Up until the age of 17, and before moving to Halifax, Nova Scotia, I lived near the city of Cologne, Germany. Despite always being quite a scrawny kid who looked like he wasn’t eating enough, the food I grew up with consisted of a diet rich in carbohydrates. From all sorts of bread, schnitzel, knoedel, sauerbraten, spaetzle and currywurst, German cuisine was laden with caloric quite rich in breads, potatoes, and meat. I loved it.
Did you know that if you translated the German word for dinner (“Abendbrot”) into English, its word-to-word translation would be called “evening bread”? That’s how much we love our carbs. My favorite meal following sports practices was schnitzel with kaesespaetzle (breaded pork meat with a butter-egg noodle, as well as a gravy-rich sauce). I loved the food, and I knew how much I was going to start missing it after moving far, far away.
So I tried my best to start eating healthier. I was determined to improve my eating habits diet by replacing my fast-food a diet— rich in carbohydrates, fat, and sodium— with a more balanced diet composed mainly of more natural foods that didn’t come out of a package. I started to counted my calories through an app, tried my best to follow my new diet, and after about two weeks, I actually started to see results. I began to feel better, performed better in my workouts, and felt better in my own skin.
But despite staying strict bywith eating a balanced diet, the positive effects weren’t consistent. I seemed to have good days and bad days. I still appeared quite puffy when looking at the mirror. Was I eating something that I shouldn’t have? Was I eating too much? Did I have an unknown intolerance towards certainsome ingredients? I had no way to couldn’t answer those questions. Yes, my eating habits had improved, and without a doubt that change took me one big step closer to full health. But I knew I still wasn’t where I wanted to be with my body. eating habits, but I knew that I was one big step closer.
This situation went on for a little while longer. In fact, it was not until I took a general courses on nutrition and then later sports nutrition at Dalhousie university where I discovered the true magic of truly proper nutrition. From not realizing how much nonsense snacks I was having by engaging in a 24h food recall and by carefully analyzing the ingredients in my diet to not having any rhythm in my dietary habits, these classes taught me all the things that I was doing right and wrong.
I felt much more energized! I was finally eating right. And on the exercise front, I was still an avid engaged in soccer player, and had also and having taken up weight training. I felt much more energized. The changes in my diet enhanced my physical performance, and most importantly for me at that time, I started to feel more satisfaction from my workouts. Eating right helped set me up for workouts that would leave my whole body feeling rejuvenated, my self-esteem higher than I have ever experienced before, and my mind free of any stress, worries, or anxiety. By combining a smart nutritional plan with frequent vigorous exercise, I slept well, recovered faster, and I was able to maintain a great body composition that I still have until today.