chatwithketch

Hello family! How have you all been? I trust you have all had a merry and festive Christmas and Eid El Maulud celebrations. It is a season when people do have to stay in each other’s faces as people travel all over to spend time with family.

To help interactions happen happily, I decided to go along my post of yesterday and discuss bad breath.

Q: Dr. how can one deal with the issue of bad breath? Thank you.

A: This is a very frequent question and so I have decided to revisit it today.

Bad breath, also called halitosis, may be as a result of poor hygiene habits, eating strong smelling foods or could be a sign of other medical conditions.

If adequate dental hygiene is not maintained, food particles can remain in our mouths, encouraging bacterial growth bacteria in our mouths can break down food particles and raise a serious stink. Proper dental hygiene habits includes:

Brushing your teeth twice a day (this sounds like a ‘no-brainer’ but the right technique is important. Mentally divide your mouth into four quadrants and spend at least 30 seconds on each quadrant. This way, you spend a minimum of 2 minutes brushing)

Brushing your tongue (if you finish brushing and you can still see all that whitish residue on your tongue, you haven’t done a good job. Some of the smell comes from there. Some tooth brushes come with a tongue scraper at the back of the brush…use that. If not, buy one or just use your brush)

Flossing your teeth every day. Ask for this in your local super markets. This gets rid of the food particles between your teeth where your tooth brush can’t reach.

Using a mouth wash can also help the prevention of mouth odour.

Eating strong smelling foods like onions and garlic could also cause mouth odour which may not be taken care of by brushing. This is because these ‘foods’ are absorbed into the blood stream and excreted through the lungs. So, the smell will persist until excretion is complete. The small can be masked with mouth wash etc

Disease conditions that can lead to bad breath include mouth infections, Diabetes Mellitus, sinus infection etc.

Other conditions like use of tobacco (chewing or smoking), some drugs and dry mouth (which is the reason for morning breath :D) are also culprits.

Prevention is focused on the tips given above and ensuring that you visit your dentist at least twice a year, brushing at least twice a day (if not after every meal) with a fluoride tooth paste (remember that fluoride is not recommended for children less than 2-3 years and even then, only a pea size is recommended), change your tooth brush once every three months and drink lots of water.

Let’s keep the pearls shining and the breath smelling really fresh.

Catch the 5-minute version of the bad breath show here: https://chatwithdrketch.com/2014/06/21/dailyt-health-tips-video-bad-breath/

By the way, would you tell a friend, if he/she had bad breath?

I asked that question during one of my shows and most people didn’t want to be the one that causes offence by telling someone that they have bad breath. However, most people also wanted to be told if they had bad breath. So, who will bell the cat? 😀

Did you miss the show? Catch it here and watch me have fun putting OC Ukeje on the hot spot. https://chatwithdrketch.com/2015/05/03/watch-the-dr-ketch-show-episode-on-bad-breath-here/

For another related post, please click here: https://chatwithdrketch.com/2013/09/14/smell-you-later/

Have a great day, y’all 😀

It is Christmas eve! Wow! How fast the year has flown by! I am super excited and just thankful to be alive and well! And of course, it’s celebration time for the Muslims. Happy Id El Maulud!
It is a season when we mostly forget all the great ways we have stuck with (have we? :D) all through the year to keep ourselves fit and trim…and pig out on everything available. Well, here are a few recipes I’ve shared during the year that can be helpful now.

Breakfast ideas:
Overnight oats
Put some oats in a bowl, add some milk and unsweetened yoghurt. If you don’t have yoghurt, milk will do.

Cover with cling film and leave in the fridge overnight. In the morning, add some fruit slices (I like apple and banana slices), add a sprinkle of cinnamon and if you want a little bit more ‘sugar’, add a couple of raisins/currants/dried fruit.
Mix it all up…tastes fabulous!

Dark Chocolate or Chicken Toast
I put a slice of whole wheat bread on the sandwich toaster and then place two small chunks of dark chocolate on it. I cover the chocolate with another slice of bread, plug in the toaster and in a short while, I see the ‘ready’ light which tells me we’re good to go!

