By Zuko Komisa
Dr Tracy Nelwamondo (MBBCh), who is a Health Coach and an advocates for indigenous ingredients as part of a medical strategy spoke to Kaya Breakfast on her work and how she’s paving the way towards combatting contemporary lifestyle diseases.
Your choices and how you could contract lifestyle illness
Dr Nelwamondo believes how we eat, sleep, exercise and relieve stress is directly linked to our susceptibility to lifestyle illness. These include heart disease, strokes, obesity and type 2 diabetes.
Her journey towards the use of these ancient products started at home. She shared her struggle with obesity and how the use of certain indigenous ingredients changed her life.
“It is what the motherland gave to us, it doesn’t necessarily mean what is indigenous to Africa, it also mean indigenous to other countries as well. The ingredients that we use are the Marula nuts, as well as Baobab fruit. I am passionate about the African gems that they are, and it’s about time that they are brought into the commercial space and made into the Kings and Queens that they are.”
Dr Nelwamondo worked with these indigenous into whole foods to introduce a modern twist that makes them attractive and convenient to our modern lifestyles. Among them, a delicious Marula and Baobab ice-cream brand called Mali, named after her son Malibongwe. Her brand, “Modern Traditions” takes ingredients from various villages in Limpopo to combine her medical knowledge and experience to create organic super foods.
“I work with a group of women who have honed these skill of nut-cracking, they been cracking nuts as part of a artisanal skill for generation… I saw a beautiful opportunity to partner with them, they do the nut cracking and I source from them.”
Listen to the full conversation:
What key African Superfood do you need in your diet
The African Baobab
An African plant, Baobab is also known as the ‘Tree of Life’. It contains soluble fibre and polyphenols which are known to help reduce glycaemic response and help with management of Type 2 diabetes and obesity.
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Marula Tree
This tree is high in vitamin C as well as potassium, calcium and magnesium, it can also help with diarrhoea, dysentery, and rheumatism
Moringa
Moringa is rich in Vitamin C which helps support the body’s production of nitric oxide, which in turn aids the normal functioning of blood vessels, and which may prevent the development of diabetic cataract. 90 + nutrients & 46 antioxidants, all which aid in promoting health and wellness.
Other plants to consider in African nightshade, Amaranth leaves and Spider Plant; all rich in protein, calcium, vitamin A, folate, Vitamin C, iron and Vitamin E.
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