Don’t over-indulge yourself this Easter

Thankfully, Easter is here, and your choice of Easter nutrition need not be one of bulging eyes matched by expanding waistlines. There are some seasonal staples around at this time of the year that have some great hidden health benefits. Make sure you include them in your Easter food list and the festive season need not be as damaging as some will have you believe.

Festive periods are normally associated with gluttony and over-indulgence – and why not so? They are no doubt favourite times of the year, and a good number of people share this sentiment. At times like this, one is granted the luxury of taking a few days off work, see families, relax and then indulge in a few activities, especially eating your hearts out.

Asides eating your regular fried rice, jollof rice, pounded-yam, and so on, there are a few nutritious meals that could serve as a reliable diet, which could help keep your waistline intact.

There is no doubt that a good number of people can’t wait till the Easter celebration begins to take time out to relax throughout the long weekend starting from Friday, and to consume a handful of nutritional meals. But what is pertinent in the mind of a few people out there is avoiding unnecessary bloated waistline.

For a parent, after musing for a while and doing some research on what exactly she and the children would relish that won’t be harmful, she came to a favourable conclusion on a few healthy meals, which are equally a hit with everyone in the home, especially the children. One particular meal that caught her attention is Indomie Instant Noodles – her children like it and can hardly do without it in a week.

At this point, her quest in picking one additional healthy meal to the list of regulars ended after reading through the benefits inherent in Indomie. Here is some information she never knew until now.

During her research, she gathered that Indomie has the right quantity of carbohydrates (about three servings a day) have about 2.4 percent less body fat and 3.6 percent less abdominal fat.

Another is that, experts have said, carbohydrates in Indomie are an essential part of diet, which is needed for the body to function properly. A pack of Indomie Instant Noodles contains 54g of carbohydrates, which is sufficient to meet the daily needs of the body.

 

Aids weight management

• Carbohydrate rich foods are sources of dietary fibres that give you a feeling of fullness, thus cutting the risk of overeating.

Protects the heart

• Research suggests that increasing your soluble-fibre intake (a type of fibre in carbohydrate-rich foods such as Indomie Instant Noodles) by 5 to 10 grams each day could result in a 5 percent drop in ‘bad’ LCD cholesterol, which affects the heart.

This season, where you have different mouth-watering meals on the menu, aside eating the traditional rice recipe, why not eat healthy also, give your family that tasty extra special treat that would make it an even more memorable.

Here is a special and unique way of preparing Indomie that could just give you and your family that delicious experience. Enjoy your Easter all!

Recipe: Calamari and Prawn Indomie Noodles Stir Fry

Ingredients (1 serving)

2 packs of Indomie Noodles

4 Calamari tubes including tentacles

250g fresh king prawns

1 small red onion

1 ata rodo

1 red chilli – shombo in local market

1 green chilli

2 small gloves of garlic

525g shredded vegetables

Curry powder

Thyme

Cayenne pepper – dry pepper

Fish sauce – optional

Olive oil

Salt

Knorr Chicken seasoning cubes

Method

· Clean the seafood – king prawns, calamari tubes, cut into rings and tentacles left whole, chop and shred all the veggies and set aside

· Garlic, ¼ of an onion, ata rodo and the chillies should be set aside in a different bowl from the rest of the veggies

· Chop the red and green bell peppers; green beans, onions, cabbage, lettuce and set aside

· Get another bowl and marinade the seafood with one Knorr chicken cube, a pinch of salt, one teaspoon of curry powder, thyme and cayenne pepper. Complete this with a tablespoon of olive oil and dash of fish sauce. Combine and leave it to marinade for 10 minutes in the fridge.

· Boil the noodles in a pot with two cups of water, cut open the sachet and pour the seasoning over the noodles

· Add the marinaded mixture and shredded vegetables into the boiling pot of noodles

· Stir continuously for two minutes

· Leave to steam for two minutes and serve hot.

 

Anne Agbaje