Caribbean Fit

Hey Everyone! I hope you all are great. Welcome to yet another edition of Caribbean Fit. Like the title suggests, we are going to discuss holiday eating. It's a festive time of year where there are lots to eat and drink. From dinners to office parties and if you're from Trinidad and Tobago you know about those impromptu limes (hanging out). The amount of food available may become all too much and what happens every year is that you go into the new year a couple pounds heavier. We all are guilty of falling prey to holiday eating, but don't be discouraged there are ways to combat the holiday pounds. Trinbago Plate for Christmas The big spread of food laid out on tables around the holidays has so many choices and you just feel like you should taste everything. Then you end up with a plate filled to capacity and after you're finished taking down all that food that sleepy feeling kicks in and then you wake up and repeat. If you are like me, then eating is your fav...

Hello everyone, welcome to another edition of Caribbean Fit! I trust that everyone is fine and are all striving for healthy lifestyles. As the title suggests, we are going to discuss what it means what it means to be truly healthy. I know my posts are mainly about physical health, however, as human beings, we know that we are multi-dimensional and other areas or aspects of who we are needs just as much attention as well. We are body, mind, soul and spirit and all these aspects require some work and attention for us to be truly functional and holistically well as human beings. It's like the iceberg principle, 1/10th of who we are lies on the surface but the other 9/10ths are the aspects that matter most. So with all that said, I am going to share a few principles that I use in my life, in an effort to be a holistically well individual. 1. Spend time alone. Get to know who you are as an individual, be it in nature or otherwise, just take a couple moments alone. Check in w...

Hello Everyone and welcome to the next edition of Caribbean Fit! Hope everyone has been great. Over the past couple weeks, I've been thinking about how we as Human beings can become creatures of habit. This is often translated into our daily diets as we may consume the same food every day, whether we cook it ourselves at home or our eat it from favourite restaurants. However, it is important to mix it up a little and that's what were going to discuss in this edition. In the Caribbean, we have specific dishes that are most likely to be on our weekly menus such as pelau, rice and peas, stew chicken or bread and cheese. I am certain that this does not only occur in the Caribbean but every country will have their dishes that are part of their weekly routine. However, as delicious and comfortable these dishes may be, it is important to mix it up. This is because we get most of our vitamins and minerals from what we eat and having a diet that is monotonous can restrict t...

Hey, Guy's and welcome to another edition of Caribbean Fit! Hope all is well with everyone. I've been really thinking for a while of how much people are obsessed with weight loss and size and not actually focussing on health. It is for this reason I want to discuss physical appearance vs health. All across the world there has been and continues to be an obsession with weight loss and physical appearance and the Carribean is definitely not exempt from this obsession. In the Caribbean, it is customary to be greeted with a comment about your weight as opposed to a "hi how are you". What you get instead is a, "hey did you lose/gain weight?" (of course in our Caribbean dialect). This is very annoying to most people and can also have adverse effects on an individual's self-perception. However, what we should all think about is that everyone will never be the same shape or size and the emphasis should be shifted on overall health. Image courtesy Google W...

Hey everyone and welcome to another edition of Caribbean Fit. I know it's been a while since my last post and I hope that you all have been really enjoying the previous posts and trying to incorporate at least one thing into your daily lives. This post is going to be about making wise decisions when it comes to food, so let us jump right in! When it comes to food we all have decisions to make. "Should I eat out today", or "should I cook", and "what should I even eat". Let's face it, sometimes making a choice about what to eat is really difficult, but this should not be, so my job today is to make your life easier, where food choices are concerned. In the Caribbean our food choices have differed from what it used to be with more fast food outlets and street food popping up on every corner, the culture of eating a home cooked meal almost every day is becoming a thing of the past. This is not necessarily a bad thing, once you have the right informat...

Hey Guys! Sorry I've been MIA for a while, been working on some stuff. As you can see from the title we gonna talk alcohol today! Are you all excited?  I know I am. In the Caribbean, alcohol is consumed widely among the islands. It is a part of most if not all of our social events such as weddings, birthdays, christening parties, chilling on the beach, wakes or funeral receptions (repast). Almost all, if not every Caribbean island has an alcohol that is associated with that particular territory, an example is in Trinidad and Tobago there is the Angostura Rum brand, in Jamaica, there is Appleton Rum and in St.Vincent and the Grenadines, there is the very strong Sunset Rum, just to name a few. With all that said, the real question is, does alcohol add any nutritional value or benefit? Jamaica's Appleton Rum  SVG's Sunset Rum Trinidad and Tobago's Angostura Rum Alcohol is basically a liquid created by sugar that has been put through the process of fermen...

Hey Guys, hope everyone has been doing great. This week we are going to discuss one of my favourite things which are snacks. In the world over, most if not all people have a snack or 2 daily and each region may have  a different interpretation of what a snack is for them. In the Caribbean, when we hear snack we automatically think of something in a rustling pack like corn curls, cheese sticks, chips, biscuits or a candy bar. However, snacks are more than just manufactured products in a pack, they are an important means of adding more nutritional value to our diets and therefore we should choose them wisely. Common Caribbean Snacks Snacks are small food amounts eaten between your 3 square meals (breakfast, lunch and dinner) that prolong the filling effect of your main meals. Let's face it your three square meals don't cut it (well at least not for me 🤣) and you need something in between them to hold you over until it is time for your next meal, or just something to ...

