Eating Low-Carb in West Africa

In this blog post, I outline what I am learning through trial-and-error about eating low-carb in West Africa.

There is a bewildering variety of tasty foods in West Africa. It is one of the reasons I love the region so much. But at the same time, in day-to-day life, there is an emphasis on highly starchy foods. For example, one of my favorite foods of all time is fufu, made from pounded yams. It is very tasty, and a kind of delicacy that people love to serve visitors. But it has a deadly high carbohydrate content. So the million dollar question is how I can live in West Africa while enjoying the food and at the same time staying on a low-carb diet? Since I am living in Togo, I will focus uniquely on Togo, but I expect some of the lessons would easily carry over to neighboring countries (such Ghana).

To start, it is important to convey to your hosts the nature of your diet. Don’t assume that they will be familiar with your goals, or your methods. Arrange a time to sit down and to talk it through. This is the Togolese way. If there is a serious issue, everybody concerned will sit down and talk it through. In my case, I was diagnosed as pre-diabetic with an A1c of 6.4 (one notch below diabetic). That was one of the triggers of my change in diet. In general, the Togolese know about diabetes and they know that it requires a change in diet. 

Snacks

Peanuts (azi in Ewe) are an easily available snack in Togo. You can buy roasted peanuts in the shell, or you can buy a whole bottle of peanuts for around 2000CFA. When I arrived in Lome, I bought two bottles of roasted peanuts (no salt), which I keep in my room. Whenever I need them, I eat a handful. The snack is rich in protein and calories, and can take the edge off quickly.

Another easy to find snack is hard-boiled eggs. Just buy some eggs at the market, and boil them at home. You can keep them in pot, and eat one or two whenever you need them. Since I am on Wegovy, I am not really hungry at night, and in general I do not like to eat before sleeping. Eating one or two eggs is a perfect compromise, and adds some valuable protein to my diet.

More difficult to find is cheese. Cheese is a great low-carb snack, but there is not a huge cheese tradition in Togo, probably because most people not have refrigeration. You can find different cheeses at Champion supermarket in Lome, but not in the village. There are two kinds of manageable options. First, if you find “Vache Qui Rit” (Laughing Cow) cheese at the store, it is processed in such a way that it can last several weeks without refrigeration. I bought some of this in Lome, but I have so far been unable to find it in the village. It is not the popular amongst villagers. Second, the Togolese eat something called “wangashi”, which is a bit like paneer cheese. You can eat this as a snack, just like you would eat cheese. If you can find a vendor, you can arrange to have some dropped off every few days.

Coconut is also readily available in Togo (yovone in Ewe). The meat is low-carb, filled with fiber and fat. The milk is also low-carb.

During my stay in Togo, I will try to develop more extensive lists of snacks for a low-carb diet.

Breakfast

Breakfast is probably the easiest meal to manage for a low-carb diet. There are many different options involving beans, which are not exactly low-carb, but contain a lot of fiber so I accept them as part of my diet.

A simple breakfast involves beans with oil and gali (crushed dried cassava). This is called “veillie” in Togo. It is quite tasty and filling and easy to make. It is often sold on the side of the road too. Try to keep the gali to a minimum, because it is very starchy food. But sprinkling a little for texture is OK. This simple breakfast can be modified in all kinds of interesting ways. You can add a fried egg on top, for a little more protein. Or you can add a sliced avocado on top for some good fat and more fiber. Avocados are readily available in the market in Togo.

Another bean-based breakfast is bean cakes (agawu in Ewe). These are fried cakes made from bean flower. They have no corn flour in them at all. You can eat these with a bit of hot pepper in the morning. Even four or five pieces is very filling because of the fat and fiber content. Unfortunately, it is not easy to find bean cakes in Lome, except in the big markets. Somehow, they are not fashionable right now. But in the village, I can find them M-F on the side of the road. 

Both of these breakfasts (beans and bean cakes) can be supplemented with a piece of fried fish (kanami in Ewe), which adds to the overall protein content, and makes the breakfast even more filling. 

Lunch

The most challenging meal of the day is lunch, because that is typically when the Togolese eat very high-carb meals. If you are living with Togolese, they will expect you to eat more or less the same thing that they do, so this is a challenge. I will present my solution to the issue.

The starting point is what I call the “half-cup rule”. Whatever starchy food they make (corn porridge, fufu, rice) limit yourself to half a cup (or maybe just a bit more). If this is accompanied by fat, proteins and fibers, it should not spike your glucose levels too much. Also, it rounds out the meal, and makes it more palatable. This rule also allows you to eat the same food the others are eating. I actually bought some measuring cups along with me, and gave them to my host.

Another piece of advice is to ask your hosts to make a vegetable-based sauce at lunch, e.g., something with okra (fetri) or some kind of leafy green vegetable (e.g., ademe or gboma in Ewe) You can also add garden eggs (agbitsa in Ewe). Just yesterday I went to the local market and found cabbage, carrots and string beans, all of which can be added to a sauce. This sauce is great source of fiber for your diet, which you will need to not become constipated. It is also rich in vitamins. Usually, the Togolese will prepare it with palm oil or some other kind of oil, so it is high in fat as well. 

The last ingredient of lunch is to get some protein in there. Beef is a bit rare in the villages of southern Togo. But that does not matter too me that much, because I have found that on Wegovy beef tends to irritate my stomach. Other kinds of meat, such as fish and chicken are much more readily available in the village. In addition, the Togolese have started eating soy bean-based bean cakes which they call “soja”. It can be fried and added to the sauce just like you would add meat. The trick here is that normally the Togolese do not eat a huge amount of protein with their lunch, so you need to request to have a bit more meat. For example, if you can have a sauce with three or four pieces of meat or soja that should be sufficient.

On this scheme, it is not the meal itself that changes, but rather the proportions of the ingredients found in the meal. That way, you can eat the same thing that everybody else is eating, but in a way that makes it more consistent with the low-carb diet.