Dietician from the University of Ghana Medical Centre, Julius Evame has advised against the consumption of chicken, eggs, meat and other forms of protein at once together with waakye.
Speaking on Campus Exclusive in line with the celebration of the Ghana Month on the show, Mr. Evame explained that the overconsumption of protein derived from these pieces of foods puts one’s health at risk as it goes beyond the needed amount of protein in our body.
“Somebody buys waakye and then buys wele, fish, meats and egg [at the same time]. But at the end of the day, you are causing more harm to yourself because the chunk of the food should be the carbohydrate and not the protein because the protein is taking about 15 to 25%. That’s how it’s supposed to be. If you’re already getting protein from your beans, you only want to make it very bioavailable to the body to pick up, not to increase the amount of protein you’re eating because the more protein you’re taking the more your kidney suffers.”
Mr. Evame suggested that protein foods be taken in moderation along with other accompaniments. According to him, two choices of protein accompaniments for waakye should be the limit. He also talked about the overconsumption of shito, talking of the risk it poses
“I would sincerely advise that when you buy your waakye, you can go ahead and add your vegetables, your gari, your stews, but then maybe there are things that you should reduce the amount of fish, meat or wele that you’re putting on the waakye and the egg, you should reduce them. I think two choices [of protein sources] maximum is fine.”
Mr. Evame also talked about the overconsumption of shito. According to him, the process involved in making the shito leads to the creation of trans fats that poses risks to a person’s health. He cautioned people to take note of the food they eat.
“When you look at shito, shito is fried [repeatedly]. This turns the fat in [the shito] into something called trans fats and trans fats has been implicated in atherosclerosis and a lot of other issues when it comes to fats like cholesterol. So people have to watch out some of these things and then prioritise what you want out of life.”
Waakye is a local ghanaian delicacy made from cooking rice, beans and hibiscus leaves together. It is eating with tomato stew and ‘shito’, along with fish, meat, egg, gari, salad, spaghetti or plantain, per one’s preference.
