’s higher fiber content helps to slow down its digestion and therefore its effect on your blood sugar and levels of fat storing insulin shouldn’t be as pronounced.
A real brown bread is healthier than white bread because the wheat flour used to make brown bread is less processed compared to wheat flour used for making white bread. During the processing of the wheat flour for making brown bread the bran and germ in the wheat grain are not removed. The bran is the part of wheat grain that is rich in fibre, while germ is the inner part of wheat grain which is packed with nutrients, Vitamins B and E as well as phytochemicals.

So how do you tell the REALS from the FAKES?
It's commonly believed that you can tell the difference between white and wholemeal by the color of the loaf. Not so! The keywords to look out for are "whole grain" and "whole wheat" as the first ingredient on the ingredient list. If any other substance is listed first, you are likely looking at white bread that has had caramel colouring added.
There you have it, find this rare Whole meal bread and find your long lost and found real brown bread. Infact, ask yourself why you eat brown chapattis that taste real brown but when you eat brown bread it does not have similar taste?

This is not to say that white and brown breads could be exactly the same in Kenya market. If you compare the labels of white and brown breads of your favourite brand, you will probably find that the brown bread still has more dietary fiber, making it the wiser choice. What’s important to remember is not to confuse all brown breads with the much healthier whole grain bread alternatives. Do your research and read your labels for the choice that’s right for you. Best place to begin is in Tuskys supermarket at the bread parlour where you will spot the difference!
I know you have questions so comment below and email me on ndutaniceness@gmail.com

WHY THE OIL YOU USE TO COOK COULD BE THE REASON FOR YOUR ILLNESS

Food cooked from fats is tasty and easy to eat. There are some fats that negatively affect our bodies when consumed and should be avoided. In Kenya’s market fats available are either solid or liquid in nature. 

But just which type of fat is best for cooking your meals?

Chemically fats can be either saturated, unsaturated or trans-fats. The saturated means that they have a chemical composition with carbon atoms saturated with hydrogen atoms. Saturated fats are usually in animal fats especially the dairy products. Very few plants have saturated fats, the palm and coconut oil.

Trans fats are made when manufacturers turn the liquid oils to solid for instance kimbo and blue band. 

All Trans fats and saturated fats are solid at room temperature. These are the two fats that are severely harmful to your health when cooking because they raise bad cholesterol in your body. This is thought to form a layer in the arteries that causes blockage in the heart leading to heart attacks or strokes.

Let’s review the unhealthy cooking oils in the market that are either saturated or Trans fats:

Kimbo,chipsy,kasuku,cowboy, and all other solid fats are highly hydrogenated and clogs in arteries if used for long

 

                         

 The good oils:

These are normally in liquid form, but caution should be taken because, the oils sometimes change and become solid in nature after sometime...For instance, instead of buying Rina vegetable oil, go for Rina sunflower oil since it does not solidify at all costs and does not clog your arteries! 

This same criteria goes with other liquid oils like elianto, rinsun,golden fry, etc.
 The best bets are all sunflower oils, canola oils, peanut oil, corn oil, safflower and non-hydrogenated oils.

I know you have questions..Drop them on the comment box below..

HIGH FAT FOODS, NO CHOLESTROL! THE MAASAI COMMUNITY SECRET

Every day in today’s hospitals is a day to treat heart disease, high blood pressure, high weight issues, and clogged arteries all due to high cholesterol diets that people have resulted to.

However, this is not the case for the masaai people that eat highly unhealthy foods that consist of milk, meat and blood almost on a daily basis! They exhibit no signs of cholesterol or lifestyle diseases that translate to heart issues and diseases.

So do you want to know their secret?

Being pastoralists, like most of the people their worst problem is diseases and poor nutrition and high child mortality not to mention sanitation issues. They are however free from lifestyle diseases which every person can actually emulate!

