My food philosophy
I really thought a lot about what I want to write about my philosophy. As you may read my story about how I started with cooking and baking, you know that my way of preparing food and eating certain foods have changed. For example, some years ago I didn´t use any milk products, I ate less meat or fish and mainly soy products. At some point, I´ve even cut out completely refined sugar for over a half year. So, I´ve made my experience with all these diets. But now, three aspects are most important to me: eating balanced, eating only natural foods and keeping it as seasonal as possible.
In the following I´m explain it more:
1. What means balanced for me? Firstly, it means to eat a wide range of different kinds of foods that are healthy: colorful fruits and vegetables, whole grains and potatoes, good proteins sources from animals and plants and of course good fats from nuts, nut butter, seeds, higher quality oils and fish. It´s not about following it very strictly such as measuring eating every day at least 400g of veggies or reaching the 20% proteins and max. 10% of saturated fats. Most of these, are just recommendations and it´s always important to think about how you feel comfortable. The second thing is, that it´s normal to have exceptions such as eating an ice cream with normal sugar when going out with friends or having your favorite pizza on a family dinner night. If you cut these things out, you might start to feel uncomfortable with your diet, which should not happen. Therefore, it´s up to you, to find out, how often you go with these exceptions and which kinds of foods really make you feel well!
2. What means eating naturally? I always prefer homemade foods and never processed ones. A fruit yoghurt, packet noodle soup or frozen lasagna from the supermarket is besides the health aspect, also not yummy – at least in my opinion. If you get used to a natural taste, like me, you might don´t like these foods anymore. That´s the same with sweets, when you are used to eat 70% dark chocolate, a milk chocolate is lacking the bitter cacao taste. There are of course higher quality processed foods such as a pesto with a good ingredients list and that´s why you should always keep an eye on that when you do your food shopping.
3. Why eating seasonal foods? It´s better for the environment and better for you. Seasonal fruits and veggies, contain more vitamins and minerals as they are not stored for a long time. They taste better than a half year old pumpkin in spring and it keeps your diet more interesting as you are naturally eating different meals. Honestly, I wouldn´t be excited for the first strawberries in spring when I could buy them all the time!
A little note: I´m a nutritionist as I´ve done an online formation in Germany – However, I still keep learning about healthy eating and changing my own style from time to time. This is just my opinion about what I consider as eating healthy.