Okra: The Famous Soul Food with Nutrition & Health Benefits
Soul Food | What Is Okra? | Nutritional Benefits | The Gumbos | The Southern Fried Okra | Right Way to Cook Okra | Bottom Line
Soul food sounds like food that comes straight from heaven or straight from grandma’s kitchen. Only if it was perceived the same way too. Soul food is often considered one of the unhealthiest cuisines, built on unclean organ meats, loads of saturated fat and night shade vegetables. But is this perception true? True or not this general perception has made soul food lovers feel guilty for loving it.
All thanks to the addicting taste and a hint of true culture it brings, soul food still stays a favorite of many. If you are among these people and want all the right reasons to keep it your favorite this might be a good read for you.
If you have been avoiding soul food to maintain health or feel guilty whenever you enjoy it, you need not do this anymore. Soul food can be made very healthy, only by tweaking the recipes a little. All thanks to the easy to follow, healthy soul food recipes by NubianDoc, you can enjoy your favorite Soul food as much as you want guilt free.
Soul Food
Soul food is an ethnic cuisine that originates as a result of the African diaspora and has in many ways reinforced Southern American Cuisine as we know today. The term was first used in 1964 during the rise of Black Pride. The term is used to celebrate the ingenuity and skill of cooks who formed a distinct cuisine with limited means and resources. It originated in the home cooking of the rural South. The food was made using locally raised and gathered foods and Soul food was made with relatively inexpensive ingredients. Although soul food originated in the South, the recipes eventually traveled to the North with the people and were identified with the African or Black culture.
In recent times soul food has gained significant popularity. Now you see different variants of it in the market, unfortunately, not many are healthy. Traditional soul food can be high in saturated fat, salt, and added sugars. Too much of any of these things can negatively impact cardiovascular health. But one can still embrace those unique family recipes by creating healthier versions your way. One soul food recipe that can offer you innumerable health benefits if cooked the right way is okra.
What is Okra?
Also known as gumbos or ladyfinger, okra is a warm-weather vegetable. These slim fingers are loaded with vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants. Its high nutritional value makes it a popular food in various parts of the world.
Okra is often referred to as gumbo, but it is essential to know that gumbo is the name of a dish with okra as its main ingredient. Okra is the vegetable or plant itself. It’s not only the fantastic nutrition that makes okra a popular food. Its great taste, easy-to-cook versatile recipes and easy accessibility all marry together to make it one of the most admired soul foods.
If you have been avoiding okra, deeming it unhealthy, here are all the reasons and the right way to make it an essential part of your healthy diet plan.
Nutritional Benefits of Okra
Okra packs a punch. With a low number of calories and many vitamins and minerals, this should be a pantry must-have. According to the USDA (US Department of Agriculture) database, one cup of raw okra (almost 100 g) contains the following.
| Nutrient | Amount |
| Calories | 33kcal |
| Protein | 1.9g |
| Carbohydrates | 7.5 g |
| Fat | 0.2 g |
| Fiber | 3.2 g |
| Potassium | 299mg |
| Calcium | 82 mg |
| Magnesium | 57 mg |
| Vitamin K | 31.3 mg |
| Vitamin C | 23 mg |
| Sodium | 7 mg |
| Thiamin | 0.2 mg |
| Vitamin B6 | 0.215 mg |
| Folate | 60 mcg |
| Vitamin
A |
36 mcg |
Okra also provides some iron, niacin, phosphorus, and copper. These nutrients and an abundant number of antioxidants. The okra seeds and pods contain a variety of antioxidants that include phenolic compounds and flavonoid derivatives.
These antioxidants compounds have antimicrobial and anti-inflammatory properties. Due to these properties, these can lower the risk of cancer and help prevent various other diseases.
Summary: Okra offers nothing but amazing nutrition. It provides abundant fibers, vitamins and minerals.
Is Okra Healthy?
Okra is as healthy as a vegetable can get. It contains the following amazing health benefits.
Prevents Cancer
Okra contains a compound called lectin. Lectin is a type of protein that can reduce the growth of cancer cells. In a study conducted in 2014, researchers used lectin from okra in a lab test to treat breast cancer cells. The results showed that the treatment succeeded in reducing cancer cell growth by 63% and killed 72% of the cancer cells. Unfortunately, not many pieces of research have been conducted to deduce a substantial verdict. But the data currently available suggests a relationship between okra consumption and cancer prevention and treatment.
Moreover, okra is a good source of folate. A study conducted in 2016 suggests a strong effect of folate on breast cancer prevention. This makes okra an effective cancer prevention measure. It is important to know that scientists think that taking too much folate can lead to the development of cancer cells. Fortunately, no food provides toxic folate levels, but it is crucial to be careful if you take folate supplements.
