Calories in Beans
In Nigeria, Beans is one of our favourite meals. It is loved by weight loss experts because of its high protein content. This is the calorie content of Naija beans made with the following ingredients:

• 1/5 teaspoon of curry powder: 1 calorie
• 1 tbsp Salt: 0 calories
• 1 tbsp Palm Oil: 120 calories
• 1/4 of an Onion: 16 calories
• 1oz Crayfish
• 1 cup White Beans: 378 calories
• x1 Maggi Cubes: 5 calories

This come to a total of 520 calories, and if you cook it without oil, you can cut out a further 120 calories.

Ugwu Leaf
Ugwu leaf is a good ingredient for cooking when trying to lose weight. A cup of chopped Ugwu contains only 14 calories of which more than 50% is Protein. Furthermore vegetables are good for weight loss and they help keep you feeling full.

Samosas
A lot of us like Samosas; but they are loaded with far more calories than you would imagine possible for their size. The average sized vegetable samosa contains 80 calories! And if you think about how easy it is to keep reaching for them, it is clear that Samosas are not your friend for weight loss.

Tuwo (White Cornmeal)
One cup of white cornmeal (tuwo) is roughly 450 calories

Akara
Akara is one of our best-loved Naija foods. It is made from beans, tomatoes, pepper, onions and any other flavourful ingredients you might want to add. Should you omit Akara from your diet when losing weight? You decide. Each ball of Akara contains approximately 71 calories, but that is if you add just the basic ingredients mentioned above. The more you add, the more calorific it gets.

Of the 71 calories, Fat makes up just 5 calories. However this might vary as the amount of cholesterol contained depends on the kind of oil you used to fry it. If you use cholesterol free oil, then you have no cholesterol in it.

Pounded Yam (Iyan)

Iyan (Pounded Yam) is one of our highest calorie high carbohydrate foods. Imagine you are dividing the amount of pounded yam eaten into cups (milk tins), then one cup of pounded yam is about 400 calories. I doubt if anyone eats that small a serving, so if for instance you eat 2 milk tin-sized balls of pounded yam, you are already at 800 calories. By the time you tot up the value of your soup, you are looking at a very high calorie meal indeed.

 Noodles
Instant Noodles are a nationally popular food. They contains a lot of calories. One pack of a typical noodle-pack contains 342 calories. For many adults, you can double this figure as they consume two packs. Of these 342 calories in each pack, 48 percent is Carbohydrates. Therefore Noodles are a high Carb, high calorie meal. If you are aiming for weight loss, I would advise you to please stay away from Noodles.

Banga Soup
I am not an expert Banga soup maker, but these are the basic ingredients of Banga soup and their corresponding calorie contents:
Estimated oils from the palm kernel fruit: 360 calories
1/3 Maggi Chicken cube: 3 calories
1/4 of an Onion: 16 calories
1/10 of a Red Bell Pepper: 10 calories
1/4 Stockfish (cod): 45calories
1tsp of cray fish: 6 calories
This comes to a total of 440 calories. Remember that by the time you add your meat and your Iyan, you have added more calories.

Jollof Rice

Remember that the actual calories of your meal depend on what you add. These are the calories in Nigerian Jollof Rice using the following basic ingredients:
1 cup of raw white rice: 693 calories
1 tbsp Groundnut oil: 120 calories
1 Raw Tomato: 35 calories
1/4 of an Onion: 16 calories
1/4 teaspoon of salt
1/3 of a Maggi Chicken cube: 3 calories
1/5 tsp of curry powder: 1 calorie
1/5 tsp of Thyme: 0.04 calories
The calorie total comes to 868 calories.

Calories in Eba/Garri
To calculate how many calories there are in your Eba or your raw Garri that you drink, here is the calorie content of a cup of Raw Garri. Garri has 360 calories of which 99% is Carbohydrate.

Stew
These is the calorie content of your basic Nigerian Stew using the following ingredients:
2 tbsp Groundnut Oil: 239 calories
x1 Raw Tomato: 35 calories
1/3 Maggi Chicken Cube: 3 calories
1/4 of an Onion: 16 calories
This makes a total of 293 calories. Whatever you add determines the final calorie content of the stew, but these are just the basic ingredients to give you an idea of how many calories there are in Stew.

http://caribhealthng.com/new/calories-in-nigerian-food-part-2/

Credit: Mrs. Sherese Ijewere

Nutrition Consultant, Caribbean Health and Nutrition