The sportsman's love for carbohydrates

Coach had said, “build your carbohydrate level”. That was his mild way of telling us to stick to the type of nutrition he taught us as the “energy combo”. We had a race coming in three weeks time and training was at its peak. It was hardest in the beginning, now it was just hard. We had to train for strength, speed, and skill. For strength and speed one needed brawns while skill was acquired simply from brainwork. Both brawns and skill were needed to see us through to be being winners, though not in equal measure. Practice was the key. All of us intuitively knew energy could easily cover up for exact skills but skills were theory without energy.

He had explained that a balance diet contained about 50% carbohydrates, 30% proteins, and 20% fats. He went further telling us the energy requirement we would need. He had explained by increasing the carbohydrate in our diet, we would gain and maintain the energy level required for our rigorous three month long training schedule. He practically told us to stuff as much as 75% Carbohydrate content in our meals. For one, measuring 75% carbohydrate per meal was challenging. When we asked him how we would measure 75% carbohydrate in our meals. He started to explain the carbohydrate gram, which is the carbohydrate content of particular foods and can be found in some charts but the look on most of our faces registered confusion. He ended by referring us to the nutritional information usually on the packs of processed foods. What of those of us that could not afford that kind of processed food? Coach had no immediate reply. Later, after ruminating awhile, he said we should double the intake of what we ate. He did not have to tell us to eat yams, rice, garri, akpu, amala, or tuwo. Those were our staples and they were full carbohydrates. The plant kingdom is the source of carbohydrates and where I come from, the soil produces in abundance rice, corn, yam, cassava, potato, millet, Black eyed beans, and Soya beans…enough carbohydrates. In these parts, animal food is expensive and beyond reach as desired. So for protein, another important nutrient, we cannot rely on animals. Even in my house, which I considered average, the protein I grew up on was largely gotten from beans which was plentiful, courtesy of my mum in the form of moin-moin, akara and the good old boiled beans. While I was in the boarding house in secondary school, we called the meat whenever it was included in our meal “maggi” cube because of its tiny size. I was used to that.

The first day coach intimated us of the diet, some were skeptical that he was telling us to increase carbohydrate intake as against the wisdom of being on a balanced diet. Then he said a balanced diet was preferable but explained that in order to replenish the energy expended on training, we would do our body a good deal by eating more carbohydrates as it the chief fuel dispenser for the body. Carbohydrates are the human body’s key source of energy, providing 4 calories of energy per gram. It is the nutrient which the body first of all relies on for its energy needs. We all wanted to win and hence, we took to our carbohydrate meal faithfully. These days, I am wont to be seen generously eating bread with eggs in the morning, plenty Eba and vegetable soup in the afternoon and beans and yam at night. Carbohydrate stuffing as Coach called it.…

It did not feel like I was on any special diet. I was just eating double ration. Moreover, doubling my ration took care of Coach’s dietary regimen of carbohydrate load. Yes, following Coach’s advice for building energy required for the cardiovascular training we intended naturally didn’t pose much challenge. Unlike the Westerners that tend to explode when fed on a high carbohydrate diet, we Africans had a body to manage it. Carbohydrates came naturally to most of us in these parts. That was not for me on that Sunday morning.

For a while now, I had wanted to eat something that will make my palate water. That Sunday morning, the urge to eat a steamy, meaty, fatty, and oily five star meal finally broke. I had to break the regimen else I would crack. So, off I went shopping for my treat. Walking down the aisles of the Shoprite supermarket, nearly every edible thing was screaming loud at me. In their wrappings and packages, they looked attractive. Baked beans, corned beef, and other processed foods beckoned me in their coloured wrappers and tins. It took willpower not to give in to them. When I decided to violate training rules regarding “Operation Stuff Carbohydrate”; I promised myself I was going to do it the healthy and natural way.  Therefore, moving to the aisle where meat was sold, I helped myself to Chicken drumsticks. Later, I was going to remove the skin.  The reason I chose Chicken is that it is white meat and contains has little cholesterol. Cholesterol is deposited on the walls of arteries, particularly those of small and medium size, reducing their inside diameter and the flow of blood. Clotting of blood, such as may occur in the coronary arteries to cause a heart attack, is most likely to develop at places where arterial walls are roughened by such plaques. Also, the fats are deposited on the skin which can easily be trimmed if not wanted. I bought some liver. I then went for Croaker fish, which I intended grilling.

