10 African Foods that Help You Gain Weight
While a lot of persons are struggling so hard to lose weight, it’s also true that a good number of persons are looking for ways to gain weight.
If you’re just too skinny or just recovered from an illness that cut down your weight, it’s proper to want to add some pounds to look and stay healthy.
However, gaining weight has become more difficult for most people, perhaps you’re feeding yourself with the wrong hacks to healthy weight gain. To gain weight the healthy way requires an increase in calorie intake. Luckily, you can get these calories from some African foods.
What African foods can help one gain weight? Several African foods can provide the required calories for healthy weight gain—such as:
- Wheat
- Fried yellow plantain with tomato sauce
- Kidney beans
- Banga soup
- Potato and eggs, etc.
To gain weight healthily has become a challenge for most people. Though the internet is flooded with weight gain content, most of them turn out to be sales pitches that are of no positive effect in reality. You should strive to gain weight healthily, and this can be achieved primarily through foods. So, if you want to gain weight the healthy way, this article will serve as a useful resource to learn some vital tips. Let’s begin!
How Can I Gain Healthy Weight?
Here are some tips to healthy weight gain:
- Healthy calories: You need healthy calories to gain weight healthily. You may want to change your diet, but you don’t necessarily have to change your diet, you can just consume more foods with healthy calories, such as egg, white rice, cheese, and so on.
- Nutrient-rich snacks: By all means, avoid junks, instead eat snacks that are rich in protein, carbohydrate, or good fats. You can treat yourself to dark chocolate, avocado, yogurt, and so on.
- Mini meals: For persons with poor appetite, consuming a lot of foods might seem like a challenge. The way out is to eat a small amount of foods that help you gain weight. Try consuming these foods at intervals throughout the day to increase your calorie count.
- Weightlifting and yoga: Aerobic exercise isn’t suitable for someone willing to gain weight because it burns calories drastically. Strength training, on the other hand, can help. Visit the gym and start weightlifting to build muscle. You can try out different yoga poses too.
ALSO READ: 10 African Foods That Help You Lose Weight
What Should I Eat to Get Fat in a Week?
If you have ever wondered how to gain weight quite fast, you’re not alone. Most people find themselves in this situation and are left wondering about the possibility of getting fat in a week. There is no magic, weight gain is a gradual process, but with the right measures, you can see changes in a week. Here are some tips:
- Increase calorie intake: You have heard this before, and yes, it’s been repeated. It’s all about calories. A great way to gain weight fast is by eating foods with high calories. The body burns calories, so you need to consume more than the body can burn to store the remaining calories as fat. Try consuming 1,000 calories or more in a day.
- Consume foods that are high in protein, carbohydrates, and fats: Protein has four calories per gram, carbs have four calories per gram too, while fats have nine calories per gram. These are relatively high. Moreover, proteins don’t just provide you with healthy calories alone; it also helps in building muscle.
10 African Foods that Help You Gain Weight
White Long Grain Rice
This food is rich in carbohydrates, pantothenic acid, iron, thiamin, calcium, folate, and vitamin E. A cup of white long grain rice contains 204 calories. You should try consuming 450 grams (2 cups) of white rice in a day. Don’t forget you need enough calories to gain weight, and that’s what this food offers you.
Kidney Beans
This protein-rich food has a calorie count of 613 in just 1 cup. It’s also a rich source of dietary fiber, potassium, and zinc. In most African beans recipe, palm oil is used in the preparation, and just a tablespoon of palm oil is packed with 14 grams of fat and a calorie count of 144.
Wheat
Weight is consumed by a large number of persons across Africa, including Africans in the diaspora. It’s usually eaten with any soup of choice as “swallow”. Wheat is rich in starch and also high in calories. Just 100 grams of wheat contains 340 calories.
Oatmeal and Milk
Oatmeal is recommended for dieting, but depending on the preparation, you can use it to gain weight when consumed with milk. Cooked oatmeal contains 158 calories per cup, and whole milk has 148 calories. Pairing the two with nuts will increase your calorie intake.
Potato and Eggs
One medium-sized potato (213 grams) have about 163 calories while 100 gram of egg has 155 calories. When eaten together, this starchy carb and protein-rich foods are one of the best breakfast foods that will help you gain weight.
Cheese
This food is an excellent source of fat and protein. It contains 402 calories in 100 grams. There are several South African meals such as cheese spread, cheese sauce, and so on to try out.
Spaghetti
This meal is suitable for those in a hurry. It takes just 8-12 minutes to prepare so you won’t miss out on consuming foods that help you gain weight. Just 1 cup of (140 gram) spaghetti contains 221 calories; though the amount of calories is moderate, an adult will consume at least two cups, so this sums it up to 441 calories, which is high enough for weight gain.
Peanut
In most African tribes, peanuts serve as a snack. Peanuts contain protein and fiber, which helps increase satiety level. Just a cup (146 grams) contains 828 calories. So you don’t have to consume peanuts in excess for it to increase your weight. There are several African peanut soup recipes to try out. You can check this recipe.