Hey Guys! Welcome to another edition of Caribbean Fit and this week we will be discussing dieting. Over recent years within the Caribbean and the world over new diet trends have been emerging rapidly. I am sure this has been very confusing for persons all over the world not knowing which diet is right for them. So, with all that in mind we will discuss different diets that are trending and how to choose the right one for your needs. Firstly, we need to define what a diet really is. A diet is what a person eats or consumes on a daily basis, in other words it is the eating habits of an individual. Therefore, we can say that everyone who eats is on a diet. However, when we talk about the different diets that are emerging such as the gluten free or paleo diet, they are referred to as specialized diets. Persons often adopt a specialized diet to gain some kind of benefit like weight management or to combat a particular health issue. We will discuss the Paleo, Macrobiotic, Gluten Free and K...

Hey guys! Welcome to another edition of Caribbean Fit. I was recently asked by one of my followers to do a post on peppers and the nutritional value that they possess within our diets. So today we're going to bring that spice of the Caribbean, because its all about peppers!!!!! 🔥 In most Caribbean islands many kinds of peppers are incorporated into our dishes. From the mild flavour of the sweet pepper to the intense heat of the Moruga Scorpion Pepper, we love the spice that peppers bring into our stews, sauces and cook ups, but do peppers bring any value besides heat and flavour? Pepper Sauce Moruga Scorpion Pepper Guyana Pepper Pot *Photos courtesy google images Peppers are fruits which bear from the Capsicum species of plants and contain a oily chemical called Capsaicin embedded in its veins and seeds that causes that sensation of heat which you either love or love to hate. By the way, in case you were wondering, I'm in the love category 😊😊. Peppers are lo...

Hey Guys! So we're back at it again and as I said in my last post think balance. This is because This week's post is about a balanced diet. Within the Caribbean and the world over, persons face a problem striking a balance among the three macro-nutrients, namely: carbohydrates, proteins and fats which we discussed individually in previous post. Check out my previous posts if you have not already done so to get a greater understanding of what we are discussing now. In the Caribbean persons have a problem balancing there diets as plates I have often see are packed with mostly carbohydrates and a tiny bit of protein and good fats (which I would have been guilty of at times 😉). However, not only the Caribbean region is guilty of having a lopsided diet but in other parts of the world too, with diets full of carbohydrates and saturated fats, but don't worry, we are in this together and today's post is geared towards helping us all achieve a balanced diet. Below are example...

Hey Guys, last week I gave you a hint on the topic for this week and that hint was water. If you guessed the topic was hydration, then you were absolutely on the button. 😄 So we are going to talk not just about water but fluids in general. Let's begin!  As Caribbean people, when it comes to fluids we have a variety of beverages that are special to us with drinks like sorrel, mauby and fruit juices just to name a few. However, whether you are from the Caribbean region or from another territory, I'm sure when you hear hydration you automatically think of water. Though this is not a bad association, it is important to note that other factors come into play when it comes to keeping the body hydrated. Beverages synonymous with the Caribbean are seen in the images below. Lime Juice Mauby sorrel Keeping our bodies hydrated is very important as three quarters of the human body is made up of water (fluid). As mentioned before hydration does not hinge upon water only, bu...

Greetings everyone! So as mentioned in my previous posts the topic for discussion is Fats. This macro-nutrient is one of the most criticized by health care professionals and persons are fearful of fat consumption. Today I want to give you a better understanding of fats and how important they are for the human body and conquer that fear persons may have when it comes to consuming fat. In the Caribbean, and even the wider world, we may have a skewed perception of what foods contain fat such as butter, pork, fried foods and cooking oil. However, I want to expand your knowledge on fat to assist in how they are viewed and consumed. Below are the foods typically associated with with fat in the Caribbean and even wider regions.     Pictures Courtesy Google Images Fats, like Proteins are also a secondary fuel source within the body, so when carbohydrates or proteins are depleted the body dips into its fat reserves to fuel its work. Fats also functions as structures of the body's ...

Hey guys! So today it's all about PROTEINS! I love me some protein in all its forms. In my previous post on carbs, I mentioned that they are the primary fuel source of the body. However, proteins are a secondary fuel source for the body, in other words they are used for fuel when the body runs out of carbs or not enough carbs are present to fuel work. In the Caribbean we eat a wide range of protein, from plant based to animal based, from your regular chicken to your exotic Iguana we almost eat it all.😂😂 Below are images of the various proteins consumed in the Caribbean.         Photos courtesy google images. Proteins are very important within the human body as they not only act as a secondary fuel source, but they are necessary for growth, repair and recovery, immunity and of course promotes muscle building. Each gram of protein contains 4 calories and it is recommended that persons consume at least 0.8g per kg of body weight to meet dai...