Weight loss trends come and go as quickly as the DoorDash delivery guy, but there is one exceptional diet that doesnt seem to be going anywhere, and thats intermittent fasting. Its benefits go far beyond the simple weight loss other diets promise, and current research has just scratched the surface, leaving much more to learn. Intermittent fasting has been linked to better immunity and lower disease rates because foregoing food for a short period has been shown to help the body's immune system fight off infections. Studies also show it may help stop the clock on aging, fend off obesity, and lead to longer lifespans.

The most popular type of intermittent fasting is time-restricted eating, or only eating within an 8-to-10 hour window each day. Another well-publicized alternative method is known as alternate-day fasting, which involves fasting for longer windows of time, such as 24 hours or even 36 hours, followed by periods of unrestricted eating.

It appears to work for weight loss and disease prevention, according to some scientific studies. But is alternate-day fasting practical and effective for the long term compared to typical calorie-restricted diets?

We consulted the research and nutrition experts for a holistic answer. Here, youll find an explanation of what clinical trials have shown, plus practical advice from Skylar Griggs, MS, RD, LDN, a registered dietitian and owner of Newbury Street Nutrition as well as lead dietitian for the preventive cardiology division at Childrens Hospital Boston; and Jill Edwards, MS, CEP, Director of Education for the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition Studies.

The alternate-day method of intermittent fasting allows for unrestricted eating one day, or feasting, followed by a full day of fasting. On fasting days, advocates for this style of intermittent fasting suggest consuming only 25 percent ofyour normal caloric intake, rather than foregoing food altogether. So if your normal food intake amounts to 2,000 calories a day, you would eat 500 calories on fasting days, according to this plan.

Comparing alternate-day fasting with calorie-restricting diets, studies havesuggestedthat they work equally wellfor weight losssince at the end of the week you've had approximately the samenumberof calories on each.People on analternate-day fasting dieteat about one-third fewer calories overall for the week,which is comparable to a calorie-restricted diet.

On an alternate-dayfastingdiet,you would eat about 9,500 calories over the course of a week,or about 1,000 less than if youate 1,500 calories per day on a calorie-restricteddiet. This is significantly less than the standard 2,000 calorie-a-dayintake which amountsto 14,000 caloriesover the course of a week and would result in losing between 1 and 2 pounds a week (since a pound is equal to 3,500 calories).

Proponents of this diet method tout the freedom it allows on feasting days: Diet only half the time! proclaims the subtitle on one popular book on the subject. Delay, dont deny, declares another.Covers of these books feature images of processed and animal foods, like donuts and burgers.

There are no widely accepted guidelines on what to eat on feasting days, and this is certainly a big part of the appeal for many who try it: The reward for fasting is feasting! Still, if weight loss is a goal, it stands to reason that choosing plant-based whole foods like nutritious fruits and vegetables, whole grains and legumes, nuts, and seeds would be much more beneficial than processed junk, and lead to better health as well.

Many people will begin their feasting day by eating soon after waking up,then continuing to eat as they wish through bedtime.Others might fast from after dinner one day say, from 7 p.m. on Sunday and then break their fast for a 7 p.m. with dinner the following day, in this example, Monday evening. They wouldthen have afeasting day on Tuesday, through 7 p.m., and then fast on Wednesday.

People can plan their alternate-day fasting schedule in advance and decide which days of the week they choose as fasting or feasting days. A fasting day might include nothing more than a light lunch and an early modest dinner, so its better to plan to feast on days that include social engagements.

If this sounds like something you would like to try, there is science behind why and how it works. (If not, you're not the only one who finds the schedule unappealing, studies show.)

Research has shownthat animals placed ona variety of fasting regimens, including alternate-day fasting, experienceextraordinary health benefits, including longer life spans, and slowed or reversed signs of aging. They also benefit from a reduced incidence of disease and other negative health outcomes, including diabetes, cancer, high cholesterol, cardiovascular disease, neurodegenerative diseases, and obesity.

While human research is still emerging, a 2017 randomized controlled trial study on obese adults was less optimistic than the animal studies, showing the subjects who tried alternate-day fasting had the same amount ofweight loss as thegroup assigned to a traditional calorie-restricted diet. One note: The people in the alternate-day fasting group did not adhere to the prescribed calorie count, eating more than the recommendedamount on fasting days, and alsoless than they were supposed to eat on feasting days. The dropout rate was also higher in the alternate-day fasting group (38 percent)thanthe calorie-restricted group (29 percent), indicating it's harder to sustain this type of dieting.

