Demistifying 'Swallow'. Should you Swallow your Fears?

A lot of awesome people out there including myself love their ‘swallow’. Swallow is a term used to denote solid carbohydrates that are molded and consumed with some type of sauce, soup or stew. It’s sort of like a gigantic dumpling. At this juncture, I can’t think of any comparison to Eba, Amala, Semovita, Pounded yam, Wheat, Tuwo Shinkafa, Ground Rice or Fufu save for maybe mashed potatoes and polenta. But it’s just not eaten the same. Anyway. There’s this fear of eating swallow for Nigerian dieters/ health ‘freaks’ aka ‘#fitfam’. Is this fear valid? I actually think not. Swallow is just like any other carbohydrate and can be enjoyed with reasonable caution.

If I attempt to analyze all forms of “swallow” on here, it would make for a boring read. There are some key points I want you to know before you glorify the famous “Wheat” and castigate the famous (my favourite) garri/eba.

After lots of research here and there, I’ve finally come up with a table that shows you just how much is in “swallow”.

Swallow Type	Dry Serving for typical meal	Calories in typical Serving Size – After cooking
Poundo (Ola Ola, Ayoola)	130g	520 calories
Pounded yam (real Pounded yams	5 small-medium slices	600 calories
Amala	120g	460 calories
Semovita (Regular Tuwo)	130g	520 calories
Wheat	130g	520 calories
Cassava (gari)	90	342 calories

Here are a few points that I’d like you to take to your kitchen:

1.     All swallow are not equal: -  I used to think that calories were equal, but now, I totally disagree. A large banana at 100 calories cannot possibly be equal to an All Butter Shortbread at 102 calories! Cassava (gari), which is from the ground, cannot possibly be equal to semovita, a form of processed wheat. I categorically state that it is always better to eat natural foods in their unadulterated state. They digest better and they’re free from preservatives that you can’t pronounce. Also, not too much is lost vitamin wise.

2.     Carbohydrates: - The grams of carbohydrates are almost equivalent per serving/weight. Of course, due to the different types of carbohydrates i.e. cassava, yam, rice, your dollop of pounded yam (with real pounded yams), and the same dollop of eba (cassava grits) wouldn’t weigh the same per serving, after cooking. Density also affects the amount of carbohydrates in swallow. Pounded yam is denser than all other swallows, so a fist sized portion will have more calories than a fist sized portion of amala, which is not very dense and requires a lot of water to prepare. A smart swallow would be eba, because it has been blessed to rise in water—which translates into needing a lot less of the dry serving than other swallows. And of course, it’s closest to the ground than all other swallows.

3.     Wheat: - I chose to do a “wheat” point differently because people have said the most incredulous things to me. Someone confidently told me wheat has no calories. Another said wheat burns fat. Another said wheat is all water. These are all mistruths. Try this experiment at home: make some “wheat”. Then make semovita. Close your eyes and taste both. Don’t they taste the same? Yes, because they are the same thing save for the fact that one has a higher incidence of fibre, which is known to keep you fuller for longer. Unfortunately though, because it’s been processed, it’s not better than semovita. They have the same amount of energy (calories). They have the same amount of sugar. And they’re both OK to eat. Just OK. Not the best option out there because they are quite empty, but if you must, you can. Don’t eat Wheat because you think it’s healthier, eat it because you enjoy it—because it really isn’t that much different from semovita. As long as your portion is no more than your palm size if you’re that famished and the 4’oclock mark hasn’t hit, you can still lose weight and enjoy your semo, or any “swallow” you want to for that matter.

4.     Pounded yam / Poundo (dried pounded ‘yam’) : - Companies that make powdered pounded yam state that it’s ‘dried yam’. But I’ve also read that potato starch is used to make poundo. But if amala is dried yam, why is it so different from poundo? It confuses me. Anyway, on to the real pounded yam. One medium slice of yam that’s about an inch thick is just about 120 calories. You probably need about 5 slices of that to make the average serving of pounded yam. The math is simple. Pounded yam should be consumed in very little portions. Not only because of the calories, but because you’re consuming a carbohydrate that isn’t exactly the most nutrient packed food, making it ‘empty’, much like most white carbohydrates.

My apologies that this has been a lengthy read. I actually wanted to add more information but I’ll just leave that for the question section or another post. Overall, portion sizes are key. The average serving of swallow requires 130g of the dry serving, which comes up to well over 430 calories on average. You haven’t started calculating how much oil your stew/soup contains and the hidden fats in your protein, especially those you don’t consider to carry any calories, such as shaki (tripe). Please try to eat your swallow before 4pm, for those who sleep a bit later (11pm). And also try to pick swallow like eba, because it’s the least processed and it has quite a bit of fibre. Eba also swells! So you’re not going to need so much to make a good serving. This automatically shaves off calories. It’s also very filling. Amala is also good because you need so much water to prepare it, which automatically means you’re having lesser calories with a palm size serving. And of course, blended Oatmeal is a great option too. But remember, it’s also a carbohydrate!

My ratings 10 being the most desirable and 1 being the least desirable:

Eba – 8/10

Amala- 6/10
Tuwon shinkafa – 3/10

Semovita – 2/10

Wheat - 2/10

Pounded yam – 2/10

Ground rice- 2/10

Fufu- 1/10

Till next time,

anu