This article was written by Take The Magic Step™ staff writers Peter Pippig and Silvie Nohr. Both try their best to eat well while living and working in Berlin. The tips were provided by Uta and nutrition advisor Dieter Hogen.
Welcome to another installment of our “Eat Healthfully for a Week” series. Again a willing subject will keep track of everything she ate and drank for a week while leading a busy professional life, and we will assess the day’s nutrition. Our current participant, Katharina, also kept track of her physical activity during the week. Our first three participants,Marie, Sandra and Stefan, didn’t record their workouts, but we asked Katharina to because she already realizes regular exercise is such an important part of a healthy lifestyle, regardless of one’s diet. As such, she’s a perfect candidate for this next, more advanced part of our series.
As are her predecessors, Katharina is a very busy person with a demanding job, and she sometimes finds it difficult to maintain good diet and exercise habits. If this sounds like you, maybe by reading about Katharina’s efforts and our suggestions, you can see how a few little changes and some planning can help you do something good for your health every day.
Today: Katharina, 30 years old, freelance graphic artist, lives in Berlin-Charlottenburg
Monday
After an active weekend (I went dancing on Friday and running on Saturday), I allow myself a sports-free morning. The only thing I need is a few vitamins and minerals. After that I prepare a delicious old-fashioned Irish-style oatmeal, which consists of goat’s milk yogurt, a little bit of cream, nuts, buckwheat, spelt and oats (which I had let soak in water since last night), half a banana and half an apple, as well as some shredded coconut. Yummy!
For lunch I enjoy leftover mushrooms (which I collected in the forest!) from last night together with a potato. I am terribly thirsty today and am drinking without end. This is good, however, as normally I tend to drink too little. For dinner there is risotto with shrimps. What a feast—I probably eat about a pound of them! To finish, I have a couple of pieces of chocolate with 80% cocoa, along with two glasses of white wine. A truly successful day!
Tip: The food choices are really good! As always, what’s key along with what you eat is how much. So for now, we’ll assume you didn’t go overboard on the rich, dense oatmeal, and just say “well done!”
If you take vitamin or mineral supplements, do so during or right after a meal, rather than without food. Taking the supplements with food increases your absorption of the vitamins and minerals. Also, take supplements only to augment the vitamins you get from food. Adding more vegetables to your meals is a better way to get more vitamins.
In addition, good starches are a great way to add calories if your level of activity is high enough. You can use good starches to manage your weight—if you’re losing weight because of being very active, you can add some, and if you’re gaining weight. then you are probably having too much.
Tuesday
Today I have no excuse for not exercising, and I go for a 40-minute run in the park, which, luckily, is close to where I live. Quickly all the fatigue vanishes. I feel energized for the day ahead of me, but am really hungry. I gulp down an organic wholegrain bread roll. It has raisins in it and is pleasantly sweet. With it I have a latte.
At about 1:00 in the afternoon, I wander down to my office, which is just one floor below my apartment. Completely absorbed in my work, I forget about food for a few hours. But then I cannot wait any longer: I run up to the kitchen and make some rice pudding. Unfortunately, it takes about half an hour until it’s done, so I find myself munching on a few hazelnuts and almonds in the meantime. When the rice pudding is done, I add a few conserved fruits to it.
At night I bake bread with wholegrain spelt flour, pumpkin seeds and oats, so that there will be something for breakfast tomorrow morning. For dinner I have only an apple, as lunch has turned out to be a little too much as well as too sweet.
Tip: Great baking; congratulations! For rice, we prefer basmati, not overcooked, because it produces a nice, gradual release of energy. Parboiled rice is okay, whereas instant rice and jasmine rice tend to cause too steep of a spike in your blood-sugar levels.
Incorporating more small meals with greens, veggies or the like with a small amount of protein will leave you more energized.
Adding good fat in the form of almonds and hazelnuts is a healthy choice. In general, it’s good to have little snacks prepared for your day, so that you can have healthful food within reach while working hard at your desk. Just be sure to portion the snacks so that you don’t wind up munching mindlessly all day long.
Wednesday
The day starts as usual with a vitamin and mineral supplement. Then the reward for yesterday’s hard work: a slice of freshly baked bread—still warm from being baked—with a little bit of butter and a pinch of salt. Aren’t the simplest things often the best?
For lunch I have a big mixed salad with mozzarella and tomatoes. Afterwards I need another slice of bread—with goat camembert and jam. Simply delicious! In the afternoon I snack on hazelnuts as brain food while working.
Dinner is at my parents’ place. Salad as a starter, and then some beef shanks with veggies. Great! Afterwards there is a cheese platter: goat cheese, grapes and, of course, my parents’ special: dates filled with nuts. That was plenty so I need to go for a walk! I walk around the nearby lake at a quick pace for about 45 minutes, and my stomach feels relieved right away.
Tip: You could improve your lunch salad with some good protein like a piece of wild salmon or grilled chicken. As for hazelnuts, we love them, too, but consider them comfort food, not brain food. That’s because your brain’s only source of fuel is glucose, ideally delivered at a constant slow rate through the digestion of low-glycemic carbs.
Thursday
Again I start the day with my beloved homemade oatmeal. When I have all the ingredients on hand, I have it every day. It is simply delicious, and I don’t feel guilty after eating it.
