The Calories In These 7 Nigeria Foods Will Shock You

First, what are calories?

The scientific definition of a calorie is the energy needed to raise the temperature of 1 gram of water through 1 °C.

The human body is structured in a way that when you eat food, the body breaks it down to provide you with energy (to fuel your body for daily maintenance as it carries out your daily activities).

The amount of energy provided by the food is measured by scientists and nutritionists in calories (cal).

So, basically, we are all expected to take in a certain amount of calorie or calorie content on a daily basis for maintenance.

Taking in more calories than necessary leads to weight issues like belly fat, being overweight, obesity and the likes.

Knowing the calorie content in whatever food you eat is therefore important to help you keep track of all that goes into your mouth and the resulting energy you’ll get in returns. That way, you won’t load yourself up on extra calories.

Here are 7 Nigerian foods that with high calorie contents, which means everytime you take in these foods, be sure to accompany them with other low-calorie foods so as to avoid storing excess calories in your body as fat.

1. Egusi soup

100g of egusi contains about 593 calories while 1 cup of egusi contains about 450 calories.

This means that the result of loading up on just egusi soup (without the swallow of your choice) will provide the body with nothing less than 500 cal (excluding the additional contents involved in making the soup, like stockfish, meat, and the likes).

2. Ogbono soup

100g of ogbono soup contains 470-760 cal, depending on the additional ingredients used in making the soup.

This means that consuming only ogbono without amala or eba can take you as high as four hundred and something calories.

2. Pounded Yam

1 milk cup of pounded yam has a calorie content of 400 calories.

However, a milk cup of pounded yam is barely able to satisfy the average Nigerian. This means that you’ll need at least 2 cups to be filled, which is about 800 calories

Imagine taking these 2 cups pounded yam (800 cal) with 1 cup egusi soup (450 cal), this means you’ll be consuming 1,250 cal in one sitting.

Repeating this cycle on a daily basis will definitely lead to obesity and other weight-related issues.

ALSO READ: Will Eating Late At Night Actually Make You Gain Weight?

3. Eba

1 cup of garri contains 360 calories.

Taking 2 cups of that will be 720 cal without the extra calories from the soup.

4. Banana

Although banana is a healthy meal, one finger of banana contains 100 cal.

Consuming a whole bunch of banana with about 5-7 fingers just means you are taking in 500-700 cal in a sitting.

5. Groundnuts

Like banana, groundnuts are equally healthy but high in calories.

A handful of groundnuts with about 17 seeds only contains 100 cal while 100g contains about 718g.

Imagine pairing it with banana or garri or boli. Such high-calorie content!

6. Calories in Rice

Pretty much everyone knows that rice (processed white rice) is high in calorie.

1 cup of raw rice contains 693 cal.

However, this is not to say these foods are bad and should be avoided, but that these foods, alongside every other food, should be consumed in minimum quantity for healthy and quality life.

To avoid excess weight from the kinds of Nigerian foods you eat, download MyPerfectWeight App here. An app designed to help Nigerians reach their desired weight goals (either weight loss or weight gain) by simply eating Nigerian foods.