A more recent randomized controlled trial study on alternate-day fasting in healthy humansshowed more positive results. The 2019 report showed a number of beneficial outcomes for the alternate-day fasting group compared to the control group.

The benefits of alternate-day fasting included:Body fat loss (particularly around the belly); improved cardiovascular health; reduced levels of an age-associated inflammatory marker; and lower levels of LDL (or so-called "bad") cholesterol.

So, with promising initial findings, why isnt everyone fasting? One perspective is quite simply that its hard to go without food for large chunks of time. Unlike a lab animal, most humans arentfedrestricted rations on a controlled schedule. We also dont live in a carefully monitored biodome, and people on a Western diet are used to eatingthree meals a day plus snacks. There's little support or precedence for eating differently.

But for people trying to lose weight, more traditional calorie-restricted diets pose their own challenges. Our bodies havent caught up to the evolution of our food systems were still hard-wired to prefer calorie-dense foods such as sweetsand high-fat foods, which would have been a rare and valuable find for our foraging ancestors but are now readily available at every drive-through, food court, vending machine and grocery store.

This biologically-ingrained urge to indulge is what drives many dieters to try alternate-day fasting, since it allowsthem to eat with abandon several days a week. This kind of freedom surely comes as a relief for anyone who is tired of constantly counting carbs or calories.

Plus, thepotential benefits ofslowing the aging process, improving cardiovascular health, and slashing LDL cholesterol while helping the immune system fight off potential infections likely attract a few takers too.

Skylar Griggs, MS, RD, has counseled thousands of clients on their nutrition and weight loss goals over the course of her career, but she has not recommended alternate-day or any style of fasting to any of them, for a few reasons.

First, the majority of the studies conducted on alternate-day fasting so far have been on animals. And for those studies done on humans, weight loss has not appeared to be significantly different than for people following standard calorie-restricted diets.Weight loss and weight management are the primary reasons people come to me, she said, And the research on weight loss is fairly limited. Second, people show poor long-term adherence to extreme diets, Griggs has found, and she putsalternate-day fasting in this category.

Any diet that is extreme and not approachable is hard to follow, said Griggs. Any diet you cant do 80/20 [80 percent healthy, 20 percentwiggle room] is not sustainable. When the plan is a bit malleable when it can bend a little bit people are more likely to stay with it.

Alternating between feast and famine days could also have negative effects on the metabolism, Griggs says,ultimatelyinhibiting weight loss and causing other health issues.

I think any time you restrict yourself down to 500 calories, youre just creating a disaster," she warns. "The body is so hungry, its likely to cause a decrease in metabolism and your body to go into starvation mode, Griggs said. Youll be more likely to overdo it the next day, and then with binge-type days, over time, triglycerides and blood pressure can become elevated.

The black-and-white thinking that alternate-day fasting encourages can be worrisome for people prone to eating disorders, says Griggs, who served as the lead outpatient dietician for Renfrew Center of New Jersey, an outpatient center for women with eating disorders,It follows a pretty typical eating disorder pattern: Restrict. Binge. Restrict again."

Overall, Griggs advised that people seeking to lose weight should stick to a more traditional plan and avoid going more than 4-5 hours without food during the day to keep the metabolism chugging along and avoid late-night eatingsince that'swhen people are most likely to overeat.

I think a lot of people are looking for the shiny new thing they think is going to be the answer," Griggs said. "But the things that are good for your healthare not usually super sexy. Instead, she advises: Eat fruits. Eat vegetables. Increase your fiber intake. Include healthy fats. Eat consistently during the day. These are not going to be on the cover of a magazine, but theyre definitely good for your health.

For those still bent on giving alternate-day fasting a try, Griggs has this advice: Whatever [diet] you decide to do, getting a dietician looped in is super important. Get the support of someone who is based in science and has gone through a lot of school, training, accredited programs, and hospital internships. Dont just go to, say, your gym for advice.

Alternate-day fasting style is not the number-one choice of another respected expert,Jill Edwards, MS, CEP of the T. Colin Campbell Center for Nutrition. For Edwards, the main objection is primarily for practical reasons.

Research has shown that it is not at all sustainable. Life happens. You have a luncheon, your kids have a birthday party. If youre only eating 500 calories a day, it makes it hard to sit down for dinner with your family, Edwards said. She has a personal friend who'd tried the diet style.

