Hello Aunty Eya. Please I need your help. am 5 months pregnant and always craving moi moi and pap with milk flowing on top like a river. We used to make it every saturday in my house but since I became pregnant, I can eat moi moi and pap everyday without getting bored.
My mum says it will make the baby fat and I don’t want a fat baby but if there are great health benefits, I won’t mind. Aside starch and protein, are there any other benefits of eating moi moi and pap during pregnancy?
HEALTH BENEFITS OF MOI MOI AND PAP
Hello poster, please check your mails. I already replied last night. Moi moi and pap is a very well balanced meal. Moi moi is made from beans while pap is made from maize corn. Eating moi moi and pap is just like eating beans and corn with other nutritious ingredients added. If you serve yourself moi moi and pap for breakfast, lunch or dinner, that’s the most nutritious meal you have eaten that day especially if you eat some green vegetable stew after that.
MOI MOI HEALTH BENEFITS
The ingredients we add to moi moi are very rich; beans, peppers, onion, cooking oil, salt, seasoning cubes and water. These cover the six classes of food. Moi moi especially the one made with beans skin is the best because beans skin has some insulin to give to our bodies. When we remove beans skin, we end up depriving the beans of a nutrient that’s very important especially for diabetic patients.
Some people want to know if moi moi and pap is fattening. My answer is, depends on the quantity consumed. If you are eating to lose weight, you have to eat a very reduced portion of moi moi and pap. When I went on a weight loss journey using Nigerian food last year, it was posted daily here on the blog and was it successful? Yes!
Did I get to my goal weight? Yes! Eating smaller portions of Nigerian food, I went from about 89 kg to 86 kg when I started posting and then went down from 86 kg to 79 kg which was my goal weight. After that I stopped posting because all I need to do afterwards is goal weight maintenance.
If you are diabetic and eat only foods meant for diabetic patients, make your homemade moi moi, ensure that the beans is not peeled. Just wash, blend and make the moi moi like that with your insulin intact. Aside the carbohydrates and proteins in beans.
The beans skin is also filled with insulin. The onion and pepper in moi moi covers the vital vitamins we need daily. What about oil added to the blended beans? That’s fat and oil for the body. If you want to learn how to make moi moi yourself, there is a moi moi making post here on the blog.
Moi moi made from beans has so many benefits to offer:
Eating moi moi will give you all the nutrients in beans like;
- Improving your heart rate
- Reducing appetite by making you drink more and more water while feeling full
- It’s an antioxidant
- Helps reduce cancer risk.
- Source of energy
- Folates
- Helps with easy bowel movements
HEALTH BENEFITS OF PAP
Pap like I said earlier is made from maize. Some parts of Nigeria call pap ogi, eko (cold and thickened formed wrapped in leaves), akamu and other names but it’s all the corn starch meal served in Nigerian homes. We have a post here on how to make pap from scratch.
Basically, corn gives us starch. I love corn starch because unlike yam, cassava and other forms of starch. Corn has very low caloric content. Corn starch is not heavy at all. Using Cornstarch or pap has very little compared to the calories in eba or pounded yam.
- Pap made from corn, guinea corn, dawa or even millet digests easily.
- It’s light
- A good source of body fluids
- It increases breast milk flow for nursing mothers.
- Natural
- A very good source of energy (Carbohydrates).
- Corn also has insulin if it’s not dehulled.
- When you add milk to pap, that’s protein in there already.
- Pap from millet and guinea corn is even lighter and good for diabetic patients.