DOES SWEATING HELP YOU LOSE WEIGHT?

Recently, I have heard quite a number of people say that sweating helps you lose weight faster. Many tend to believe that excessive sweating quickens weight loss, hence the reason why people wear sweat suits, and why some people spend hours in a sauna. Quite frankly, at some point, I also believed that sweating was evidence of body fat melting away, but then I thought if this is the case, then I would have vanished into thin air as I am drenched in sweat for most of the day. If this is also true, then the overweight female traders I see in the market, who are always sweating would be losing weight by the second.

Sweating (perspiration) is a bodily function that helps regulate your body temperature. It is the release of a salt-based fluid from your sweat glands. Although you may actually lose weight after a sweaty session, this difference in weight is only water weight and would most times be gained back once you replenish your water intake. The body needs adequate fluids in order to maintain a healthy blood volume and transport nutrients to the organs and tissues. As a result, your body will work to absorb fluids as soon as you consume them after your workouts. Extreme sweating not only is ineffective but dangerous to your health as well. Depleting your body’s water reserves this way can cause dehydration, overheating (heatstroke), extreme loss of electrolytes (kidney damage/death), and other health problems. The weight lost through sweating does not lead to long-term body mass reduction, as sweating merely releases liquids within your body’s cells and tissues rather than eliminating fat storage.

Losing body fat has nothing to do with how much you sweat. In order to permanently lose weight, you must burn more calories than you consume over a period of time. Therefore, increasing how many calories you burn by exercising regularly and decreasing the number of calories you consume by eating healthy are two recommended methods for successful weight loss (i.e. regular exercise + healthy diet = healthy weight loss).

NUTRITIONAL/HEALTH BENEFITS OF PLANTAINS

P lantains are widely eaten in West Africa. Plantains are similar to bananas but larger in size. While bananas are termed fruits, plantains are vegetables. Bananas are mostly eating raw, while plantains are usually cooked before consumption. Plantains can be eaten unripe, ripen or over-ripe. When unripe, plantains are usually green in colour, when ripen, they turn yellow. In Nigeria, for example, unripe plantains are usually used to cook plantain porridge, ripe plantains are mostly fried and used as a supplement to main dishes like rice and beans. Over-ripe plantains are used to make snacks like plantain fritters.

NUTRITIONAL BENEFITS OF ZOBO/SORREL DRINK

z obo/sorrel was a must have during family gatherings. As children, we loved drinking it, not only because of how nice it tasted, but also because it coloured our lips and tongues red. Zobo (Nigerian) or Sorrel (Jamaican) is a red coloured drink made from a flower called Hibiscus sabdariffa. The sorrel plant contains a wide range of vitamins and minerals including vitamin C, calcium, niacin, riboflavin and a group of compounds called flavonoids. Flavanoids not only gives the sorrel plant its deep red colour, but, are also rich in antioxidants which rids the body of toxins. The sorrel plant also contains nutraceleuticals, which are said to be helpful to the health. Nutraceleuticals can help prevent and treat several diseases including diabetes, hypertension, heart disease, and cancer.

HEALTH BENEFITS OF LIME AND HONEY

L ime and Honey are two must haves in my house. I use honey as a substitute for white sugar. I remember a friend of mine visited me once and she wanted to drink garri (drinking garri is local to Nigerians, i.e. eating dried cassava with cold water as opposed to hot water), she was astonished when I told her to use honey to sweeten her garri. I'm not a tea person, but my parents are, and a cup of tea for them is not complete without limes.

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