Starch and Your Diet

Most of the foods that we eat on a day to day, if they are the traditional Ghanaian foods, are fairly healthy. That said, they are also full of starch. Stews that come with banku or kenkey or fufu or omo tuo or cassava do not have so much cholesterol or saturated fat as highly processed, store bought foods. They do, however, emerged from a lifestyle that a lot of us don't lead anymore.

Starch is a great source of energy for the body. We need lots of it if we are using all of it. The bricklayer, the miner, or industrious fisherman among us, who is constantly working his body can't get enough starch. They burn off all the big balls of fufu that they eat. But us who work in an office, do accounts, buy and sell, or write as an occupation, sit for hours during the day. we aren't using all of the starch that we eat, and it can lead to some of the problems that so many suffer. Such a diet without the exercise can lead to diabetes, hypertension, all kinds of diseases.
So...

Unless you make it a habit of really physically exerting your body everyday like a bricklayer, cut down the starch in your diet significantly Eat many more of the wonderful fruits and vegetables which are grown here. Try and get your body moving and your blood flowing a as much as you can.