Id ask her to get lunch, and shed say, I cant, this is not my eating day, Edwards said. I think she lasted two weeks. The same friend then switched over to the time-restricted version of intermittent fasting, which requires eating every day within an 8- or 10-, or even 12-hour window. She had great success with this approach, which is the same type of intermittent fasting that Edwards herself practices and advocates.

More people would be medically eligible to practice this eating pattern as opposed to alternate-day fasting, Edwards notes, because of the comparatively shorter periods of fasting. With time-restricted eating, you get all the benefits of intermittent fasting, but its much more manageable. Youre eating according to your bodys internal clock,your circadian rhythms, and keeping the same cycle every day, she said.

Your body utilizes more fat stores in the morning as its way of planning to get through the day without the need to eat through the night. And then on the other end of that, you automatically cut out late-night eating, which is what sabotages your circadian rhythms, and according to research, leads to weight gain.

In other words, because people practicing the time-restricted version of intermittent fasting will eat, say, only between 11 a.m. and 7 p.m., they strategically use the bodys tendency to burn fat stores in the morning, and also shut down snacking at night, which is the time people generally go off the rails with their calorie intake and make poor food choices.

There is a magic number. We should not consume any calories not one piece of fruit or a cracker after 7 p.m. That way you have less gastrointestinal distress, higher sleep quality, and better weight management, Edwards said (though she personally makes exceptions on the weekends).

For people who want to make a go of the alternate-day fasting diet anyway, Edwards advised that they choose their feast day foods with care. You want to make the most of the calories and choose nutrient-dense foods on the days youre eating a lot. Dont stuff your face with calorically dense food that isnt nutrient-dense, she said.

As far as whether the health benefits of fasting would be compromised if one binged on junk food during their feast day, Edwards said the jury was out. Its hard to say because fasting is very powerful. But to me, its like smoking a cigarette and having an orange afterward. The orange is going to help scavenge some of the free radicals, but not all of them. So my thing is, dont smoke the cigarette, she said.

For the fasting-curious, Edwards pointed to the TrueNorth Health Center, a facility that specializes in medically supervised water fasting, as a resource for many well-documented case studies of the powerful effects of fasting on health. And, like Griggs, Edwards advised anyone considering trying alternate-day fasting to consult a medical professional first.

While experts dont all agree on whether any type of intermittent fasting is to be advised, recent studies and the two above-featured nutrition experts all align on at least five points when it comes to alternate-day fasting.

Check with your dietician or medical expert before you embark on any new diet. If you decide to try alternate-day fasting (and youre medically cleared to do so), choosing foods that are mostly plant-based and healthy on feast days, rather than processed foods high in unhealthy saturated fat and added sugar, is likely to enhance your results.

See the rest here:
Should You Try Alternate-Day Fasting? Here's What the Experts Say - The Beet

Martin Clunes, 60, explained he managed to lose over three stone thanks to the 5:2 diet.

"Its great and its supposed to be good for cholesterol, too."

He continued: "Now I do 6:1 and that seems to work fine.

"I eat anything I want on the other days.

"Its easy and seems to keep the weight off me."

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The actor also attributed his weight loss to the regular exercise he practices on his farm.

"I have a couple of big horses and ride them.

"Im very healthy.

"This is a difficult age, obviously, but Im doing fine Im not on any medication.

However, for two non-consecutive days, slimmers should eat just 25 percent of their usual calorie intake.

That would be 500 calories for women and 600 for men.

There are no restrictions on foods but it is expected that women and men lose around one pound a week.

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Martin Clunes weight loss: Actor lost 3 stone with simple and 'easy' diet - 'it's great' - Express

MILWAUKEE (PRWEB) December 17, 2021

In an AAEA session taking place at the 2022 ASSA Annual Meeting [Food Prices and the Affordability of Healthy Diets: New Data and Methods to Inform Agriculture, Food Systems, Safety Nets and Nutrition Programs, AAEA members provide new data on whether people can afford to eat healthy foods around the world. Research presented in this session begins with work underlying the United Nations estimate that about 3 billion people cannot afford a healthy diet worldwide, and adds new insights on impacts of COVID, long-term trends and historical perspectives on retail markets and food access in the U.S. and globally.