1 1.Physical exercise that is the wonder drug

Life is good to enjoy but without physical action there is definitely loss of health. The masaai though enjoy milk and meat but they still have to walk into the forest to look for firewood and other feeding material for their animals! They go around fetching water and utilizing the meat and milk they take to prevent heart diseases! So while we wonder why they have such nice postures as to keep one leg lifted from the ground for such long hours we should remember the technology we like to have to ensure convenience in our lives.

2. Cosmetic resolution

Today we have had to hear about the best lose weight options that range from the gym to other parlors that claim to help a person lose weight in matters of hours! The bottom line is you need to practice the following:

• Unglue the bum out of your comfortable seat and do some exercise.
• Take stairs to 10^th floor instead of using a lift.
• Instead of going shopping by a car, just walk or cycle.
• Limit the time spent on the coach watching TV, instead, either engage in trimming the fence, cutting grass or playing with kids.
• Banish the customary mentality of mature men and women are not supposed to be seen running. Take a few runs around the estate every day, either in the morning or evening.
• Visit your relative on foot if they live nearby. Walk to church etc.
• Finally, as a last option, join the gym not as a show of how loaded you are, by as a means to physical fitness for the sake of health.

3. The miraculous herb

I know you must have been wondering what makes them so healthy after all! Well, the masaai have a certain herb they always enjoy from barks and leaves in addition to the milk and meat they eat. The plant has chemicals that are an important part in preventing their heart diseases. This herb is called the olkinyei or the jacket plum. This plant significantly lowers cholesterol since it has polyphenols, phytosteroids and other water soluble fibers, antioxidants, flavanoids, all of which beat cholesterol taken in significantly!

So is this herb available in the market?

 Find out in the next post on this page!

Email me on ndutaniceness@gmail.com

The TRUTH ABOUT STEVIA, THE SUBSTITUTE FOR SUGAR

Today everyone wants to stay healthy and anything in the market that shouts that health literally earns the confidence of people in the Kenyan market. Diabetes has been on the rise today and the use of STEVIA leaves been up to substitute the white or brown sugar that is commonly used. So many do not understand the effects of using stevia both the good and the bad...

Famously, Stevia is a plant that is native to South America. It is probably best known as a source of natural sweeteners. In fact, native people in South America have used stevia as a sweetener for hundreds of years. But the leaves are also used to make medicine.
NEMA agreed to the growth of these leaves in Kenya after realizing their medicinal effect aside from the sweetening ability.

Normally, Stevia is used as a weight loss aid; for treating diabetes, high blood pressure and heartburn; for lowering uric acid levels; for preventing pregnancy; and for increasing the strength of the muscle contractions that pump blood from the heart.

THE GOOD
Growing stevia in Kenya is a good backyard gardening activity for every household. This is a perfect way to reduce the household budget of sugar, as the sweetener is 30 times sweeter than sugar. Stevia herbal sugar offers sweetness minus the unhealthy effects and the sweetener is calorie free. The leaves can be used directly in tea fresh or dried. The natural leaves can also be cooked and eaten as vegetables. Stevia herbal sweetener is said to be good for all people including diabetics.

Stevia also serves as a natural, calorie-free sugar substitute and can be found as an ingredient in a variety of processed foods. Unlike dietary sugars, the sweetening agents in stevia do not increase your blood glucose levels after you consume them and can therefore help your blood sugar remain steady, nor do they contribute to dental cavities the way table sugar does. Finally, stevia holds an advantage over aspartame, an artificial sweetener containing the amino acid phenylalanine, for those with phenylketonuria. Phenylketonurics cannot process phenylalanine and must therefore avoid it. Because stevia doesn’t contain phenylalanine, it is a safer alternative to aspartame. But all these benefits are only available if used when raw... If you use it when processed the bad is bound to occur:

THE BAD
At high doses, stevia compounds can cause mutagenesis, or damage to your genes, and they also can lead to temporary gastrointestinal upset, muscle pain and weakness. Stevia can also interact with medications and affect their potency. For example, it can increase the effects of both blood-lowering and anti-diabetic drugs, requiring careful monitoring by your healthcare provider. In addition, until more thorough safety assessments have been completed, pregnant women should avoid stevia.In some people, stevia can cause nausea, bloating or gas.

