Eat, meet, live and learn. Sharing stories for everyday food and health.

Meet Foodadit – Nele Heinemann

  • Nele Heinemann Foodadit
On 1st July 2015

With Foodadit, Nele has embraced her passion for food and health, connecting this with her innate ability to share the information she has with those around her. Nele is unafraid to try things out and in doing so, she has found a healthy balance between nurturing her body without the feeling of being in the wrong if she doesn’t always follow the same approach.

Alanna
How did you start to connect with food?

Nele
It goes back to when I was growing up – my grandfather has always been really interested in food and he made me aware of it. He used to be a hunter, then he turned vegetarian and now he’s almost vegan – having a close relationship with him and seeing his approach evolve over the years has had a big influence on me.

Alanna
Have you always followed one particular approach with your diet?

Nele
No, I was a vegetarian from when I was around sixteen and then I became vegan and slowly I’ve added some fish and even some meat here and there.  Lately, I’ve also been really interested in the Paleo diet due to the benefits it’s said to have on the body.  I would say I’ve tried and tested many kinds of diets and while I used to have a rather strict approach, it’s now more like trial and error. I try to stay clear of gluten as it really does make a difference in how I feel – but apart from that it’s now about what works for me.

I think what’s important is to take the dogmatic side out of following specific diets or lifestyle approaches and to make them more accessible. To follow some diets you need special types of equipment and that can demand a certain type of lifestyle. What I find so enjoyable is figuring out how to connect everything so that it works for your own situation.

Alanna
Do you notice a direct impact of what you are putting into your body?

Nele
When I eat certain foods, I become so tired that I don’t have any energy. If I have too much caffeine for example my energy levels spike for five minutes and then they just crash, so I definitely feel a direct correlation. Eating a variety of fresh fruits and vegetables provides me with much more energy in the long term with no ill effects. I regularly go to the farmer’s market to buy fresh fruit and vegetables to make salads and smoothies and I feel the freshness and the crispness of the food just transfers directly to your body.

I feel the freshness and the crispness of the food just transfers directly to your body.

Alanna
What do you find works best for you at the moment?

Nele
There were so many things I didn’t really eat when I was younger, though I’m conscious they do so much for me now. I never really liked coconut for example, as I only knew it from Bounty bars and now I have coconut oil every morning! I also eat coconut cream and I just feel it’s so good for me. I’ve read a lot about it and if I don’t eat it I just really miss it! I always feel so much better when I combine my food choices with things like yoga and meditation.

Alanna
What do you think is the best approach to connect people more to food?

Nele
I particularly remember when we spoke to Entretempo Kitchen Gallery and Tainá described how they went into elementary schools and cooked with the children. I think when people are learning without even realising it brings back the joy into education. Encouraging people to want to learn can only be a good thing and cooking is a great way of doing this.

Article by Alanna Lawley
Pictures by Kasia Zacharko

With
Nele Heinemann

diet types

Nele Recommends

Eating coconut with just about everything