Yan Bai, Tufts UniversityAnna Herforth, IndependentNada Hamadeh, World Bank Development Data Group

Jessica Wallingford, Tufts UniversityAishwarya Venkat, Tufts UniversityWilliam Masters, Tufts University

Michail Moatsos, Utrecht University

Robert C. Allen, New York University

If you are interested in viewing this virtual session with a free Media & Press Registration on Friday, January 7 from 3:45 pm 5:45 pm Easter, please contact Allison Ware in the AAEA Business Office.

ABOUT AAEA: Established in 1910, the Agricultural & Applied Economics Association (AAEA) is the leading professional association for agricultural and applied economists, with 2,500 members in more than 60 countries. Members of the AAEA work in academic or government institutions as well as in industry and not-for-profit organizations, and engage in a variety of research, teaching, and outreach activities in the areas of agriculture, the environment, food, health, and international development. The AAEA publishes two journals, the American Journal of Agricultural Economics and Applied Economic Perspectives & Policy, as well as the online magazine Choices and the online open access publication series Applied Economics Teaching Resources. To learn more, visit http://www.aaea.org.

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Food Prices and the Affordability of Healthy Diets: New Data and Methods to Inform Agriculture, Food Systems, Safety Nets and Nutrition Programs - PR...

Express News Service

Food has acquireda new religionPeganism. The current buzzword in the wellness circuit is the pegan plan, which includes 75 percent vegetables and 25 percent high-quality meat. And it is for the inveterate weightwatchers. Most of us are familiar with either of the two surrogates of the pegan planpaleo and vegan. Presented to the world by the US-based Cleveland Clinic doctor and bestselling author Dr Mark Hyman in 2015, the pegan diet supports a novel practice of nourishment by integrating the cores of the paleo diet with veganism. Astonishingly at the start, paleo and vegan diets seem to be an erratic combo in nature as the former is meat-based and the latter excludes any kind of animal product. Pegan inherits the best of both worldsplant-rich, whole foods, healthy fats with minimum processed foods, and reduced sugar and starch intake.

Understanding the PlanDr Hyman advocates nutritious plant foods low in sugar and starch and those which promote HDL (high-density lipid) or good fat like nuts and seeds, olive oil and avocados. Nutritionist Ritu Gupta, the founder of Nutrique, a New Delhi-based weight and health management portal, explains, The pegan diet focuses strongly on whole foods that are plant-basedand discourages eating conventionally farmed meats or eggs.

Instead,it places emphasis on grass-fed, pasture-raised sources of poultry, and whole eggs. It does help reduce inflammation and maintain blood sugar levels naturally for a healthier you. Anisha Arora Chopra, a 37-year-old dentist from Raipur, who found it difficult to followit in the initial stages, testifies the beneficial effects of this regimen. After a month into the pegan diet, it felt amazing. I saw many changes, some of which were that I lost six kilos in two months. My anxiety attacks stopped occurring and I slept better, she states. Chopra says that her blood sugarlevels are in better control without any medicines,she can focus better on work and personal life, and is an overall happier person now.

The Nutritional GapThere is no definition of an ideal diet. Every eating habit we have comes with its own set of advantages and disadvantages. Nutraceutical Formulation expert and the founder of supplement brand PRO2FIT, Saurabh Shah answers: Essentially, every diet choice we make needs to be supplemented well to avoid lack of nutrient deficiency. Vegans usually find it difficult to meet their daily protein, calcium, Vitamin B12 needs. It becomes necessary to complement it with the right kind of supplements so that the deficiency of these is met to avoid complications.

Starch is an essential part of our diet as they provide energy to the body. Avoiding any particular macro-nutrient from the diet is not advisable. Everything, when eatenin proportion, serves its purpose in the body and the same applies to starch and carbs. Carbs (starch, fibre, sugar) are a good source of energy, iron, Vitamin B, provided it is not processed, advises Shah.

Chefs TakeUnlike vegan, its not featured in restaurant menus yet but awareness among chefs is created by requests for preparations with specific ingredients. Ganesh Chandrakant Teli, the Executive Chef at The Leela Palace Jaipur, who innovated sweet potato burritos and shrimp with zucchini noodles on a guests request, says, It can be compared to the very popular Mediterranean dietfresh and organic ingredients, heart-friendly, obesity-controlled and aids inkeeping disorders at bay.

