These are the food questions I ask myself every day. Most often, several times a day.
My name is Maxim Kuderov , I am the founder of Zozhnik, and usually articles in a project always firmly stand on the facts from research or on the opinion of recognized experts. But this article is my personal opinion / author’s column.
1. Where is the protein?
I have a trained protein scanner: I remember how many grams of protein any food contains. Therefore, I can roughly imagine if I eat my living wage of 100 g per day (I weigh 77 kg). This is a minimum, usually a little more – at the level of the recommended 1.5 g per kg of body weight per day. At every meal, something is responsible for the protein: eggs, fish, meat, beans, cheese, cottage cheese, milk, etc.
I can catch up with a protein bar as a last resort. But I consider “added protein” in the form of powder or bars as a “crutch” – better than nothing, but only if you can’t walk yourself – that is, you don’t get protein from regular food.
2. Where are the vegetables?
It is easier with fruits and vegetables: we buy for two about 8-10 kg of tomatoes, cucumbers, peppers, onions, cabbage, apples, pears, corn, herbs per week (most of them are one – time at the Hay Market in St. Petersburg). Our task is to eat them all in a week. My mouth has about 5 kg per week, or about 700 g per day. What the WHO ordered and even a little more.
3. Where is the dough?
Under “sauerkraut” we usually mean any fermented foods: sauerkraut, cucumbers, kimchi . Some of the vegetables we buy are used for fermentation. We eat for two about 1-2 kg of kimchi per week, which we make ourselves.
There is a lot to be said for the benefits of fermented foods. They are also delicious.
4. How to diversify?
The maximum variety (within the limits of the kcal norm) is good for the body. For example, if I make a salad, then I add not one to it, but about a little 2-3 salad oils: now pumpkin seeds, rapeseed and milk thistle .
I also add a handful of mixed white and black sesame seeds and pumpkin seeds to the salad.
5. Am I hungry?
Since I grew up, my weight has never gone beyond +/- 2-3 kg from 77 kg. Perhaps this is because I am sensitively guided by the feeling of hunger and satiety (in fact, apparently, a mixture of factors, including genetics). I never eat “for future use” and only if I’m hungry. If I feel like I’m full, I can even leave a tablespoon of food on my plate.
The worst thing that happened to me in terms of food: when they forced me to eat. And if my grandmother was just persuasion, probing the strength of my confrontation, then in a Soviet kindergarten it was a concentration camp-style obligation . My 4-year-old neighbor had half-eaten cottage cheese dumped by the collar, I drew conclusions and ate through vomiting. I remember how I once vomited. Then, as a prize, we were given turns to play filmstrips.
Now, if I am full, I will never finish what is left on the plate. Even if there is just one or two tablespoons of food or a piece of cheese left. This does not mean that the remaining pieces of cheese on the plate go to the trash – we have a dozen containers in which the finished food waits for a few more hours for a second chance to be eaten.
I have breakfast at 11-12 o’clock, only when the first feeling of hunger comes after getting up. I always focus on the feeling of hunger, and never eat without it.
I used to think that having breakfast is unhealthy, but now I know that it is within the norm and entirely depends on personal habits, characteristics, and most importantly, the effect on mood.