Another evidence that supports the cancer prevention properties of okra is its benefit to overall health. Better overall health usually prevents you from a number of diseases, from as simple as flu to as deadly as cancer.
These benefits of okra should be enough to make you eat it guilt free in the future.
Summary: Okra has been proven to prevent and treat cancer in animals and humans.
Reduces the Risk of Disease
Okra owes its disease prevention properties to the high amount of antioxidants present in it. Antioxidants are compounds that prevent damage from harmful molecules and free radicals. The primary antioxidants present in okra are polyphenols, flavonoids, isoquercetin, vitamins A and vitamin C.
Researchers suggest that eating a diet rich in polyphenols can reduce the risk of heart disease. It reduces the risk of blood clots and oxidative damage. Polyphenols have a unique ability to enter the brain and fight inflammation, hence protecting the brain from various diseases. This also protects the brain from symptoms of aging and improves cognition, learning, and memory.
Apart from the heart and brain, antioxidants prevent oxidative damage and fight inflammation in the whole body, ensuring good overall health. So, not only soul food okra provides you amazing taste, it also ensures your overall health.
Lowers the Risk of Heart Disease
According to the American Heart Association, eating fiber-rich foods reduce harmful cholesterol levels in the blood. Okra is loaded with fiber. Moreover, okra contains a thick gel-like substance called mucilage. This binds the cholesterol during digestion which causes it to be excreted with stool rather than be absorbed into the body.
An 8-week study was carried out on mice fed a group of mice with a high-fat diet with 1% and 2% okra powder and another group with a high-fat diet and no okra powder. According to the results, the mice fed with okra powder released more cholesterol in their feces and has lower blood cholesterol levels.
Okra is super rich in polyphenols too. So, people who take a high-polyphenol diet usually have lower inflammatory markers of heart disease than people who consume a diet lacking in polyphenols.
Summary: Eating fiber rich foods is strongly associated with better heart health and okra is super-rich in fibers making it a heart-friendly food.
Lowers Blood Sugar
Soul Food is often loaded with sugars and is the culprit of your raised sugar levels. Okra breaks this trend and is proven to lower your blood sugar levels.
Maintaining optimum blood sugar levels is essential to maintain good overall health. However, high blood sugar levels, if they persist for long, can lead to type 2 diabetes. Okra can help you in lowering your blood sugar level. Studies conducted on mice show that consuming okra or okra extract can drastically lower blood sugar. It reduces the sugar absorption in the digestive tracts, which leads to a more stable response to the consumption of calories and carbs. Similarly, research shows that rats injected with liquid sugar and okra extracts showed a lower sugar spike.
Keep in mind that too much okra is not recommended for people already taking medications for their diabetes. This is because okra can interfere with a commonly consumed drug for diabetes, i.e., metformin. So, you need to be extra careful if you are taking this drug to control your diabetes. But okra is highly recommended for people at the risk of diabetes or those who have insulin resistance.
Summary: Many animal studies highlight the blood-sugar-lowering properties of okra. If the same is projected on humans, it can help you control your blood sugar.
Assures Healthy Pregnancy and Breastfeeding
The folate in okra can ensure a healthy pregnancy and a good breastfeeding experience. In addition, folate is vital for preventing fetal problems during pregnancy. Low folate levels during pregnancy can lead to miscarriages and fetal issues like spina bifida.
Women of childbearing age are recommended to take 400mcg of folate daily. Just one cup of raw okra can give 15% of this value. So, if you are pregnant or are planning to get pregnant, okra can be your best friend.
Summary: Okra contains folate, an essential nutrient in maintaining a healthy pregnancy and assuring a healthy baby.
Prevents Osteoporosis
You will need your bones all your life. So why not take care of them so they may not leave you alone in the time of need. Vitamin K is essential for bone health, and okra is loaded with it. Vitamin K plays a critical role in bone formation and blood clotting. So, it is vital to take it through your diet. Along with all other green vegetables, okra should be an essential part of your diet if you want to maintain optimum vitamin K levels.
Summary: Okra is loaded with vitamin K which is essential for bone health.
Improves Gastrointestinal Health Disease
Okra does not only satisfy your taste buds but your gut too. Only if you knew how warmly your gut welcomes this miracle food, you won’t feel guilty ever again.
You will find an answer to most of your random headaches and irritability in your gut. Maintaining good gut health is the key to maintaining overall health. The fiber in the okra can ensure perfect gut health. From preventing constipation to keeping the healthy gut microbiota alive, okra can do it all for your gut.
Weightloss
Okra extracts, if added to the food, can protect against inflammation and inflammatory gastric disease. The anti-inflammatory and antimicrobial extract of the okra protects against various gut diseases.
