Degree of processing, not calories
Not how much, but how far from the original. The NOVA classification sorts foods exactly along that line, and it tells you more about a product than any nutrition claim on the front.
My take on nutrition
Twenty years of product development inside the food industry. I know why a product tastes the way it does, and what that costs — not on the shelf, but in the body.
What follows is my position. Evidence-based, open to argument, and without a list of forbidden foods.
Where it starts
The front tells you what sells. The back tells you what is inside. My former career sat between the two.
I built recipes in which ingredients were not there for their nutritional value, but because they were cheap, stayed stable, or created a mouthfeel that keeps people eating. That is not a conspiracy. It is craftsmanship, and it works extremely well.
Which is exactly why I believe that anyone who understands how these products are made makes different decisions. Not out of fear, but out of knowledge.
“A product that needs thirty ingredients to taste of strawberry has little to do with strawberries.”
What I mean by clean eating
Clean eating has become a buzzword covering almost anything. For me it comes down to three points. No more.
Not how much, but how far from the original. The NOVA classification sorts foods exactly along that line, and it tells you more about a product than any nutrition claim on the front.
My simplest rule: if an ingredient could not appear in your own kitchen, it does not belong in an everyday product. That rules out flavourings, stabilisers and colourings — and explicitly includes salt, oil and sugar.
I eat cake. Some evenings I eat chips. Anyone who turns eating into an exam you can pass or fail has already lost. It is about the proportion, not the exception.
Not because something magical happens in the morning, but because a meal that actually fills you makes the next decisions easier.
Real food
No rules to memorise. These are habits that settled in over the years:
Most of my shopping has no ingredient list, because it consists of one ingredient.
I cook more than I open. That costs time, and I decided to spend it.
Protein and fibre appear in every meal — the two things most often missing in a western diet.
I drink water before I mistake thirst for hunger.
What I do not keep in the house, I do not eat in the evening.
The shopping
At home you only get to choose between the things you brought back. That is the least spectacular and most effective insight from six years of changing how I eat.
So my strongest lever is not willpower in the evening, but half an hour more attention while shopping. And a list.
Free starter guide
And what goes into my trolley instead. With sources for every single one.
Supplements
This is the point where many people get off — and I understand why. The industry has thoroughly earned its bad reputation.
Still, I stand by it: I take supplements daily. Not as a replacement for food, but as a top-up where my food realistically does not get there. Nutrient levels vary with soil, variety, harvest time, transport and storage. An apple is not simply an apple.
What I will not do is claim that any product cures, relieves or prevents anything. I am not allowed to, and I do not want to. A supplement is a buffer, not a remedy.
A considered foundation rather than a dozen single-nutrient bottles from the internet.
I only take what I can dose and justify.
What works for me does not have to work for you. Which is why I would rather talk than recommend.
Where this comes from
Is everything processed bad?
No. Freezing, milling, fermenting, heating — all processing, and all sensible for thousands of years. The issue is ultra-processed formulations: industrially assembled products made from isolated components plus flavourings, emulsifiers and colourings. The question is not processed or not, but how far.
Do I have to throw everything out?
Please don't. Changes that start with clearing out the cupboards rarely last beyond three weeks. Better: replace what you buy most often. Five products that land in your trolley every week move more than thirty you eat twice a year.
Do I really need supplements?
Nobody can answer that in general, myself included. It depends on your food, your daily life and your blood work. What I can say is that I take them, I know why, and I can explain what I look at when choosing. For a reliable reading of your own values, your doctor is the right address.
Do you earn from your recommendations?
Yes. I am an independent distributor for a manufacturer of essential oils and supplements, and I earn from orders placed through me. I say so openly because you should know who you are talking to. I will still only recommend what I have used myself, daily, for years — and everything I say about nutrition can be checked against the sources.
Where are the sources?
In the blog articles. This page holds my position, the articles hold the reasoning — studies, reviews and guidelines, including the places where the evidence is thin or contradictory. If something is not well supported, I say so.
The easiest start
Thirty minutes, free. You describe what a normal day looks like, I tell you where I would start. No meal plan, no banned list, and nothing to buy afterwards.
The information on this page is provided for general information only and does not replace medical advice or treatment. No claims are made regarding the prevention, relief or cure of any disease.