More broccoli, less sugar: nutritionist shows how to eat well

Created: 01/11/2022, 07:05 AM

From: Stephan Müller-Wendlandt

The strawberry on the way to a tiramisu: In her discovery kitchen, Nicola Alferi introduces children to cooking and healthy eating.

On it she prepares a strawberry tiramisu with her son Luca.

© Screenshot: edl

The nutritionist and owner of “Alferis Entdeckerküche” Nicola Alferi shows little ones how to eat well and adults how to lose weight.

Niederpöcking - The restrictions during the corona lockdowns shoveled uninvited "gold" onto many people's hips. How are you supposed to get rid of those extra pounds? Nicola Alferi would like to help. But the virus has also drastically restricted their field of activity. The nutritionist and owner of "Alferis Entdeckerküche" organizes cooking courses for children and invites to cooking events for adults, which is currently not possible under corona conditions. On her website www.alferisentdeckerkueche.de she refers to recipes for children and parents, gives tips on healthy weight reduction and intestinal health. We spoke to the 52-year-old mother of two sons, aged 27 and 11, about sensible and healthy nutrition.

Ms. Alferi, what was the initial spark for you to start the discovery kitchen?

I started training as a hotel manager.

Then I ended up in the IT industry.

This was followed by training as a nutritionist for children, as a course instructor for weight loss, advanced training on food intolerance and as an intestinal health consultant.

It was the passion for healthy eating and cooking as well as the joy of working with people of all ages.

When did the discovery kitchen at Lake Starnberg start?

I moved here in 2014.

A year later I founded the Discovery Kitchen.

After my second pregnancy, I wanted to try a fresh start.

I've always been interested in cooking and healthy eating, and I loved working with children.

You offer your courses at Gut Dietlhofen, in the foundation house in Pöcking and in the family center in Starnberg.

I agree.

The family center, i.e. the child protection association, made the premises available to me for my own courses.

I was also booked to train child minders on healthy child nutrition.

At some point I had reached a size that the possibilities in the family center were no longer sufficient.

I rented rooms in Berg.

Then Corona came and nothing worked.

I pulled the rip cord pretty quickly and threw myself into further training courses, completed correspondence courses.

During that time, the Peter Maffay Foundation approached me.

Cooking was no longer allowed there.

This gave rise to the idea of ​​making cooking videos for children at Gut Dietlhofen.

But the children's courses are not the focus of your work, are they?

It was you, but the discovery kitchen has grown.

In addition to the children's courses, I also offered correspondence courses on diet changes, nutritional advice together with a naturopath and expanded the workshops for parents.

The concept of weight reduction arose from the lockdowns and the extra corona pounds that I also incurred.

As a result, I won many new customers and was able to keep the discovery kitchen up despite the pandemic.

In one of your videos you can see that with broccoli you also process the leaves and most of the stalk, which many prefer to dispose of straight away.

What other bad habits are there to throw away food components?

Take carrots.

Their green is a great herb.

The rolling papers taste great in a salad.

I often see that people tear down the green in the market and only go to the checkout with their roots.

That's why I advise people to try something, for example to enjoy raw broccoli.

I make it into a raw vegetable salad with apples and an orange dressing, chopped walnuts provide the crunch, this has the full power of the variety of vitamins.

It is especially popular with children, who are often repelled by the somewhat pungent smell of boiling broccoli.

What do you think of the abundance of wisdom to put an end to the pounds, the countless diets that promise nothing.

Is there a lot of stupid stuff in there, or something helpful too?

I get asked by some customers if I can find out what type of diet they are.

I say, just take a look online to see which concept appeals to you, it has to be suitable for everyday use.

If my recipes sound great to customers, then we are already on the way in the right direction.

I don't go on a diet with my customers, I focus on changing their diet.

And how does it work?

First bring the acid-base balance into balance.

Eat a lot of alkaline foods, fruits and vegetables.

When the body is no longer over-acidic, it can lose weight more easily.

That has to be built up over a longer period of time, I don't believe in fast-paced diets.

You can quickly get back to old patterns.

I will be offering the food club in the new year.

The participants are introduced to a balanced diet.

The recipes contain many basic components, but also the controlled acid-forming ones, because these are also important for the body.

Instructions for meal preparation, i.e. precooking for good nutrition in everyday work, and tips for children's meals are also included.

What would you recommend for a healthy diet just off your sleeve?

Drink a lot, i.e. water or tea.

Lots of fruit, vegetables and proteins, not just low-carb, i.e. few carbohydrates, but good carbohydrates like potatoes, for example.

Reduce foods that are heavily modified industrially.

So away from ready meals, that is very important for me.

Reduce sugar consumption.

You don't have to give up everything, but reduce it.

And give preference to fruits and vegetables.

BY STEPHAN MÜLLER-WENDLANDT