chatwithketch

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 😀

Q: Dr, good morning. Please, sometimes when I finish taking a bath…in the next 5 to10 minutes, some parts of my body will start itching and I don’t know why and what to do? Please put me through.

A: This question appears to be a favourite around this time of the year 😀 I reproduce below, my previous answer to this question.

Do you find that this happens more often during the dry season of harmattan? That itch could caused by skin that has been excessively dried out by soap, cold or dry air and/or hot baths. This causes the skin to lose the protection of its natural oils and makes the nerve endings to become super sensitive leading to the itching.

What to do? After a bath, try dabbing your skin so that it is still slightly moist before applying a moisturizing lotion that locks in the moisture. Drying your body completely aggravates the dryness and itching as this encourages more evaporation from your skin, more dryness and therefore more itching. Lotions that contain glycerine, lactic acid and panthenol are very good. Body washes with moisturizers are also be a good for those with this problem as they will not dry out your skin when you take a bath.

If this continues despite these precautions, please see your doctor.

Have a great day!

As the holidays rapidly approach, it is important to remind ourselves of the healthy rules of engagement! 😀 The best of us would leave our good senses behind and ‘pig’ out during celebrations and then suffer through the next couple of weeks trying to lose all that weight. Ever heard of ‘a second on the lips, a lifetime on the hips?’ Well, that certainly describes this.

There are all sorts of diets and eating regimens available, most of which impose the most amazing restrictions to our diets. But, these more often than not result in yo-yo dieting…I’m on today and off tomorrow. I am skewed towards a more realistic, conscious lifestyle modification that stands the test of time, involves things that are inculcated into everyday life decisions of what to eat, that is more sustainable. What does this involve?

Here goes:
Eat more fruits and vegetables. Eating them in as close to their natural state as possible is, of course more beneficial. We fall into their temptation of wanting to do the right thing but doing it on our terms; this would involve dousing these vegetables in oil and frying them. These vegetables are rich in Vitamin C which is water soluble and so unnecessary cooking strips them of this nutrient. If we’ve got to cook them at all, add them at the final stage of cooking and cook for the barest minimum time: a minute or two. Some of the veggies are of course delicious eaten raw: carrots, lettuce, cabbage etc. These can be used in a salad with a dressing of balsamic vinegar or olive oil as opposed to all the fatty salad dressings out there. The leaf of the garden egg, called akwukwo anara in Ibo and efo gbagba (I hope I got that right?!) in Yoruba is also delicious when eaten raw as a major part of the meal.

Talking about fruits and vegetables leads me to the question, ‘how much of these can we realistically have in each meal?’ Well, the answer is probably not what you’d love to hear but happens to be true. For a standard dinner plate, half of it should be filled with fruits/vegetables, a quarter devoted to carbohydrates (carbs) and a quarter devoted to the protein component. The rule of thumb for the carbs is that it should not be more than the quantity in the cupped palm of one hand! I hear your groans 😀 For the petite people like me (this is more politically correct than saying, ‘short’ or one of the funniest ones I’ve heard, ‘vertically challenged!’), this is a BIG problem! Close your eyes and visualise the tiny portions that can be accommodated in those tiny palms…sigh!

Want to know what else you can do this season to keep your weight in check? Get details from the book, Just For The Health Of It. You can get a copy via the shop now link on our facebook page. Or you can get it through:

1) Jumia.com. Just click on this link http://www.jumia.com.ng/jumia-books-just-for-the-health-of-it-with-dr-ketch-179486.html and get a copy. You have the option of paying when the book is delivered to you or paying online. This service is available all over Nigeria.

2) Another option for those in Lagos is Laterna Bookshop on 13, Oko-Awo Close, Off Adetokunbo Ademola Street,. Victoria Island.

3) If you’re outside the country, please visit Amazon through this link http://www.amazon.com/Just-Health-Ketch-Pregnancy-Parenting/dp/9789398026/ref=sr_1_1?s=books&ie=UTF8&qid=1426246647&sr=1-1&keywords=just+for+the+health+of+it+with+dr+ketch+olalere+nkechi

For those in Abuja and environs, please call 07030739403 or pick it up at No 5 Bricks Market, Dawaki 11 Market, Dawaki extension.

For those in Awka, please call 08189944090.

Remember that this book is a great Christmas, Baby Shower and Bridal Shower gift for anybody 😀

Have a great day, y’all 😀

Q: Good evening Doctor, Please ma’am, at what week is a pregnant woman advisable to start Antenatal? Thanks

A: Here’s an excerpt from my book, Just For The Health Of It, that speaks to this question. If this is your first pregnancy, then you’re probably more worried than most. But the practical truth is that you should register for Antenatal care as soon as you realize you are pregnant.

To prepare for that visit, you should remember the date of your last menstrual period, family history of birth of child with abnormality, sickle cell disease etc. Be generous with information about any and everything that may affect your baby’s health such as lifestyle habits like smoking and alcohol drinking etc.

Ultrasound scan and other screening tests will also be carried out on urine, blood, blood pressure etc to confirm genotype, rhesus group, Diabetes, presence or absence of anaemia, high blood pressure, abnormalities etc. HIV screening will also be done after voluntary counselling.

You should choose a center that you feel confident with as regards the quality of the medical personnel and you should freely discuss your birth plan with them.

In the first instance, antenatal care will be scheduled once every 4 weeks until the pregnancy is 28 weeks. Thereafter, the appointments are scheduled every 2 weeks until 36 weeks and thereafter, every week till delivery. This is the normal schedule, but your care giver may decide to give you shorter appointments if there are other factors to be considered like the presence of hypertension in pregnancy or indeed to review results of tests you had been sent to do.

Then, those drugs that you are given? If you’re like me and hate to take drugs, then this is a big deal! 😀 But you do have to take them. The folic acid ensures that your baby does not end up with abnormalities of the spine and also helps build up your red blood cells in combination with the other drugs given. You’ve got to be religiously committed to taking these drugs to give your pregnancy the greatest chance of a good outcome.

So, have you taken today’s dose? Let’s go do it now 😀

Have a good night, everyone 😀