6 May is Anti-Diet Day - eat or die!
Two fresh carrots, three peeled cucumbers and a steamed courgette. Served with an ultra-light herbal yoghurt with 0.05% fat. And a handful of organic blueberries for dessert. No, not today.
There is no such thing as the perfect, healthy diet. At least it should not follow a predetermined pattern. In other words, it is never universal.
Huh, what? I'll explain it to you. Hypothesis: Brussels sprouts are healthy. Rebuttal: If I had to eat Brussels sprouts for a week, my earthly existence would end ingloriously on the third day at the latest. And that's unhealthy for me. I couldn't care less about vitamins A and C, iron, potassium, calcium, magnesium and glucosinolates.
«Your body is your temple.» What you nourish it with is up to you.
Reason rules the world
If you don't like your food, you feel bad. This can hardly be compared to a silly remark from your colleagues, for example, which makes you switch off. Because your food is and remains a part of you. Your food has a decisive influence on how you feel. And your health - logically - also depends on how you feel.
So you alone have to know what you consider healthy.
I have learnt to eat sensibly. Not healthy, sensible. Not always by choice, but ultimately out of conviction. One example: I give up sweet drinks. Goodbye cola. But I need sugar. Hello chocolate. For sport, as a source of energy and because the brown cocoa mass is simply awesome.
The quintessence of nonsense
Nutrition is a relationship, not a one-night stand. If you cheat on her one night, it's okay. You'll almost certainly regret it a short time later, but the story will be over in a week. But if you lead a second life behind her back, you'll have a real problem in the long term.
No, you won't find a scientific treatise, interviews with nutritionists or a how-to-eat-healthy guide here. Instead, you'll find my personal attitude, one of my character traits and sections of my menu.
Logically, well-founded arguments, expert quotes and tips from experienced professionals will convince you. That's what they're there for. But even without experimental laboratory tests, you know that too much sugar harms your body. That fatty foods are too much for your body in the long run. That a vegan or vegetarian lifestyle requires nutritional supplements. That green is not the new black. That a sensible mix is good for you.
Hence my appeal to common sense. But also to the beauty of life, to enjoyment. Not from the library, but from experience. You won't find much about this in books, because it all comes from the bottom of your stomach.
Sometimes you don't need scientists, tests or studies. A hidden hint in the form of a text is enough. To wake up, think and form your own opinion.
The heart also eats
I am what I eat
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I admire people who rigorously follow a diet. They only eat certain foods, always watch their weight - their own and that of the food they eat - and introduce cheat days. Whether visiting friends, at a business lunch or a romantic dinner: whatever the diet forbids is consistently avoided.
However, I have no sympathy or respect for anyone who completely stops eating. Just to fit into a dress at a party. Or to be able to sit opposite the girl of your dreams for a few hours on a first date without a beer belly. That's rubbish. You're damaging your body and yourself.
«Diet comes from 'die'.» Information without guarantee.
By the way: I'm deliberately speaking subjectively and biased here. I do sport and don't smoke. I have a solid metabolism, efficient digestion and hardly put on any weight. Even excessive feasts don't affect me. So my point of view is anything but neutral. But that's a good thing and I stand by it. The only thing that matters is that you are happy with yourself.
The agony of choice
Eat what you feel like! Do good and good things will happen to you. You could eat a pizza every day? Welcome to the club. Want to put the subjunctive mood into practice? Do it. Your body, your conscience and your friends will tell you soon enough when to stop.
Enjoy your life - eating is part of it. Don't waste time on holiday searching endlessly for an organic, handmade, zero-waste, weight-watchers shop. Discover, explore and savour the local cuisine. And if that's a Wiener schnitzel, a taco or a whale steak, then so be it. And then that's what you eat.
Have you enjoyed it? Well then, go on: a second churro in the evening for dessert never killed anyone. After two or three days, you'll automatically realise that there are other delicacies out there. And if not: savour that one treat. What's the point of spending four hours desperately searching for an avocado and red cabbage pita, only to end up having to make do with a (disappointingly inferior) alternative product? Forget the calories, ignore the fat content and enjoy the local flavours, ingredients and other culinary souvenirs you'll never forget.
No half portions
Am I planning a second instalment of "Super size me"? No. Am I in cahoots with the fast food industry and running surreptitious advertising? Oh God, no. Because: Yes, I eat fruit. Yes, I eat vegetables. Yes, I eat salad. In the past, pasta, potatoes or rice often accompanied meat or poultry. Today it's vegetables. Or salad. There are many meat alternatives. I also like tofu and hummus. I love bread. And cheese.
«An apple a day keeps the doctor away.» Not if you swallow the Bütschgi or the organic sticker sticks to your windpipe.
No, I don't eat fish or seafood. All that stuff lives under the surface of the water - out of the way, outcast and hidden from the rest of the world. That can't be a coincidence. Or would you be happy if you were dragged into the water and eaten there? So, fins off!
Who cares?
I feel good. I feel fit and can easily keep up with my floorball team-mates. I also keep up with my running training with my trained partner. I leave e-bikers behind on my racing bike, even uphill - not always, but more and more often. I'm happy, which is largely thanks to my diet.
Who do you need to prove anything to? Your loved ones know you for who you really are. You don't owe your employer anything - apart from doing your job properly, of course. Your friends like you because of your personality, witty demeanour and money - not because you live exclusively on chia seeds and celery sticks.
If running five half marathons a week makes you happy, then that's a good thing. If your conscience is bothering you and you just want to go for a quick run so you can hit the all-you-can-eat chicken wings buffet the next evening, go for it. As long as it's right for you, it can't be wrong.
In the long run, we are all dead
Healthy eating is misunderstood and misinterpreted. There is no single recipe, no single guide. Rather, you decide what suits you and what doesn't.
A thought-provoking final thought: let's say you explicitly give up unhealthy, fatty foods and calorie bombs in order to become healthy (and) old. Then the next Monday morning, the delayed 33 bus comes round the corner at express train speed, runs you over and bang, end of story.
"Tamminamal, hetti doch de scheiss Burger zum Zmittag gässe!"
Told you.
When I'm not stuffing my face with sweets, you'll catch me running around in the gym hall. I’m a passionate floorball player and coach. On rainy days, I tinker with my homebuilt PCs, robots or other gadgets. Music is always my trusted companion. I also enjoy tackling hilly terrain on my road bike and criss-crossing the country on my cross-country skis.