Gari is one of the commonly eaten food in Sierra Leone, coming second only to the country’s staple food, rice.

Gari, also known as tapioca, is made from cassava tubers and a popular food in West African region.

Sierra Leoneans normally eat gari with sugar, milk, groundout, gravy, soup, and through other process methods like acheke and eba.

Below are some of the health benefits of eating gari:

1. Great for weight watching

Trying to shed some weight? Then Garri is your go-to guy. Although very starchy, it is also low in calories and the high fibre content in cassava helps you stay full for a longer period and prevents binge eating.

2. Great for your digestive system

Garri contains fibres that are not soluble in water. It helps in the absorption of toxins that enter your intestines. In that way, it improves your digestive health and keeps it chugging along nicely.

3. Prevents cancer

Hard to believe right? Garri also helps in preventing life-threatening diseases such as cancer. The B17 content in cassava leaves helps in stimulating the content of red blood cells, the loss of which often leads to cancer.

4. Helps with diarrhoea

Remember how we said earlier that eating too much Gari could cause constipation? What better time to eat Gari than when you have run-sto? You can do soakings twice a day and be munching on the raw Gari to stop the diarrhoea.

5. Provides energy for the body and cools it down

Gari provides energy to the body since it contains Carbohydrates primarily.
Eating “soakings” also provides a good cooling effect on the body in hot weather when soaked in cold water with milk. The nutrients in it and the combination of milk in cold water makes it creamy and chill the whole body after consumption. Gari in this form energizes the body quickly and makes the system relax in a calm way.

6. Helps with your eyesight

The vitamin A and bakarotennya contents in gari can help to improve the health of your eyes and prevent poor eyesight and future blindness. Too much of it can worry your eyes though.

The key to eating Gari is being moderate with it. Try not to eat too much of it within a period otherwise you’ll worry yourself.

Source: thechronicle.com