Making Lifestyle Changes

In my younger years, I would not have imagined a day go by without some doses of high carb foods.

I mean, how would you even begin to imagine a day without sweets, bread, rice, pasta, yam, cassava, cocoyam, maize or sugar being included your meal?

Back in the day, breakfast, lunch and dinner were majorly or basically variations of high-carb meals, and we actually thought that we were enjoying. 😊😊😊

Let me give you a clearer picture:
🔶Breakfast may be something like, Fried yam , fried plantain, pap(made from corn), and sweetened with sugar.
🔶Lunch may be yam pottage, or yam with vegetable sauce, rice and plantain, pasta and stew.
🔶Dinner may be something like pounded yam or cassava fufu. At other times it may be Cornfood. These are usually taken with delicious Nigerian soups and stews.

Somewhere in between, we indulge in cakes, snacks, drinks and ice-creams fully loaded with sugar. 🤦‍♀️

Don't get me wrong, we get to eat eggs, meat, fish, fruits and vegetables also. But there were days these were not included at all.

I realize now that our parents stuck to that kind of diet because that was what the "experts" were recommending at that time.

As I grew up, I got to understand that a lot of chronic diseases and health conditions/complications can be traced back to excessive
carbs in the diet. Diabetes, high blood pressure, obesity, joint pains, belly fat... a very long list. This made me begin to search for ways to make changes to my diet and lifestyle.

I decided to make adjustments to my diet. I transitioned to a low-carb diet (ketogenic) in 2020 during the covid-19 lockdown. I am not on a strict ketogenic diet, but the changes in my body has been amazing.

At this point, I want to make some clarifications. I was not diabetic! I had no chronic health issues!

I made the choices I made because I know the old saying: prevention is better than cure. Now, here is why.

🔶My grandmother had diabetes and died in her forties.
🔶My mother's youngest sister was diagnosed when she was 22.
🔶Another aunty of mine was diagnosed in her forties.
🔶No one knows who will be next.

Don't get me wrong! I am a woman of faith. I also believe that faith without works is dead. The changes I made to my diet and lifestyle is my own work that accompanies my faith.

Since I made my lifestyle changes, I have discovered a lot of new things. One of them is gluten-free baking. I find myself enjoying a whole new adventure altogether.

Imagine making coconut flour and baking with it? Apart from baking with it, I also make fufu with it to go with any Nigerian soup of my choice.

At the end of the day, I am not really missing anything in my old way of eating.

Before I go, I want to encourage you to be intentional when it comes to diet and exercise. Don't wait until a health challenge appears. Make all the changes you can while you still can. Any new day we wake up to is a new opportunity to make the right choice.

Thank you for reading this post. Let me know if you got value from it.

This post is an original post by me Hive account@ngwinndave and it has never been published anywhere before.

The image in this post belongs to me, Hive account@ngwinndave, and is a photo of a piece of my coconut, the leftover chaff after getting coconut milk and oil, and also blender mill to turn the chaff into flour.

Amazing, right? Yeah, I know that! See you soon. 😁