Earlier on, I remembered being barraged by an array of fruits on the right upon entering the supermarket. Towards this aisle I now went. Fruits are always good for the body. Capitalizing on fruits and eating the fruit of the season is one application of economics I learnt very early as a child. Fruits have always reduced the risks of infections, clear toxins, and generally make one strong and healthy. Growing up, I became an apostle of “an apple a day keeps the doctor away”. I saw peaches, mangoes, bananas, apples, watermelon, pineapple, oranges, grapes, and some other fruits I never knew. I settled for pineapples and bananas. For the menu I had in mind, I wanted to down the meal with ZOBO, a locally-made drink made from mushroom and spiced with ginger and some local spices. I also intended mixing it with pineapple juice. Fresh pineapple is an excellent source of vitamin C! Just one serving of fresh pineapple (2 slices) contains 60 calories and 25% of your daily recommended vitamin C, which can help strengthen your immune system. Pineapple also contains a special enzyme, called bromelain, which helps the body's digestive system. Ginger apart from spicing acts as a preservative and is beneficial to digestive system and flushes the body of toxins. And my choice of bananas for takeaway is that apart from being a convenient snack, they are a good source of fiber, vitamin C, and potassium. One banana has 16% of the fiber, 15% of the vitamin C, and 11% of the potassium we need every day for good health!
I wanted to make a rich vegetable salad to go as accompaniment with my main dish, so I sought carrot, green peas, cabbage, lettuce, potatoes, and some eggs. Ehn, with two months of practically nothing but the most staple of carbohydrates, I was certainly on a binge. Carrots are an excellent source of vitamin A, which is important for good eyesight, especially at night. It also helps the body fight infection and keeps the skin and hair healthy. Potatoes are very nutritious. Even the skins. In fact, potato skins contain fiber, potassium, iron, calcium, zinc, phosphorus and B vitamins. That's why it's best to eat potatoes with their skins! Sad I could not think of eating it with the skins. Cabbage is good for aiding the digestive processes, green peas was body building, lettuce, and of course eggs, which represent life. After gathering my salad ingredients, I headed off to where I would find what would form the main course of my meal, rice. It was hard to think of meals in these parts without recourse to carbohydrates. Without carbohydrates, we in Africa would probably be left in want of food. I also sought the other condiments such as peppers, tomatoes, etc……all fresh.

Getting home, it was time to begin preparations. I intended cooking Coconut rice. It had always been a treat for me as a child that my mum indulged us with occasionally. She had also hinted on the nutritional value added to the rice with the coconut milk. However, then, I was more interested in the taste. Now, as an adult, I was conscious of its nutritional value. I was also aware of getting the most nutritionally from the cooking process applied. Timing is also very important in obtaining the maximum nutrients from food during cooking. My home economics teacher always said your mode of cooking affected the nutritional value of the food. Boiling saved more nutrients than frying. Undercooking retains nutrients but very bad to the taste while Overcooking creates room for nutrient loss. The mode of cooking where maximum nutritional value is achieved is what is desired. For this reason, grilling has become the preferred mode of cooking fish and meat products.

Technology is fast encroaching into the average home and the kitchen is no exception. Thank goodness for the grill, oven, blenders, gas burners and other modern appliances, I viewed the task of preparing my meal with joy. Therefore, I began. Firstly I washed, skinned and diced the chicken into small bits, spiced it with curry, and placed it in a bowl immersed in water. Applying heat, I began steaming it. It was to be steamed for thirty minutes. After placing the chicken on heat, I washed the carrots, potatoes, cucumber, lettuce, green peppers, cabbage, and onions. I boiled the liver, potatoes, and the eggs. I then began the process of dicing all of the dicables. First the carrots went, followed by the cucumbers, lettuce, cabbage, and then the green peas. Each was placed in separate containers. I removed the liver and boiled potatoes from the pot and diced them too. Earlier on, I had removed the eggs and sliced it. My chicken meat was already steamed when I poured rice into a pot of boiling water. I deboned it, cut it into small pieces and kept it aside. I grated the coconut, soaked the grated coconut in water, sieving through and squeezing the shaff to extract the milk. I poured the milk into a pot. By this time, the rice was parboiled and I put the parboiled rice in the pot containing the milk extracted from the coconut and added salt. It will be cooked in the next twenty minutes. I now scaled the fish, gutted it, and cleaned it. Rubbing it with seasoning and a little olive oil, I placed it in a grill set to 30 minutes at 230oC.  Now, I faced preparation of my juice. I washed, peeled and diced the pineapple into bits and peeled the ginger and grated it. I put pineapple and the ginger into the blender. Now, I put the mushrooms and the other condiments into a boiling pot of water where it would stay for twenty minutes. Into the pot, I added the diced ginger and pineapple pieces. I now went back to the rice, which was looking brown, and already giving off sweet coconut scent. I dropped it and now turned to prepare the stew I was going to eat the coconut rice with.

