How successful were your resolutions for this year? Right now, at the turn of the year, the time for a new beginning has come for many people; their wishes often concern their own health. foodmagazin.de spoke to a nutritionist.
Bastienne Neumann has been concerned with nutrition almost her entire life. Because she was already training as a judoka at a competitive sports level in elementary school.
Food in your CV
For the then six-year-old, there was always pressure to maintain weight, lose weight, gain weight – depending on which weight class the trainer saw her in. To do this, she took measures such as throwing away the school lunch. At the age of 16 she tore her cruciate ligament, missed training for a year, then a second operation with a long-term break from training, then a third, until she finally realized that with her knee she would never be able to train judo at the previous level again. “During these years, I experienced for the first time that I no longer had to control my food. Until then, I only knew food as a tool for weight regulation.” Without exercise and the necessary food regulation, she gradually gained 25 kilograms. After graduating from high school, she decided to change her main problem to the center of her life and moved from Lübeck to Stuttgart, where, in her opinion, it was best to study nutritional sciences. Here she was able to complete and deepen her previous knowledge of nutrition, such as the biochemical processes in the human body. Until then, she hadn’t figured out how she could apply the theoretical knowledge in practice. To be precise, until she discovered nutritional psychology, which had previously been a small, inconspicuous discipline within the institute. “It’s only a small subject, but for me it’s the missing piece of the puzzle,” she sums up. For example, for her, food was a reward after competitions, a knowledge that plays an important role in life. Even before the end of her studies, she started her podcast “Nutritional Psychology Made Easy” in 2017, which brought her to the top of nutrition podcasts with at least five million downloads.
Eat healthier and exercise more
According to Statista, the average German’s list of resolutions for 2024 comes right after “save more money”, “do more exercise” and “a healthier diet”. On the one hand, the expert sees the reasons for this from an aesthetic point of view, so that the clothes fit better again or you feels more attractive. On the other hand, there may also be health reasons, such as fear of diet-related diseases such as diabetes and cardiovascular diseases. The measures to be taken often include diet. “Intermittent fasting, low carb, but also calorie counting or simply FDH, i.e. eating less, are popular at the moment,” says Bastienne Neumann. As an alternative, she sees intuitive nutrition, where you listen to your body and eat what your body needs, until you are full. But she points out: “This then includes self-analysis, to what extent, for example, it is the body or perhaps the soul that craves food. If in doubt, a psychologist can help you identify whether diet serves as a band-aid and whether the wounds underneath are something completely different, perhaps based on traumatic experiences.” Of course, resolutions can also be much smaller: for example, no meat or no red meat to eat or avoid sugar or alcohol.
New year – new me
In the new podcast episode of “Nutrition Plus – the Foodcast,” Bastienne Neumann explains what New Year’s resolutions are all about and why they often have something to do with a change in diet. The expert talks about how you can overcome your inner bastard, how enjoyment should never be neglected and how you can use the SMART rule to not only implement your resolutions, but above all to make them successful. The podcast is available online on Spotify ( Apple Podcasts ( or all other common podcast and streaming platforms.
Smart option
Basically, the nutritionist recommends not viewing resolutions as compulsion. However, an exception to this can be a medical diagnosis from a doctor, and in this context the beginning of the year is used as an encouraging start to therapy. In addition, resolutions are sometimes overloaded, losing ten kilograms in a few months doesn’t make much sense, says the podcaster. She recommends formulating one or two resolutions that you want to and can stick to. In order to stay on track and for motivation, you should seek support from your family and friends. “It’s even better if you find a friend with similar goals, a kind of fateful partner with whom you can carry out your resolutions together,” recommends the nutritionist. Specific groups on social media may also be able to help you find a destiny buddy.
That’s all well and good, but how do you ideally formulate a resolution? The podcaster recommends the SMART formula, which is not only smart, but also an acronym for: Specific, measurable, attractive, realistic and timeable. Specific means that you don’t just say “I move in some way” but get specific, for example by swimming, jogging or going to the gym. In this context, measurable means how often do I plan to do something, on the weekend or three times a week? Attractive simply means: “Am I up for it?” For example, the pasta lover shouldn’t necessarily go low-carb, but rather try switching to whole-grain pasta, which is more filling. In this context, Bastienne Neumann points out that, especially with pasta dishes, it is less the noodles that are the big problem, but rather the sauces, such as a hearty cheese and cream sauce. The same applies to dressings for salads. In this context, she also mentions the Volumetrics concept, in which foods with a higher calorie density such as pasta are added to other foods with a lower density such as vegetables in order to lower the base content. Realizable means not setting goals that are too high, like losing around ten kilograms in January or being able to take part in the marathon in March. Instead, a ten kilometer fun run in May might be far more effective. Scheduling means choosing a specific time by which you want to have achieved your goals. It is also helpful to set intermediate goals to recapitulate the strategy.
Open to new
But how should you decide on the right sport? Some modern sports such as bouldering have only emerged in recent years. The expert advises: “If you don’t have your own wealth of experience to rely on, it might be helpful to be a little more experimental. For example, a resolution could be to take part in a trial lesson on a new sport once a month. You should also take advantage of the opportunity to seek advice and coaching from trainers in the respective environment. Ultimately, your family doctor can also make recommendations. However, personal experience about your own body is difficult to replace.”
Conscious enjoyment
You’ve broken your own resolution sooner than you’d like, what now? “Get over it and move on,” is the answer. Ideally, you learn from such “cases of sin” and think about future strategies. “I’m a big fan of not forbidding yourself anything, but of having the upper hand when playing with fire. A classic example is chocolate. You can enjoy this consciously. If you pay attention to how a piece melts in your mouth, what kind of spices are in the chocolate, how the melted chocolate feels in your mouth, then you may not need that much of it.” Conscious enjoyment is a general recommendation from her: “You can celebrate food by, for example, lighting a candle. Chewing thoroughly instead of hastily swallowing is also very important. “In addition, you can enjoy home-cooked food more than ready-made meals if you are aware of how much work and care goes into it.” She has a nice exercise for this: While you are chewing, you should put the cutlery aside and pay attention to what is happening. It is also important not to confuse hunger with thirst. “Many people generally don’t drink enough and are constantly running to the fridge, even if they actually just need a glass of water.”
Keep going
Sinning is one thing, forgetting your intentions because you are stuck in the usual rut is another. “Whoever writes, stays,” smiles Bastienne Neumann and recommends hanging a note of resolution somewhere clearly visible where you can see it every day, for example on the inside of the wardrobe, where it is not generally visible. . Just as well, you may suddenly find yourself idle after weeks and months, your development stagnating. “Stick with it!” is the advice. Remind yourself of your goals, especially talk positively to yourself and, if necessary, take a break until next week or even next month. “Because there is magic in every beginning,” she quotes Hermann Hesse. Doing nothing at all is unproductive.
Article teaser image (above): maniacvector – stock.adobe.com
2023-12-22 12:55:38
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