For lunch there is only time for a couple of cheese sandwiches. I put avocado and organic gouda onto two slices of my homemade spelt bread, and eat a tomato and a bit of cucumber with it; delicious and filling. After a little rest on the couch I go for a half-hour run. That brings back my energy and motivation for the second half of the day.
At night a friend cooks for me: Mediterranean vegetables with low-fat feta together with a freshly roasted trout with herbs. What a life—wonderful food without feeling too heavy afterwards! For dessert we have a little snack of walnuts together with a few dried dates. A pleasant evening without any regrets.
Tip: Given the fact that you don’t eat too much hard cheese, your lunch doesn’t sound bad—spelt bread, avocado, tomato, cucumber, all good! We would eat the same in a heartbeat. The trout dinner sounds good, too (but it’s best to avoid the dates, as explained above).
Friday
The whole day I have not eaten much. My beloved oatmeal in the morning was a must, but afterward I hardly had time to eat. Mostly, I stared at my computer screen and just wanted to finish this project. As always, however, everything takes longer than you would expect.
On the schedule for the evening: Barbecue at a friends’ place on their roof-deck. On such occasions you very often cannot choose what you will eat or what is offered to you. This is why we have planned ahead and brought our own favorite barbecue food: giant shrimps and fresh dorade (a type of fish). The pasta salad tastes nice but, unfortunately, is made out of wheat flour pasta (along with arugula, mozzarella, and fresh and sun-dried tomatoes). The prepackaged sweet-and-sour sauce is probably a bad choice as well—I assume there are lots of preservatives and heaps of sugar in it, so I don’t have any.
Our fish, however, tastes delightful, and on top of that is very healthful due to its high amount of omega-3-fatty acids and easily digestible protein. It also does not need any store-bought sauce to taste good! Later, unfortunately, I get a craving for sweets and cannot resist the little chocolates sitting on the table in front of me. Five or six of them disappear into my mouth. It is milk chocolate, too—so full of sugar, but just too tempting.
Tip: The day was okay, and not really a problem because it’s not your usual routine. In terms of the barbeque, you really got away with almost no damage—that can be tough to do, so nice job there.
Again, it’s good to have little snacks prepared for your day to have something to munch on between breakfast and lunch. Keep small portions, perhaps a handful, of almonds or walnuts at your desk. Same thing with fruits, including an apple. That way, regardless of how busy you are, good nutrition is literally at hand and you can sustain a good energy level while concentrating so hard on work.
Saturday
Today I am booked for gardening at my mom’s. The whole day I am stuck in between the bushes raking, picking, crawling. For breakfast I had oatmeal; for lunch, potatoes with bratwurst. What a sin! And afterwards I even had homemade cherry soup from an old family recipe. Who could say “no” to that? Unfortunately, it’s made with a lot of sugar and flour, so I try not to overindulge and only have a small portion. The following four hours are again filled with sweaty gardening, so I decide to skip my run for today.
At night we go to Potsdam’s Palaces by Night and in view of the many food stalls my will power is challenged enormously. Although I start off not too bad with fried herring (a German specialty) and fried potatoes, the temptation of the bratwurst just gets too much, and I give in. What a night! With a full stomach, but happy, I go to bed.
Tip: After a day of such rich foods, try to have only fruits and vegetables the next day to help your body detox. An extra training session would be good, too, as sweating more will help you to cleanse yourself. Little nutritional slips are okay once in a while, but should remain an exception. And if you promise to do better the next day, we won’t comment on the double dose of bratwurst!
Sunday
Breakfast with friends at my favorite restaurant. Unfortunately, buffets make it very easy to eat too much—there is just too much choice! I can hardly recall what I had: scrambled eggs, chicken salad with pineapple, pasta salad, lots of fruits (watermelon, grapes etc.), two whole grain bread rolls with salami and salmon. In addition to that I tried some of the desserts, so all in all it was just too much. I feel stuffed and have a bad conscience.
At night we have invited friends for dinner. We decide to have a vegetables-only barbecue: zucchini, corn on the cob, mushrooms filled with goat cheese and dried tomatoes, and one small Spanish sausage for each which our guests from Mallorca brought. Apart from that, there is salad and whole grain bread rolls.
Tip: A buffet often offers a great selection of unhealthy foods full of fat and sugar. Often, however, you can also find healthier alternatives. For example, wholegrain bread instead of white bread, vegetarian spreads instead of butter, smoked salmon instead of sausage or cheese, etc. Most of your choices at the buffet were good; you just had too much food at once. And certainly there’s no reason to have dessert after what’s already such a large meal.
Although we recognize slipping in your healthy regimen happens, try to avoid a consecutive two-day slide. Stressing your body with the toxins from the day before, and then not giving yourself time to recover, adds even more stress on your liver than if the less-than-ideal days are spaced out. Tip: It’s OK to indulge, just not too often.
Overall tip:
In sum, Katharina is already trying very hard to eat healthfully. She is very aware of what she eats and makes sure she gets enough exercise in her daily life. Overall, she’s doing really well. In some situations, however, she is at risk of making the wrong nutritional decisions when faced with a huge and often tempting variety of foods—especially at buffets. While it is okay to indulge once in a while, she should try to really make this the exception to the rule. It is a great idea to cater for yourself and bring healthy foods to parties that you can enjoy without any regrets afterward.
With small, simple changes, such as adding more nutritious snacks throughout the day, Katharina is on her way to healthy and balanced nutrition habits. All in all, congratulations to Katharina! Her nutrition is already very good, especially on days like Thursday!