A regular and healthy bowel can help you achieve your weight loss goals. If you fail to lose weight despite trying everything, there is a high chance that you have a disturbed bowel movement. Treating that can help you achieve your weight loss goal. This makes okra a god food for weight loss too.
Summary: The fiber and other anti-inflammatory compounds in okra can prevent any digestive issues.
You will be surprised to know that despite all the benefits of okra, the one you eat in your soul food recipes does more harm than good. Soul food recipes have a unique talent for making even the healthiest of the ingredients, the unhealthiest thing to eat. The two common okra recipes are southern fried okra and gumbo. Let’s dissect each one by one.
The Gumbos
Gumbo is a soup stew-like dish. It consists of various meats and vegetables, with okra as its base ingredient that gives it its thick consistency. Although there are multiple ways to make gumbos, typical gumbos consist of meaty sausages, seafood and the trinity (bell peppers, celery, and onions). A soup of all these ingredients is served with a mound of starchy rice. Rice is served to balance out the liquidness and spice of the dish. Not only this, all these individual ingredients are treated and cooked in a way despised by your body’s health. The meats often used are loaded with fat. All the ingredients are cooked in a high amount of fat. A full gumbo meal will provide you no less than 700 kcal with very few vitamins, minerals, proteins, and a high amount of fat and simple carbs.
The Southern Fried Okra
Well, the word fried paired with any other thing rarely makes a healthy combo. However, the traditional southern fried okra is a tasty delight made with a fusion of okra, cornmeal, eggs, and buttermilk with some necessary seasonings. All these ingredients are not unhealthy, but one ingredient used in the most abundance in these famous recipes is oil, and there is no denying that fat can ruin your health. Not only can oil cause weight gain, but it can also lead to heart disease and increase risk of stroke.
Now, to make it clear okra does not lose all its nutrients when used in these recipes, but such recipes will do more harm than good. These recipes will render all the benefits of okra useless, and they will be masked by the ill effects of fatty meat and oils.
How Is It Used?
What Is the Right Way To Cook It?
The right way to cook okra to make it a part of your balanced diet depends on the individual recipes it is being used in, but here are some simple tips that might help you reap all the benefits of okra.
- Combine it with lean meats like chicken and fish.
- Avoid using organ meats and the fatty cuts of beef, mutton, and pork.
- Sauté the cut okra instead of deep-frying it. This will remove all the unneeded fat from the meal. To better understand how bad oil can be, you should know that even the healthiest oil, i.e., olive oil, contains 45 calories per teaspoon. Now you can imagine the number of calories your favorite deep-fried okra gives you.
- If any form of meat is used, make sure it is well cleaned and washed with vinegar to remove all the toxins.
- Combine okra with other vegetables. For instance, in a gumbo, substitute most of the meat with vegetables like capsicum, bell peppers, carrots, and onions.
- It is better to minimize portions of rice paired with the meal.
The Bottom line
We understand that you have been made to feel guilty for loving and enjoying soul food all your life. Just because it is associated with heaps of sugar and buckets of fat, doesn’t mean that it really is that unhealthy. Only if you start tweaking the recipes a little and let us help you in the process, you can make this cuisine as healthy as possible.
There is no denying that most soul foods have been perceived as unhealthy in the past. But consuming them in specific ways can make them relatively healthy while maintaining great taste. All of it trickles down to how you prepare your plate. Simple tips like substituting the fatty meats with lean meats and reducing oils can make your meal pack a punch of health and good nutrition.
As easy as it may seem, it can get tough to follow a healthy diet. It requires some knowledge but you don’t need to worry. We’re here to guide you through. Simply get our 8-Week Health Plan, that’s easy to understand, easy to follow and helps you with the results you desire. Above all, read our health blog to keep abreast of the latest health and nutrition trends and information.
What are the Health Benefits of Okra?
Okra is a nutritious food with many health benefits. It is low in calories but packed full of nutrients. Moreover, it is rich in vitamins A and C, as well as antioxidants that help reduce the risk of serious health conditions like cancer, diabetes, stroke, and heart disease. Okra is also rich in vitamin K, which helps your body clot blood. It may benefit pregnant women, heart health, and blood sugar control. It may even have anticancer properties.
Is it possible to eat Okra on an empty stomach?
Okra is an Ayurvedic meal that is frequently used for managing diabetes and controlling blood sugar levels. The benefit of drinking okra water on an empty stomach in the morning, according to some people with diabetes, is to help better regulate blood sugar levels.
Is it OK to eat fried Okra?
However, as bacon fat is frequently used in the frying process, fried okra is not considered healthy due to its use of frying oil and Crisco. Trans and saturated fats are included in this food, which boosts your LDL cholesterol levels and lowers your HDL cholesterol levels.