DIET Africa’s creative director and CEO, Sussanna Ngodoo Jacob has louded the support for the biggest celebrities cooking competition in Nigeria, “soup A stars”.
Soup A Stars will be featuring a long list of celebrities such as Shegun Arinze, Ibinabo, Ini Edo, Monolisa Chendu, Annie Idibia, Tonto Dike, Angela Okorie, 0lamongst others.
Soup A Stars is a brain child of Regina Askia Williams, a former beauty queen (most beautiful girl in Nigeria) and Nollywood Actor.
Regina Askia Williams is currently a family Nurse practitioner in New York,USA.
Her passion and commitment to help improve her country’s health status is the motivation behind the Soup A Stars cooking competition.
The competition is set to teach and hopefully reshape the populace dietary habits, especially culinary, which will in turn impact on the health of the Nation eventually.
Sussanna is also a competitor on the Soup A Stars cooking competition.
Using her personal experience, she highlights the need for nutrition awareness and the benefits of healthy nutrition while encouraging Nigerians from all works of life to join hand with Regina Askia Williams to take healthy nutrition information from obscurity to priority!
The event will be televised on DSTV and all local channels in Nigeria, coming to you live from the Grand Atrium in Leki Lagos, Nigeria, on the 6th of December 2019.
“As a cancer survivor and one who still struggles and lives with its effect, I can tell you that ignorance is not bliss. My lifestyle before cancer was that of a typical happy-go-lucky girl.
“All I cared about was to satisfy whatever cravings I had, whether it was booze, cigarettes or junk food, I did it all and excessively. As a matter of fact, eating junk food was perceived in my purview as very cool and civilized.
“So, I had to step up my civilized status by acquiring a taste for even those junk foods I did not enjoy.
“Even after I was diagnosed with cancer in 2002, I was still ignorant of the impact of what I ingest in my system because my doctors did not recommend healthy dieting to me.
“To cut a long story short, In late 2012 i was faced with a decision, to either change my lifestyle or watch me die. Circumstance forced my new lifestyle and God gave me the grace to sustain my saving grace.
” I am thankful to a dear friend, Dr Jimme Jinedu who opened my eyes to the amazing potential of healthy lifestyle/ nutrition. In hindsight I know my choosing to live a healthy lifestyle is a major contributing factor to my being alive today. Of course, God’s Grace led the way!
“I view the Soup A star competition through the same lens I do Dr. Jimme Jinedu’s guidance, a saving grace! This competition will be showcasing healthy culinary recipes using indigenous ingredients that millions of Nigerians can replicate in their homes regularly.
“This will certainly influence the dietary habits of those who take time to watch and, eventually impact on their health. This knowledge will trickle down to the future generations. The effect of such an influence should never be underestimated.
“I believe firmly that, this knowledge is crucial for our survival as a people, especially for the future generations.
Many researchers now believe that many health problems are partly related to diet. According to an international renowned nutritional research scientist, Dr. Michael Colgan “if the right foods are consumed in the right proportions and a sensible life style is observed 98% of cardiovascular disease cases, 80% of cancers would be prevented and 79% of other ailments can be well avoided if dietary guidelines are taken seriously”.
Professor Martin Wiseman, medical and scientific advisor to the world cancer research fund, states that 39% of the 12 major cancers are preventable through better diet. Another research claims that over 95% of chronic disease including cancer, type II diabetes can be prevented through diet and exercise.
The world health organization (WHO), once estimated that, Over 100,000 Nigerians are diagnosed with cancer and 80,000 die annually that is a total of 10 deaths every hour. Four out of five Nigerians diagnosed with cancer die (this figure puts Nigeria on the worst list of cancer survivors’ rate in the world).
It is now very clear that diet plays a crucial role in promoting or preventing disease. The idea was put forward centuries ago by Hippocrates (the father of medicine).The therapeutic value of foods is potent, and the body responds to it favorably.
In order to curb the menace of malnutrition, disease, poor life expectancy, etc. we need knowledge, only through knowledge can we be inspired with the right attitude to drive a meaningful change.
This is why i am part of the Soup A Star competition and I urge my fellow Nigerians to join this healthy culinary/dieting movement. We need to move our people’s dietary habits from primitive sentiments to cell replenishing needs priority!
Therefore let’s join hands with Regina Askia Williams and give the populace a chance to relearn beneficial dietary habits. I know it is not easy to achieve perfection immediately; however, we must remain optimistic and encouraged that, the journey of a thousand miles starts with one step at a time.
So, let us take the first bold step on the 6 of December 2019 at the Grand Atrium, Lekki Lagos Nigeria. Thank you for making history with us,t together we can make.Nigeria healthy and much more prosperous!