The pegan diet is trending as it allows vegans to have animal products in moderation.It broadens their dietary choices, and lowers the chance of developing deficiencies. This is something Indians have been following since long, concludes Dietician Rajat Jain, founder of Health Wealth Diet Clinic.

Pegan meal bowlRecipe by Balvinder Pal Singh Lubana, Executive Chef Marriott, Hyderabad

Ingredients French beans 50 gm Button mushroom 50 gm Broccoli 25 gm Cherry Tomatoes 6 pieces Bok Choy 50 gm Zucchini 3 pieces Brussels sprouts 4 gm Hald an Avocado Coconut oil (unrefined) 1 tsp Poached Eggs 2 Boiled chickpeas 1 cup Chopped garlic cloves 4 Chopped onions 1 Himalayan pink salt to taste A spring of basil

Method Wash and clean allvegetables thoroughly before processing In a deep pan, add water to boil chickpeas Cut the mushrooms into or . They need to be even-sized. Cut broccoli into florets. Peel the asparagus. Cut the French beans into batons, and zucchini into batons. Add salt, garlic to the mushrooms, and set aside. In a pan, add broccoli and a little water, salt and steam the broccoli. Repeat with the beans and zucchini. In a sauce pan, add the garlic, 1 tsp coconut oil and roast till the raw smell goes away Add the mushroom and saut till mushrooms are done. Remove and saut the bokchoy. Add 1 tsp oil, and add the rest of the garlic and the cooled chickpea and saut In a deep pot, bring water to a boil, add a little salt and vinegar, swirl the water with a perforated spoon and slowly add whole egg so it coagulates. Take out once the exterior is firmand transfer intocold water.

To assemble In a wide bowl, add the bokchoy, 1-2 tsp sauted chickpeas, 1 tsp mushrooms, the vegetables, and poached egg. Garnish with chopped basil, sliced avocado, and cherry tomatoes. Serve immediately

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Embrace the best of meat and veggies with a 'pegan' diet plan - The New Indian Express

When she moved back to Lagos in 2010 after living and working abroad, Affiong Osuchukwu noticed that a lot of the Nigerian food she cherished had become meat-centric. Although the essence of the dishes hadnt changed, they seemed, to her, to be meatier.

I never recalled a pot of soup as having as much meat and fish as I see today, she said. My running joke is Where is the soup in the soup? Because all I see is animal parts. The soup is not there.

Ms. Osuchukwu runs Plant Food Federation, a website focused on plant-based approaches to Nigerian cuisine, and she is one of many cooks in West Africa and the diaspora navigating the experience of being vegan in a culture that holds certain ideas about food close. She is also part of a growing number of people trying to confront a misconception that it is difficult and even limiting to eat a meatless diet using West African ingredients.

On the contrary, Ms. Osuchukwu, who is originally from Calabar, in southern Nigeria, said that there are many ingredients available across the country that can be used to adapt traditional dishes for a plant-based diet, like sliced ugba, a fermented oil bean seed, which steps in for dried and smoked fish in native rice and in abacha, a salad of shredded cassava, red palm oil and fresh herbs.

People always ask me know how I handle being vegan or plant-based in Nigeria because they believe we dont have food diversity here, she said, and I always look at them like, No, actually, we have more food diversity locally, right here, than in many different parts of the world.

West Africans are passionate about adaptations to their dishes. New approaches are questioned, and traditional ways of making beloved recipes are championed. But plant-based ingredients are not just replacing meat in these recipes; they are revealing new paths to familiar flavors.

Removing animal products from recipes like moin moin, steamed bean cakes that may be packed with meat, fish or eggs (sometimes all three), and often served at holiday celebrations; gizdodo, a chicken gizzard and plantain dish; and kontomire stew, a melon seed soup made with cocoyam leaves, hasnt created the kind of culinary gap one might imagine.

Moin moin, for example, does not need the additions of animal products that have become ubiquitous across Lagos. (The Nigerian Cookbook by H.O. Anthonio and M. Isoun, published in 1982, features a plant-based recipe.) Mushrooms can step into many dishes, hitting all of the same notes you would find in a meat-based recipe. Lemongrass, coconut, cassava and seasonal fruit are indigenous ingredients across many parts of West Africa, and they shine in a lemongrass tapioca.

Afia Amoako, who posts on Instagram and TikTok as @thecanadianafrican, said something that resonated with the recipe developer in me: There is no standard recipe for many traditional dishes. There are only standard methods, ways of building and layering flavor, techniques that produce a familiar outcome.

