A registered dietician, Dr Evans Sellame Adrah has advised that limiting the intake of starchy foods can contribute to diabetes prevention.

According to him, starchy foods, primarily derived from maize, rice, and wheat, are common staples in many diets but can increase the risk of developing diabetes when consumed in excess.

Speaking on JoyNews’ AM show on Monday, he stated that, “In the diet domain, one great recommendation I would make is to cut down on the starchy foods. By starchy, I mean foods that are coming from maize, our own grains, our rice, our wheat, and so on. We have to do our best to reduce them in terms of the portion that takes up the plate. We have to make sure we cut down on that.”

Mr Adrah dispelled the common belief that satiety can only be achieved through consuming large quantities of starchy foods like fufu, banku, and kenkey.

He emphasised that satiety in terms of nutrition can be attained from various food sources, not just starchy foods.

Mr Adrah noted that to prevent diabetes, reduce grains and starchy foods such as cassava, yam, and cocoyam while incorporating healthier alternatives in their place.

He said that by controlling portions of starch and increasing soup or other accompaniments, individuals can maintain a balanced diet without compromising satiety.

“There is a need to have a replacement. Now, the replacement we can do is that we reduce the portion of the starchy foods. We make sure that the soup, the accompaniment goes up. So, if somebody is taking banku with soup, for example, the soup, if it is with okro stew or okro soup, the person tries to have more of the okro soup or more of the okro stew than the banku itself.

“Now, if the same person is having a rice dish, what can be done is that the stew should be more than the rice itself. So practically speaking, how do we make the stew or the soup bulky? One of the things we can do is make sure that we incorporate vegetables into their preparation”, he noted.