CARRY IT ON YOUR HEAD!

My husband told me that in Nigeria women and men, young and old carrying everything on their heads. For the small things it allows them to use their hands for other uses, but if the balance is right they can even carry much larger objects that might usually require two people to carry. E.g. a dining table.


Really, it is a matter of convenience. - say Nigerians. If the weight is carried appropriately you have the opportunity to use your hands - to buy and compare other items on your journey. Sure it is arduous, but the best alternative. Side benefits are wonderful shaped women, able and active throughout their years. Do not forget it is not only a practice of Africans, even the Asians and South Americans employ the same methods, as did we Europeans in past decades. Nigerians also have cultures that carry on the shoulder - that is in their culture - the Gwari's and that is tedious. In Ethiopia, they carry on the back, as a contrary example the method there is pureley cultural.

GET RID OF YOUR BELLY FAT WITH NIGERIAN FOOD

Excess fat on your belly increases your chances of developing heart-related disorders therefore losing stomach fat can greatly improve your health.

When I met my Nigerian husband I realised most Nigerians have no idea how many great foods they are surrounded with. There are incredible fat burning foods in Nigeria that most people don’t even know about. These types of foods are rich in nutritions and possess special fat-melting talent. You can include these foods in any sensible weight-loss plan and they will give your body the extra metabolic kick that it needs to shave off fat on your tummy quickly.

Pepper

Eating chilli pepper in your food definitely helps you lose weight by raising your metabolism and burning away fat, according to scientists. Pepper consumption slower the speed of eating and increases water consumption that also helps feel fuller quicker. 

Pounded Yam

Yams are powerful carbohydrate that can be added to a regular healthy diet in order to experience increase fat-burning benefits. Yams are similar in appearance to sweet potato and it’s a good source of energy. Yam provides around 110 calories per 100 grams. It is high in Vitamin C and B6 , potassium and dietary fiber while low in saturated fat.

 Beans

Beans are one of the best sources of plant protein. Most common cooked beans have 215 calories per cup. Beans can suppress your appetite for junk food and keep your body running smoothly with clean fuel and efficient energy.

Green vegetables and fruits

Any fruit or vegetable contains fiber. Fiber can ease constipation. How does it work? Soluble and insoluble fiber, found in fruits, vegetables and grains, is not actually digested by the body. It passes through virtually unchanged. Soluble fiber absorbs fiber and becomes soft, while insoluble fiber simple passes through without absorbing water. This bulky fiber acts as a scrub brush, pushing food along the colon so that constipation cannot occur. 

Chicken

White meat contains 245 calories per four ounce serving. It’s an excellent source of protein, iron, niacin and zinc. As far as weight loss foods go, chicken breast is one of the best. It’s a great source of lean protein, which can help you feel full and stay full for longer period of time, curbing later hunger and snacking. 

Banana

100grams of banana is only 110 calories. Bananas can help you win the battle of the bulge and lose inches from your waistline. The Mayo Clinic touts the fiber in bananas as being helpful for weight loss because high fiber foods take longer to chew and digest, making the body feel fuller sooner and maintaining that satisfaction for longer periods of time.

Turkey

Four ounces of turkey has approximately 170 calories and nine grams of fat, about what you would find in 2 teaspoons of palm oil. The same amount of regular beef has 23 grams of fat. Which one will you go for?

Nuts

Nuts are high in protein and fat but it’s healthy unsaturated fat. With controlled portion size nuts can be a great part of your diet as it makes you feel full for longer

Yoghurt

Yoghurt delivers a lot of protein and like any dairy product, is rich in calcium and contains zinc. You can find ways to use it, be creative. Cut banana into it and add the cereal of your choice for breakfast or thicken your stew up with it.

Fish

As a Hungarian person I didn’t eat much fish before my marriage but now I’m really glad to have a lot of fish in my diet. The health benefits of fish are greater than experts would ever imagined and trust me it’s hard to gain weight while eating fish. Eating fish regularly lower cholesterol and reduce blood sugar and help your body melt away unhealthy pounds.

Good luck with your diet!

TWINS - IBEJI HISTORY

I always wanted to have twins and since my grandmother is a twin and my husband is Yoruba, I probably have chance for that .Why do I think so?

I recently found out that the Yoruba have the highest rate of twinning in the world, at 45-50 twin sets (or 90-100 twins) per 1,000 live births. People believe possibly because of high consumption of a specific type of yam containing a natural phytoestrogen which may stimulate the ovaries to release an egg from each side.  Yoruba oral traditions say that twins, ibeji, can bring either joy or despair to their family. 

In olden days twins were forbidden and anybody having them had to kill them before it came to the notice of the oba [local ruler]. Isokun, near Porto Novo, in Dahomey, was the first place where twins were allowed to stay, and this was because Isokun was not, at that time part of the kingdom of Oyo. When these twins were born the parents did not know whether to kill them or to let them live because they were not in their own country and it was not the custom in those parts to kill twins as in Oyo. So they consulted the Ifa oracle. Ifa said that they should keep the twins, but they would have to dance around the town with them every five days. This they did and everyone took pity on them and gave them gifts. In this course of time they became so wealthy that people began to say it was the twins who had made them rich. This story eventually reached the ears of the Alafin at Oyo. He was convinced by what he heard that these twins were lucky children, so he said it was all right for the parents to keep them and not kill them as was the custom.

Twins became very important for the Yoruba and they usually tend to give special names to each twin.The first of the twins to be born is traditionally named Tayewo, which means "the first to taste the world", this is often shortened to Taiwo, Taiye or Taye. Kehinde or Kehin for short, is the name of the last born twin. Kehinde is sometimes also referred to as Akehindegbegbon which is short for Omokehindegbegbon and means, "the child that came last gets the rights of the eldest".





This story was told by Chief Ajanaku, Araba of Lagos (the head of Ifa priests in Lagos) to T. J. H. Chappel in 1964 during a field study in the Yorubaland.