Health and fitness researcher Issa Ahmed Issa has called for a paradigm shift in how Kenyans approach weight loss and nutrition, arguing that metabolic health matters more than calorie counting.
In a Radio Generation interview on Friday, he defended remarks on ugali and warned against processed carbohydrates and seed oils.
He defined metabolic health as how one processes energy, linking it closely to the concept of insulin resistance. “Insulin resistance is the most common disorder affecting people in the world right now, and people don’t talk about it much,” he said.
Issa explained that insulin, a hormone commonly associated with diabetes, affects every single cell of our body, adding that before someone develops type two diabetes, they first become insulin resistant
The remarks come after controversy surrounding his comments about ugali, Kenya’s staple food, on a local radio station on Friday, January 29, 2026.
At the interview, he described ugali as “the most useless food that is out there,” sparking public uproar and a formal warning from media oversight bodies.
Soon after the broadcast, the Media Council of Kenya (MCK) issued a formal advisory on February 6, 2026, warning media houses to verify the credentials of guests introduced as nutrition experts.
The council said it had received a complaint from the Kenya Nutritionists and Dieticians Institute (KNDI), which condemned and formally disowned the remarks and challenged the qualifications of the guest.
MCK’s statement stressed that only individuals registered and licensed with the KNDI should be invited to comment on nutrition and dietetics, citing Sections 33 and 36(b) of the Nutritionists and Dieticians Act. It warned of potential legal consequences for both unregistered commentators and the outlets that platform them.
“I was asked about our staple food, which is ugali,” he said. “The problem is the processing. The problem is not the ugali, the corn, the maize, if it has the bran and the germ.”
He argued that when maize is refined, “you strip the germ, you remove the germ and the bran, so now you remain with the starch only.”
According to him, refined starch can spike blood sugar levels. “When you consume it, immediately it spikes your blood sugar,” he said, explaining that the pancreas must then produce insulin to reduce the sugar levels.
“I can’t say that I never eat ugali,” he added. “But I just have to control what I eat. I need to know everything that I eat, how it impacts my health.”
The health researcher also challenged common understandings of macronutrients, describing carbohydrates as non-essential in dietary form. “Carbohydrates is not essential. Dietary carbohydrates is not essential to your body,” he said. “What is essential is protein and healthy fats.”
When the body needs glucose, he said, “it can easily convert amino acid into glucose for your bodily functions,” adding that the total amount of sugar required by the body is just a spoonful of tea.
He warned that highly processed breakfasts combining refined flour, seed oils and sugar create inflammation. “The breakfast, I call it an atomic bomb because it’s a combination of seed oil, flour and table sugar,” he said.
Issa linked such diets to chronic inflammation. “When you have inflammation inside your body and it lasts longer than it’s supposed to last, it becomes a low level chronic inflammation,” he said. “That’s where everything starts to go wrong.”
Beyond diet, he described his work in fitness training. He runs a women-only facility in Nairobi called Femina Fit Gym and oversees Habib Fitness Institute, where trainers are taught both exercise and nutrition.
“Our approach is a bit different,” he said. “We don’t tell people just you need to lose weight at whatever cost.” Instead, he focuses on some markers, including high blood sugar, high blood pressure, and dyslipidemia.
“When we encourage people to concentrate on those markers, they lose weight effortlessly,” he said, describing his approach as holistic.
Issa also criticised widely used cooking oils. “Vegetable oil actually is a misnomer. It’s supposed to be seed oil,” he said. He recommended alternatives such as beef tallow, butter, coconut oil and extra virgin olive oil.
Throughout the interview, Issa concluded that his message is about informed choices rather than prohibition. “If you need to have a treat of ugali once in a while, you are allowed to have,” he said, reiterating that understanding food’s impact on metabolic health is key.