Adding oil to a frying pan, I let it heat awhile. Then I added the onions, tomato, and pepper paste into the frying pan. After five minutes, the diced chicken meat goes in. Five minutes later, the stew should be ready. I then diverted my attention to he salad. I gently arranged the lettuce, cabbage, potato, carrot, green peas, and eggs together in a plate. I covered this plate with foil and placed it in the refrigerator. By now, the stew was ready. I would allow it to simmer a bit. The zobo was brewing well and it was time to drop it. I then added sugar. I would allow it to cool down before bottling it and refrigerating it. As I dropped the pot of zobo, I heard the clink, which indicates to me that my oven had finished its cooking task. The Croaker fish was ready- all brown and giving off a sweet aroma. It was ready to eat. What remained to do now was to mix the Coconut rice with some carrot and the liver. After I mixed them, I placed them in a bowl to be microwaved for eating later. Now, the time was 2:30pm and nearing time for evening training session which commenced by 4:00pm. I could not eat just before training. Training on a full stomach is counter-productive. Moreover, I wanted to eat luxuriously and time would not permit it. I must not be late else coach would skin me.

On the track that afternoon, we had to jog round the 400mertes track ten times. That was to warm up and get the blood circulating round. That is the intro to our daily training. Today, we were concentrating on strength. So, the bulk of the today’s training was lifting weights. I was to curl 40kg weight in an erect standing position from rest to my chest ten times repeatedly four separate times. Afterwards it was time for Military press with 40kg, which I was to do for 4sets in 10reps. Then, it was time for raising the weights in a bending position from the ground to my chest. I was equally to do this for 4sets of 10reps. After that, I was through. Because, I am a long distance runner and used my legs frequently, I did not have to do squatting which would have given me good leg muscles. There was no need for that as my running already provided for enough of that. With my exercises over, I was to take the rounding up which was running three 400m laps. “This was to relax us”, Coach had said in the earlier days when we had been too tired to lift ourselves up after he had worn us out with training and still wanted us to complete three laps to end the day’s training. After two months under his tutelage, the final laps were no longer stressful. In fact, we looked forward to it, as to us that symbolized the completion of a successful training day. Today, it was with longing of my prepared five star treat that I quickly completed the laps. My fellows commended me that I went through training swiftly. They could not know why. Anyway, the carbohydrate stuffing must be working. I could now cope with training better than at the beginning when I was all drained out after each session.

With the training over, it was time to be briefed by Coach. Coach admonished us on the upcoming trials in two weeks time and he told us of how much he had faith in us. He always said that. He now said what we were expecting. “Hope you guys are still on your energy combo”. As if we could answer otherwise, we answered in the affirmative. Starches and sugars are the major carbohydrates. Common starch foods include whole-grain breads and cereals, pasta, corn, beans, peas, and potatoes .Because I practiced it, I could say that for a fact, it worked. I had more energy now than I could remember. He stressed that otherwise all our efforts will be in vain. I was absent-minded as he continued his ramblings. As if he knew I was not there, he asked me specifically if I understood what he was saying. Since, I have heard the sermon enough times, I told him I knew just what he was saying. My mind was on my ’Nou-rich’. That is what a cousin of mine would stress in pidgin when confronted with a meal that promises nourishment as that which was waiting for me.

When I got home, I found I still had bounty energy to take my bath, change and come down to eat. There is love in sharing so I called my mum to partake in the meal. Taking a large plate, I served some coconut rice and beside it, I placed grilled Croaker fish, and garnished it generously with my chicken stew. I did likewise with a second plate. I like my food warm, so inside the microwave the two plates went. After two minutes, I removed it and served the salad alongside. I did not want to get up after serving, so, I brought out the now chilled Zobo-Pineapple drink. I took the loaded plates and my drink to the sitting room where my mother was watching television. I cannot remember what we watched again, but the meal was so delicious and it was “Noou-riching”. Coach had just said double your food intake. I had no reason to feel guilty but I was. By saying that, I knew even if the others did not know that he had not the slightest thought I would be dining on such a feast as that which was gradually ending before me. For the meal, there was no way it could be made up of 75% carbohydrate that he wanted. This was a balanced diet. I consoled myself that coach would likely still tell me “just double your food intake” even after seeing my kingly feast. I felt good. After-all, I was having the utopian balanced diet. It was nutrition at its peak. It tasted good. And I felt better.