6 Nigerian foods to avoid if you want to lose weight

by Staff writer

Sticking to a weight loss diet plan in Nigeria can be very tough. Most Nigerian meals are heavy, yet still hard to resist.

A typical effective weight loss diet plan instructs that you eat as much protein and fat as you like, as long as you avoid carbs.

But many Nigerian meals are high in carbs. The main reason why low-carb diets are so effective for weight loss is that they reduce your appetite.

These are the Nigerian foods that will make you add weight the fastest.


If you plan to lose weight, you should stay away from these Nigerian foods:

1. Agege bread

The famous Nigerian white bread contains little to no healthy nutrients but is full of salt, refined sugar, processed carbs and preservatives. Eating just a loaf of Agege bread (120 grams) a day for a week is enough to increase your weight by up to 40 percent. Because Agege bread is made from very fine flour, it can spike your blood sugar levels and lead to overeating. There are other healthier types of bread you can consider.

2. Egg roll and the rest

Egg rolls, fish rolls, puff-puff, spring-rolls, meat pie, etc, are all fattening. These foods must not form part of a weight loser’s daily diet. Once or twice indulgence in a month may not be harmful but daily consumption is a no-no. These are high-calorie, high-sugar foods that must be avoided if you plan to lose weight.

3. Soda

Sugar-sweetened drinks like Coke, Pepsi, Mirinda, Limca, etc, don’t provide any essential nutrients. In fact, they appear to exist just for one single purpose — to make you gain weight. You should stay away from these drinks if you hope to lose weight, especially belly fat.

4. Beer

A beer belly refers to the sagging/stretching of the stomach due to the regular consumption of beer. “Beer belly” is often used to refer to someone who has put on weight from drinking too much beer. This is not a myth; one bottle of Nigerian Gulder contains about 400 calories, so three bottles are about half of the calories (2500) a man in a sedentary job uses per day. Combined with other food intakes (no matter how small), this would easily mean trouble because the daily calorie limit would have been way exceeded.


Also, beer contains alcohol and alcohol affects the body’s ability to metabolize calories (causing them to be stored as fat rather than glycogen in the liver).

5. Potato chips, plantain chips and gala

While whole plantain and potatoes are healthy and filling, their chips are not. Plantain and potato chips are very high in added fats, refined carbs, and salt.

Studies have linked both foods to weight gain. The famous Nigerian Gala sausage roll is made from both processed flour and meat, two agents known for causing dramatic weight gain.

6. Cassava fufu

Many times many have asked: “Is fufu fattening?” The simple answer to this question is YES. Fufu (and eba and other cassava derivatives) are intensely fattening. The food is basically starch and not only do starches contain carbs and calories that make you gain weight — they also increase your muscle glycogen stores.