Beer and Nigerian Women – By Stephanie Coker

 Stephanie Coker

Presentation by Miss Stephanie Coker at the

Nigerian Beer Symposium on 30 June 2016

atEko Hotels and Towers, Lagos

As a TV Presenter I have the opportunity to travel around the world on assignments, meeting people from different walks of life, social and economic status. I recentlytravelled to Amsterdam and Ibiza for the Champions league finalwhere I must confess delivered a good deal of fun and experience. A week later I received a call from the Agency on being a part of the “Beer symposium”, to discuss the positive impact of drinking beer in relation to women and I immediately thought, is word getting out that I enjoy a good pint of beer now and then? During my recent trip to Amstadam, Beer became a connecting funnel of socializing and networking for me. People shared beer and were very happy. I was not left out trust me. So when the call came, hmmmmmm.

When I told my friends I was travelling to watch the Match the first thing theysaid was “We know you drink beer, but you don’t watch football.” My response was, “so only people that watch football drink beer?” No further questions were asked as they knew they were also guilty; they don’t watch football either but could direct you to the nearest night lounge with their eyes closed.

The Amsterdam/Ibiza trip was nothing like I had experienced before. There were about eight women and seven guys on the trip, of course we had the football fanatic men and about two female fans.

What is beer made of? Beer is made up Hops, Barley, yeast and water. Of all the four major ingredients, water constitutes over 90%. Although I just enjoy my cold beer because of the smoothness of Heineken for instance, I have recently found out that Beer does have a lot of health benefits. Thankfully, benefits inherent in beer I have been educated, can only be enjoyed when we consumed moderately. My excitement therefore is that I usually take three cans or two of the medium bottles a day. It therefore means that I have been benefiting from the nutritional values of beer and I think I am doing greathealthwise.

GENERAL WOMEN CONCERNS

As a young woman I’m very conscious of my stomach and waste size. Many women do share this concern and consciousness.

I found it so intriguing that a group of Nigerian women, ranging from 22 to 55 in age could have discussions about fashion, travel and entertainment over a bottle of beer but still very shy about their association with beer because of unproven negative attributes and age long myth that it is not cool for ladies to be seen enjoying beer. Maybe this is a Nigerian thing because it is not the case with those who invented protocol in Britain and other civilized climes. This got me reminiscing about my first bottle, other than the one I would occasionally swirl, but not sip from my mum’s stout concoction. A curious bright eyed 19-year-old, full of energy and life, fresh out of college and ready for the adventures university life had to offer. I had been given a long list of things-not-to-do by my parents, but one thing that my dad said was “rantiomotiiwonse” which means, remember the child of whom you are.

Trying not to forget the daughter of who I am, I settled into my dorm room when I heard a knock at the door. I was greeted by two giddy girls asking if I wanted to come to the fresher’s event. Now trying to contain my excitement and of course not forgetting who the child of who I am, I threw my denim jacket on and hopped along. Finally, the event every fresh undergraduate student had been waiting for, fresher’s night out, with my two new acquaintances in tow, we rushed to the university bar. Upon arrival, we were bedazzled with a selection of cocktails, liquors, and beers. After rustling in our pockets all we had between us was five pounds, the bartender said we could get a pint each, as novices we didn’t realize we had ordered three beers. Laughing at our tasty mistake we spoke about our chosen subjects, boys, and apprehensions and of course shopping. What I took from this experience is that I shared my first beer with people I now call friends.

Fast forward four years later, I had moved to Nigeria, going through the usual adjustments, getting used to the traffic and of course the never ending probability game with the electricity supply. At the time I was sharing a room with my cousin, an interior decorator who had taken the pleasure in nicknaming me ‘Britico’ no guesses why.

We ordered our pepper soup and my cousin ordered a can of beer and to my surprise asked me if I wanted wine or champagne. I was dumbfounded: who sells wine at a beer parlour? Obviously she was being sarcastic, but I was actually offended. I was once again being judged by my accent, even by family background. She could see I didn’t find it funny and asked the waiter to “serve round” considering there were only 3 people in the bar it didn’t really dent her pocket. We bonded and got to know each other more and she quickly realized I was not as stuck up as she had earlier presumed. All of my experiences of beer have always left a memory, whether it’s bonding, learning and being happy. Ultimately the key secret with everything in life is moderation. I have never taken more than necessary. I do not drink to impress but I drink moderately to enjoy.

We all knew drinking makes us feel ‘happy’, but just the taste of it? A study conducted by neurologists at the University of Indiana, reveals that sipping a spoon of beer is enough to trigger the release of the happy hormone dopamine in the brain.

BEER AND WOMEN

Many women may consider drinking beer not cool as I said earlier perhaps because of the myths of negatives associated with beer abusers. However, let me remind us that women actually invented beer as part of our natural responsibilities to look after the family. We must develop the confidence to also enjoy our invention and not give to the complex of not feeling cool when we drink. It is actually when you lack self-control and abuse beer, that you pull down the bridge of woman dignity. Beer is good for women perhaps more than men and with all the health benefits inherent in beer, who says women don’t need the silicon beer provides or magnesium?

Magnesiumhas been demonstrated to be a rapidly effective interventionfor depression, likely related to its role in regulating neuronal function through calcium flux in and out of cells, and potentially its role in optimal thyroid function—an underactive thyroid is a known cause of depression and weight gains. Magnesium is also critical for those struggling with PMS (pre-menstrual stress), including premenstrual migraines, irritability, low mood, and cramps. Of women supplemented with a conservative dose of 250mg daily for three months,34% experienced relief of PMS. Similarly, by the second month of treatment with magnesium, women with PMS experienced improvement in mood and pain in a randomized, controlled trial.

Beer is one of the few foods that provides silicon which helps build strong bones

Talk about my diet – my trainer said the only alcoholic drink I should drink when I’m not training is beer. But he also emphasizes moderation.

Well, like we all know too much of water makes the Atlantic Ocean turbulent. Why we can control the water in pool, we still have to tread softly to enjoy our swimming. Let us always remember that women usually ensure that appropriate and moderate spicing makes the soup delicious. Moderate intake of beer is great and woman should feel very proud to enjoy this natural drink full of nutritional values.

Thank you.