Hello People, Welcome to the very first blog post on the Impact Nutrition Africa Website. I don’t know whether to sound an alarm or ring a bell or appear mysteriously where you are and give you the Folakemi kind of hug or do all of them. P.s (Folakemi is the founder of INA and if you haven’t experienced one of her hugs, strive to do so, if you have, gather here for a selfie)

So, straight to business, you are definitely here as our MVPs to know more about the real MVPs of nutrition; Moderation, Variety and Proportionality.

The key to ensuring proper nutritional intake can be summarized in these 3 words. Moderation involves ensuring that your consumption of every food group is done moderately. Do you love rice? Yes, you do. Is rice good? Yes, it is. Should you eat rice daily or all the time? Definitely, no.  Do you love eggs? Yes, you do. Are eggs good? Yes, it is. Should you eat eggs daily or all the time? Definitely, No. Do you love cakes and ice-cream? Yes, you do. Are cakes and ice cream good? Yes, they are (Don’t give me that look. Yes they are). Should you eat daily or all the time? Definitely, No.

Simple, all foods are good in themselves because all foods contain nutrients and by definition nutrients are substances that provide nourishment essential for life maintenance and other basic metabolic processes, so you see, all foods are important and should be consumed. But then, there is an additional word, they should be consumed moderately. That way, you have access to all the beautiful nutrients provided in various amounts in quantities that are just sufficient and beneficial to you and that is proper nourishment which is, remember, the key to good health!

This already explains Variety. Don’t be stuck on one food group, explore lovelies, meat, fish, sea foods, grains, cereals, legumes, roots, tubers, vegetables, fruits, eggs, oils and fats, sweets, milk, name them, all of them; Dietary Diversity is key.

Proportionality; this might be the interesting one for you, Are ya ready? We all have different body goals, nutrient needs and so on. This is where proportionality comes in. Do I want to lose some weight, then I know that I need to reduce calorie (unit of food) intake, how do I do that? I begin to think, some food groups provide more calories than the other, then I am thinking of fats, oils, sugars etc. and then I take action, I CUT DOWN INTAKE of these foods. I repeat CUT DOWN and not EXCLUDE. Why? Variety is still one of our MVPs. Do I want to build muscles, then I look for body building foods which are mostly proteins as you may know and then I take action; I only INCREASE intake of these foods and not exclude all other foods. Do I have a high blood pressure, then I look at those foods that have higher tendency to retain water in the body or increase the pressure of blood flow and REDUCE intake and not exclude. This is proportionality, rationing your meals based on your needs to meet them.

So Impact Nutrition Africa MVPs, have you learnt about the nutrition MVPs. Get to know yourselves more and practice more because MVPs should flock together.

What do you think, share your thoughts, contributions and ask your questions because like we always say, we are here for you. Ciao. We have more beautiful nutrinformation in store for you!!!