Another variation of this is if you have some left-over cooked chicken, or fish. This can replace the chocolate. Chop it up and add some sliced tomatoes. Add some low fat dressing and place in the sandwich toaster. It’s juicily tasty!
Nigerian stew:
This forms the basic background for a lot of our foods in Nigeria.

Q: Thanks Doc, how can one prepare tomato stew without frying?

A: You absolutely can prepare tomato stew (our Nigerian version) with or without frying.

The first method uses just a little oil and fries minimally. Add a table spoon of oil to the pot. Yes, one tablespoon 😀 Then add cut onions to the oil with a teaspoon of curry powder. Stir this until golden being careful not to burn the onions, then add blended tomatoes. Cook until the sour taste of tomatoes is gone.

Add meat stock, boiled meat, seasoning and spices to the tomatoes and cook until thickened. Another option is to lightly fry the meat in the one tablespoon of oil at the beginning and then remove from the pot before cooking the tomatoes. The meat can be added back when the stock is added. Personally, I grill my meat (chicken) and then serve with the stew.

Remember that your stew is not complete without some veggies in it. Wash and cut some green leafy veggies (melon/ugu leaves, scent leaf etc) and add to the stew. I usually turn off the heat once I add the veggies allowing the heat from the stew to do the cooking of the veggies.

Another option is to put the blended tomatoes in a hot empty pot on the burner. Cook tomatoes until sour taste is gone. Then add meat stock, meat, seasoning and spices to the tomatoes and cook until thickened. Don’t forget the veggies.

Try it out and let me know what you think. Remember that you have to re-train your taste buds to understand that you don’t need as much oil as people generally use in their stews. A good rule of thumb here is that, ‘if you can see the oil in the food, it’s definitely too much!’

Snack ideas:
Do you have a sweet tooth and yearn for that cup of ice cream with some crunch? Well, here’s how you can improvise.
Make some yoghurt (unsweetened). I’ve shared the recipe for yoghurt here several times. Here’s the link to it: https://chatwithdrketch.com/2014/10/27/daily-health-tips-recipe-for-and-storage-of-yoghurt/

Get some fruits in season. I love to use mangoes and/or bananas. If you’re going to use both, one small mango and one medium sized banana is sufficient for a long glass. Scoop out the pulp of the mango and then cut up the bananas. Add the fruits to a blender one measuring cup of yoghurt. If you don’t have a measuring cup, just estimate. Blend both. If you want it thick, don’t blend for too long. If you want it runny (like drinking yoghurt) then blend for longer.

Serve in a nice, long cup. If you like some crunch, you can sprinkle some unsalted nuts (almonds, cashew or even peanuts) or some whole grain, crunchy cereal on top.

Improvisations:
If you don’t have a blender, you can mash up the fruits and add to the yoghurt. You will expect that the blend will not be so smooth and will have nice, delicious bits and lumps in it.

If you don’t have yoghurt or can’t make it immediately, you can replace the yoghurt with skimmed milk.

Yum, yum, yum!!!

Veggies…
Remember these meals are not ready without a serving of juicy delicious veggies:

Pick your green leafy veggies and wash. I will be using ugu (pumpkin leaves) for this. Wash under running water or in water that has food safe disinfectant or salt. If you use the latter, be sure to rinse off before cutting. Cut the leaves.

Put the leaves into a pot. Cut some onions into it and sprinkle some seasoning over this (a little pepper, salt). Place the pot over a low heat and wait for the veggies to soften/wilt. I like my veggies with some crunch and so depending on the quantity of veggies I have in the pot, 3 to 5 minutes is sufficient.

Serve with boiled unripe plantain or yam or jollof rice or whatever you choose 😀

For related topics, please click on: https://chatwithdrketch.com/2014/12/10/daily-health-tips-healthier-substitutes-for-foods-we-love/

Random Recipes…

Have a great day, people 😀