You must be wondering how come you have not probably heard of it.. This package above can be found in Nakumatt or Tuskys today and is easy to grow on your backyard. In fact,  Stevia herbal sweetener is harvested 3 months after planting, after which the crop is dried and ground into powder for use as a sweetener. Alternatively juice can be extracted and used in a similar way. 

It is the best invention and departure from sugar but requires caution for the best use possible. For more email me on ndutaniceness@gmail.com

DIABETES IN INFANTS-NUTRITION INTERVENTION

In Kenya today, most of the women with children are clueless of the diabetic nature of their infants. Some of them realize when it is too late because they do not quite understand the symptoms.Normally, the symptoms that are degenerative for infants with the disease are:

Weight loss
 children and babies in unexpected and unexplained weight loss. Since glucose in diabetics is not taken by cells, fat is used a s a source of energy, which leads to weight loss. The child may be eating normally but still loses weight with diabetes.


Polyuria
Polyuria is some of the early signs that a baby may have diabetes. Polyuria is an increased amount of urine produced, which causes babies to urinate more frequently.. Since diabetic babies do not produce enough insulin to release the glucose from the blood, it goes to the kidneys. Kidneys have to flush this over abundance of glucose in their tissues. To do this more urine is produced. SO watch for an increase in the urinary frequency of a babies as an early sign of diabetes.


Breath odor
Another sign of babies having diabetes is an increase in the intensity of the smell of their breath. The smell is kind of a sweet smell. This smell is the result of a condition developed by diabetics known as ketoacidosis: an increase in the concentration of ketones in their bodies. Ketoacidosis also causes babies skin to dry excessively and to have a pale tone.

Increase in the frequency of skin rashes
Babies with diabetes seem to have a tendency to get skin rashes more frequently. Diaper rash seem to be more prominent in babies with diabetes. This may be the result of skin getting dry through the process of ketoacidosis.

If you realize your child has these symptoms then you need to rush them to the doctor for prognosis. But how do you get there? It all revolves around the food given to the infant!
 Today Kenya has over two million people and 25,000 children living with diabetes type 1, a trend experts blame on poor dieting, genetics and unhealthy lifestyle. Out of every 100 diabetics, ten of them are children. Type 1 diabetes, which is also referred to as childhood-onset diabetes, is caused by inability of the pancreas to produce insulin.
Normally, this happens after the child has been weaned into taking food components which confuses the parents. The children ought to be leveled to a habit of taking in healthy and unrefined foods. Restrain your child from taking foods in too much energy yet they do not exercise!
Let your child take more foods rich in fiber and low in carbohydrates right from the time weaning begins.

You know the way everyone thinks that mashed bananas and pumpkins are the food for the baby, it is important to let the baby eat what you are eating that is healthier. A dish of brown rice with legume protein like ndengu and spoinach blended into one makes a good meal for the infant!
As well, eating out creates the problem with children overgrowing their weight after engaging in habits that are unhealthy..
It is sad that once you get the diabetes, you have to live with it! for a child this is a struggle by itself.
A mother ought to therefore, insist on being tested for sugar levels especially during the second trimester of pregnancy to avoid the baby growing too big which causes diabetes in the life of the child.

I recommend these foods:
Fibre diet that can be taken for breakfast:
Weetabix
other preferred cereals with milk
Banana-ensure it is just one since it is a culprit of increase in energy levels
Vegetables
Bread-give bread occassionally since it increases calories which are lethargic especially for a child who is not active

Vegetables:
emphasize on cabbage intake in plenty to beat the fat and calories in the body.

proteins need a tone down to avoid their intake being converted into excess sugar in the blood.
There is a recommended porridge flour for diabetics that can be given to the child, and can be found in supermarkets by the name FaFA D.

for any questions email me on ndutaniceness@gmail.com

Nduta
Nutrition counselor