Calories in Nigerian Food

Based on a 2,000 calorie diet:
Normal cholesterol intake per day is 300mg - if you have high cholesterol or high LDL - cholesterol intake per day is to be 200mg or less. How much is a serving? A serving is about the palm size of your hand. Shocking but true.

Basic Nigerian Dishes
The basic Egusi Soup enriched with few chunks of stockfish and two pieces of meat contains a total of roughly 700 calories per serving!!! Imagine eating it with about 3 wraps of pounded yam which is about 600 calories...
The largest food group it contains is Fat. Egusi is very high in fat content. It has about 60% fat. And imagine the more calories for those who love adding lots of palm oil to our egusi soup. It also has about 11 percent carbohydrates. Proteins make up 30 percent while other elements make up the rest. Cholesterol - 306mg.


Okra Soup
Okra soup with about one or two pieces of fish and a minimal amount of palm oil would be very good. Okra soup alone contains about 105 calories only per serving. So imagine how many calories you are saving by eating Okra Soup on its own. Here is a summary of what it contains:
Okra has about 2.8g of Fibre per serving, 3g of Fat, 4g of Carbohydrates and 11g of Protein. So for those trying to lose weight, why not try okra soup ALONE any time you are tempted to eat your Pounded Yam or Eba.


Ewedu Soup
Ewedu is one of the good soups for weight loss. If you are looking for a low calorie meal, you can count on Ewedu, especially considering the fact that her brother Gbegiri is also low in calories. A serving of Ewedu alone without meat contains only 97 calories!

Let's break down each of the food groups:
Fat content of 4g out of which 10% is cholesterol. The Carbohydrate content is 300mg (0.3g) and Protein is 18g. When thinking about a low-carb meal, Ewedu comes first to mind. Ewedu leaves are also called Jew's mallow and have been used for many medicinal purposes.


Snails
The calories in snail aren't always too accurate, because different snails come in different sizes. This, however, is an estimate of the average snail which weighs about 100 grams. 1 snail contains 90 calories. Of this, 1g is fat, 16g is protein and Carbs comes to 2g. So while it is a healthy food; relatively low in Carbs and Fat, remember it;s high in calories. Try to limit your consumption to 1 or 2 with your meals so as not to have too many calories.


Moi Moi
These are the calories in moi moi using the following ingredients:

• White beans 1/2 cup (peak evaporated milk cup): 189 calories
• 1/5 teaspoon of curry powder: 1 calorie
• 1 tbsp salt: 0 calories
• 1/2 tbsp groundnut oil: 60 calories
• 1/4 slice onion: 16 calories
• 1 oz Crayfish
• x1 Maggi Cube: 5 calories

I don't know what else you guys add to your Moi Moi, but using the ingredients above, the calorie content of a serving would be: 256 calories. Remember it all depends on what you add to it and how you mix it, how much water you add etc.


Fried Plantain
1 Slice of Fried plantain contains 68 calories

Wheat Flour
1 cup of wheat flour contains 455 calories and the nutritional values are as follows. Carbohydrates 96g, Protein 12.9g and Fat 1.2g.

Boiled or Roast Corn
A large corn cob between 7 to 9 inches in length contains 123 calories of which 80 percent is Carbohydrate. In a medium sized cob of corn, between 6 and 7 inches in length, you can expect about 88 calories and 80 percent Carbs. In a small corn cob, about 5.5 to 6 inches in length, there are about 63 calories.

Eko, Pap, Akamu or Ogi
Eko/Pap/Akamu/Ogi is a meal made from corn. Eko is the solid form of pap, and is usually eaten with vegetable or stew as desired. For Eko, the calorie content depends on the way it is made and its consistency so it is difficult to quantify, but we can come up with an estimate based on the values of Pap. Since everyone prepares their Pap to different consistencies, we can appropriate the calorie content of the raw pap (the thick one that you store in the fridge and take from when you want to cook). 1 tablespoon of raw Akamu/Ogi/Pap contains 91 calories of which 99.7% is purely Carbohydrate.

Irish Potato

• 128 calories in one small to medium size potato
• 161 calories in one average medium size potato
• 278 calories in one medium to large size potato