After months of compensatory consumption during lockdown we were keen to listen to an expert in Holistic and Natural Nutrition, Tine van den Wall Bake who provided sage tips on healthy, intuitive eating and how to simply Live Younger Longer.
Tine is an exotic mix of Dutch and Peruvian by birth and judging by her sleek physique and boundless energy she certainly practises what she preaches.
As someone who is partial to the odd kilo of chocolate….albeit mainly dark except for the occasional 100g bar of cremoso milk Lindt that gets snaffled by mistake, not to mention the accidental glass (ok carafe) of Ribera del Duero of an evening I decided to tune in.
I should mention that Tine has more professional qualifications than most country´s political leaders (much more than some currently in the news I shan´t single out) and is a passionate advocate of her decade of research into a healthy holistic lifestyle.
Far from banning what we crave (phew) Tine advises balancing it with as much raw fresh fruit and vegetables as we can. The closer the food the resembles its natural state the healthier it is likely to be. Fortunately ready-made processed food is not so widespread or as palatable here in Spain as it is in some other countries. Apart from Telepizza perhaps. Why on earth would anyone want to order some greasy chewy soggy bread concoction purporting to be Italy´s best known crispy dough product beats me, yet thousands do it.
Tine mentioned energy. Why oh why did our mothers force us to eat lots of food when we were feeling below par. Digestion requires energy to do the job which should not be diverted unnecessarily from making us better. If we feel a bit peaky we need sleep not a Netflix binge deep into the night. Sleep is the most important medicine as some illnesses are exacerbated by the accumulation of toxins from forcing food on ourselves without giving ourselves a break.
Fasting was another subject. Intermittent fasting allows the body to detoxify and recover. I remember Dolly Parton once mentioning that she, like Tine does it carefully once a year. In fact Parton wrote one of her most memorable albums ever, Hungry Again (!) in 1997 whilst fasting and praying to activate her creative juices and sharpen the mind. Parton´s enviable hour-glass curves are certainly an example of someone living younger and longer at 74. Although I´m not sure that fasting is going to help me compete with her bra size.
Long term fasting is not for the faint-hearted and should be done in consultation with a physician. Whilst I appreciate the merits of giving one´s body a break in theory I have only fasted from chocolate once….only to eat triple the daily quantity once Lent was over.
Stress, illness, grief, tiredness all hit our immune system hard. So to give it a boost we should focus on anti-inflammatory foods. Tine recommends regular cups of ginger, lemon and honey or other herbal remedies. Post surgery, anti-inflammatory raw, vegetarian food is best. Having had 3 eleven cm screws pulled out of my hip in the last month I wish I´d been able to eat anything at all. The nurses who brought the food managed to leave it on a table just out of my reach and hobbling on crutches balancing a tray full of packet peroxide-coloured pumpkin soup proved quite a challenge.
Herbal blends can also help to keep our rollercoaster hormones on an even keel, especially in and around peri/menopause. I´m sure my grandmother mentioned that a daily pint of sherry worked wonders for her mood but science has moved on a bit since then.
Apparently our hearts pump the equivalent of one truckful of blood (7,200L) round our bodies every single day and such effort inevitably has an impact on the efficiency of the filters responsible for the quality of that blood. Fasting is a bit like a computer reset. How many times have we spent half an hour waiting on call to speak to a Movistar operator who has managed to solve our huge technological disaster by asking us to merely switch off and turn on again our modem?? Our bodies are the same, we simply need to give them a chance to reset.
Bio-individuality means that we each have an optimum number of hours in which to rest from food through intermittent fasting. Sport, meditation, clean food and yoga also improve the filter process. Effective breathing oxygenates and revives us literally.
Tine gave us lots of food for thought and I´m sure that as a result, there will be quite a few liver-cleansing juice machines on this year´s Christmas list.
As for how she´s found the time to carve out a very prestigious longstanding concurrent career as a global strategic marketeer….that´s another story………
Tine van den Wall Bake only takes on 2 clients at a time in addition to her day job. She can be reached via what´s app +34 637 44 59 32 or you can follow her on Instagram. https://www.instagram.com/@tine_ox