Fried Yellow Plantain with Tomato Sauce
It’s preferable to go for yellow plantain due to the absence of resistant starch, which aids weight loss. Besides, just a cup (118 grams) of fried yellow plantain has 399 calories, which are more than the green plantain. Coupled with the tomato sauce, your calories, and nutrition intake increases.
Banga Soup
Just 100 grams of this soup has 450 calories. It’s one of those foods that help you gain weight quickly as it is high in calories. It’s also a rich source of protein and fats.
Can Supplements Help Me Gain Weight?
The best way to gain weight is through foods. However, some persons may struggle so hard to gain weight with just foods, while others may just want to get quick results.
This means you need more calories to get the breakthrough you want. If you find yourself in any of these conditions, you may want to opt for supplements to aid your weight gain goals. So, yes, supplements can help you gain weight.
Here are some proven supplements that can help you gain weight.
BSN True-Mass Weight Gainer
You probably have heard about BSN as it is a popular weight gain supplement. BNS is packed with 1,200 calories per serving. As you already know, all it takes to gain weight is to increase your calorie intake, and that’s what BNS provides. Aside from having over 1,200 calories, it also contains 50 grams of protein, 213 grams of fat, and other vital nutrients. You should give it a try if you’re looking to gain weight fast.
Serious Mass Weight Gainer
Serious Mass is another supplement you should try out if you want to gain weight quite fast. It contains 1,250 calories, 50 grams of protein, 252 grams of carbs, fats, and other protein sources—whey egg and casein. It has different flavors you can choose from—chocolate banana, peanut, and butter.
Stacked Protein Gainer
As with other supplements, Stacked Protein Gainer is packed with the required nutrients to deliver the right amount of calories that can spark your weight gain goals. It contains different types of protein, such as whey and casein.
Its nutritional information includes 1,250 calories, 50 grams of protein, carbs—250 grams, and fats—6 grams. The flavors available are vanilla ice cream and chocolate.
Combat XL Mass-Gainer
Combat XL Mass-Gainer has the edge over other products as it has been tested for banned ingredients. This means that all ingredients in this supplement are safe and would not amount to any side effects that may arise from unsafe ingredients.
Products that have been tested do have the Informed-Choice seal on them, and that’s what you would find on this supplement. Combat XL Mass-Gainer contains 1,270 calories, protein, carbs, and other vital nutrients. Also, it has vanilla, chocolate milk, and chocolate peanut butter flavor.
Super Mass Gainer
Like Combat XL Mass-Gainer, Super Mass Gainer also has the Informed-Choice seal, which means it has been tested for banned ingredients. The supplement contains the required nutrients for a calorie boost.
It has 1,280 calories, 52 grams of protein, carbs—246 grams, etc. Super Mass Gainer also has different flavors— gourmet vanilla, chocolate cake batter, cookies, and cream.
If you’re finding it difficult to gain weight, it is because your calorie intake is not sufficient—these supplements can help you. But if you are getting enough calories from the foods highlighted in this article or other foods, you don’t need any supplements.
Also, you should take supplements in moderation. It is best to always seek professional medical advice from your physician.
ALSO READ: 10 African Foods to Eat During Pregnancy
Which Fruit is Good for Weight Gain?
In addition to the foods discussed above, fruits can also help you gain weight healthily. Consider eating some of these fruits to aid your weight gain goals:
Mango
This fruit is high in fiber, and it is a great source of vitamin A and C. A medium-sized mango weighs around 200 grams and contains 150 calories. Eating 2-3 mangoes after a meal provides you with extra calories, which are stored as fats in the body.
Coconut
Eighty grams of coconut meat (the whitish part of this fruit) contains fats (27 grams) and calories (283). This fruit has a higher energy density than most foods that help you gain weight. Eating coconut regularly as a snack or as an addition to a meal will help in rapid weight gain.
Banana
The type of banana you consume determines if you’re going to lose weight or gain weight. Green bananas contain resistant starch, which helps in weight loss while in yellow bananas, the resistant starch has turned to sugar. One yellow banana (100 grams) has 89 calories. Preparing banana shake can increase your calorie intake—blend the banana with one glass of low-fat milk (60 – 80 calories), adding other additives like Ice cream and sugar also increases the calorie count.
Avocados
One hundred grams of this fruit contains 160 calories. It’s also rich in fats, mostly monosaturated fat, which is good for the body. Consuming this fruit alone or with/after a meal will help in weight gain.
Dates
This fruit is 70-80 % sugar. Still, it’s a better alternative to empty-calorie sweets. It is rich in vitamins and has a calorie count of about 67. Regular consumption of four to five dates will boost your weight gain process. You can blend dates and use them as a substitute for sugar.
Conclusion
If you’ve been wondering what African foods to eat to realize your weight gain goals, these foods can help. However, you don’t want to overeat to avoid adverse effects. You should always eat in moderation. Note that we have provided no information on how to plan your meals with these foods. You should seek professional help on how to plan your meals—incorporating these foods.
Healthy weight gain helps a great deal in maintaining good health—if you feel you’re underweight, it’s proper to add some pound but ensure you do it the right way.