By Emmanuel Oti Acheampong
Over the years, the diet routine of most Ghanaians has become what would be termed as polished and refined. The burgers and pizzas have taken over our daily meals, leading to frequent health issues.
Speaking on the importance of fibre in our foods on GTV’s Breakfast show, a Registered and Licensed Dietician at the Greater Accra Regional Hospital, Eyram King Dotse, explained that fibre has numerous benefits to the body system when incorporated into our foods.
He added that the roughage has a fuel full effect when incorporated into foods we take, such that the little quantity of fiber-rich food fills the body up for a very long time.
According to Mr. Dotse, fibre helps to mop up excess cholesterol in the system and also serves as the main source of food for healthy bacteria in our system, which has lots of benefits for the large and small intestines.
He stated that vegetables and fruits intake in the largest quantity in our diets instead of the refined grains helps the body more.
He further added that, the brown rice locally grown in the country is the main source for dietary fiber and very good for us. Oats, groundnut with its outer covering, agushie and water leaves popularly known as bokoboko according to him are all good sources of fiber. He added that all these mentioned foodstuffs are grown and sold locally here in Ghana, but we tend to go for the polished and refined ones.
He advised that, with respect to rice, in as much as we love to consume the polished and refined one, a blend of it with brown rice provides the body with the nutrients it deserves.
