Ghanaian food!

In Ghana, everything is fresh, and fruits and vegetables are in abundance. But this fact (along with the images of starving children perpetuated by the media) leads to the misconception that traveling to Ghana (or any African country) will cause the American traveler to lose weight. 

That's not the case. 

Sure, there is no McDonalds down the street, and yes, the food here isn't loaded with preservatives. But Ghanaian meals are heavy in starch, carbs, and oil. A typical meal is composed of a starch or carb (such as rice, plantain, yam, bread, noodles), a sauce or soup (cooked with a variety of vegetables, hot pepper, and oil, oil, oil!), and a meat (usually chicken, goat, or fish). Do not expect to lose weight if you travel to Ghana, unless you eat a strict diet of fruits and raw vegetables. 

And then there is street food, or roadside food. Roadside food, being cheap and delicious, is like a Ghanaian version of American fast food. Roadside food varies from fresh fruit to fried yam to hard-boiled eggs to fried bread. It must be eaten cautiously (or avoided altogether), for after all, it was prepared on the street.

All I am trying to say is:
Don't expect a skinny mini me to be returning to you :-).