Fighting diabetes with a healthy diet

Amina Namadi Sambo, wife of Vice President Sambo, who unveiled the recipe after an organised walk to mark World Diabetes Day in Abuja, organised by the Institute of Dietetics in Nigeria (IDN) and Diabetes Help and Enlightenment Organisation (DHEO), urged stronger efforts to enlighten on diabetes in rural areas where many lack information on the […]

Amina Namadi Sambo, wife of Vice President Sambo, who unveiled the recipe after an organised walk to mark World Diabetes Day in Abuja, organised by the Institute of Dietetics in Nigeria (IDN) and Diabetes Help and Enlightenment Organisation (DHEO), urged stronger efforts to enlighten on diabetes in rural areas where many lack information on the disease.
In comments delivered by Dr Zainab Shinkafi Bagudu, the CEO of Medicaid, Sambo said partnership with nongovernment and corporate bodies could help reach more rural areas.
Mrs Sarah Abagai, Head of Dietetics Department at the National Hospital, said, “The unripe plantain pudding with fish vegetable sauce is healthy breakfast. This diet is a recipe we have brought out for diabetes and it’s based on 1800 kilo calories plan par day and that is by our usual distribution of energy throughout the day. All you need to do is grate your unripe plantain, break the egg, add the egg-white to the plantain, add a pinch of salt and two tablespoon full of water, beat till it becomes fluffy and pour the mixture into a broad leaf. Allow to steam for 10 minutes, unwrap and serve with a vegetable sauce,” Abagai explains.
Ikenna Nwaturuocha, who has had diabetes for more than 25 years, called the condition a way of life. “I have been diabetic for more than 25 years. But because I am educated and enlightened about it, I have been able to manage it. I am going to try out the new recipe for people with diabetes.”
It’s a meal that every common Nigerian can afford,” the founder of DHEO Aisha Bukar Alli said.
 “We have this lifestyle that we don’t see exercise as an important factor, but that is significant for people to live healthy and long. We encourage everybody and people with diabetes to include exercise as a priority in their agenda.”