We all know how incredibly protective of their food West African people are, but we sometimes forget that everyone does it differently in their own household, she said.

When Ms. Amoako, a Ghanaian doctoral student living in Toronto, became a vegan about six years ago, her family and friends wondered how this would change her relationship to the food she grew up eating food her parents ate daily.

She says it has helped her connect to a more traditional way of eating.

My mom has been so gracious about helping me veganize a lot of my dishes, Ms. Amoako said. Shell say, OK, lets pull out what we did in the village because that aligns with how youre eating.

Her social media platforms have become robust forums for discussing what it means for everyday Ghanaian dishes to be adapted to suit a plant-based diet.

My work on my platforms is a reminder to fellow Ghanaians that being vegan doesnt mean losing or giving up your culture, Ms. Amoako said.

In fact, she sees a harmony between exploring the continents history and adapting her cuisine.

The ways that we did it before, she said, there was sustainability built into it.

Fatmata Binta, a Fulani chef based in Ghana, has also found that harmony.

She examines the plant-based foundations of Fulani cuisine through her dinner series, Fulani Kitchen, which was inspired by her visits to Fulani settlements throughout Ghana.

She says that most people assume that the cuisine is meat-centric, because of the Fulani peoples connection to cattle. But, she says, cattle is business for Fulani people the meat is mostly sold at markets and is a central source of income for the community.

Though Ms. Binta is not vegan, she notes that plant-based eating aligns with a more traditional way of life.

Our nomadic lifestyle requires that we travel mostly with nonperishable and preserved foods, she said. Grains, legumes, potatoes and sun-dried ingredients make up most of our diet.

During the pandemic, unable to travel easily, she began finding ingredients at Nima Market in Ghana, where Fulani and Hausa traders would sell ingredients, and foraging locally in and around Aburi. I discovered so many local ingredients by foraging, and Im able to work with the ingredients when they are at their best, she said. Its so inspiring and therapeutic.

For some West African chefs in the diaspora, engaging with vegetarian interpretations of their cuisines has prompted other kinds of self-reflection.

Salimatu Amabebe, who uses the pronouns he and they, is the director of Black Feast, a Bay Area dinner series that incorporates the work of Black artists and musicians, and centers the Black experience through a plant-based lens. He also seeks to merge two culinary identities: as a youth in the United States where his Nigerian fathers cooking was central to daily life, and as a professional cook. The dinners are set up on a sliding scale fee, ensuring that they are financially accessible. For Mr. Amabebe, it was a move toward inclusivity something he said he didnt feel within the broader vegan community.

Mr. Amabebe ate a vegan diet for 13 years, but said that identifying as a vegan felt disingenuous. The term vegan, he said, is used to market food to people.

I have a lot of discomfort in using Western food terms to describe Nigerian cuisine, even when the dishes are traditionally that way, he said, adding, The West African food I know is very much about sharing with family and community, rather than mass marketing.

Putting vegan and Nigerian cuisine together feels a little bit like Im like doing something conscious, he said. I would love to find words or phrases that feel true, or easier on my soul.

In fact, all of the people I spoke to said that the word vegan didnt easily apply to West African foodways, and the way they are discussed.

Ms. Osuchukwu often relies on terms like plant-based, plant-based vegan or sometimes even vegetarian. She says she will tell people that shes a vegetarian because they understand vegetarian.

She added: I dont actually like using the word vegan to be honest, regardless of where I am. I feel that plant-based is a better descriptor of our food.

No matter the terms they use to describe their diets, these four West Africans are telling a story with many chapters, and figuring out their place in the world.

I am rooting my diet in the history of cooking in my family, Ms. Amoako said. I am just living how my grandparents and my parents did.

For Mr. Amabebe, it is more about his own journey. Having a background of working in kitchens run by white chefs, where theres a specific style of consistency around fine dining, the process of cooking Nigerian food brings me back home, said Mr. Amabebe, who finds that Nigerian home cooking truly lets the cooks style and ingredients shine.

The food changes you. You cant help but change your mind about how you do things. Those ingredients are talking to you.

Recipes: Moin Moin (Steamed Bean Cakes) | Roasted Mushrooms in Ata Din Din | Coconut-Lemongrass Tapioca With Caramelized Citrus

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Connecting With West Africas Plant-Based Past - The New York Times