"Change your Nutrition, change your Life!"
© BCB / Roland Justynowicz
Working at night, long shifts, constant movement, shaking and hauling, high volume and enormous crowds, bad and sometimes cigarette smoke-filled air ... working as a bartender is physically enormously demanding and not really healthy. This makes proper nutrition all the more important: it protects, gives energy and increases the quality of life. At Bar Convent Berlin 2022, nutrition and health expert Iain Bell revealed his secret recipes.
Of course, everyone is familiar with the pictures of bursting bars and guests crowding around the bar that Iain Bell shows at the beginning of his talk - and what looks like a good atmosphere to the audience is often pure stress for bartenders. How do you counter it? How do you get through shifts like that? Coffee, more coffee, nicotine, a beer, a shot? And rarely healthy food, if solid food at all.
Bell knows exactly how it goes: for more than 30 years, the fitness and health expert has accompanied the industry with his "Bartenders Manifesto" project, hosting workshops for the industry and taking bartenders on retreats. There, they spend days fasting and kickboxing. Bell has founded the Executive Fitness Foundation, which looks after health and safety in companies, works with the renowned Royal College of Surgeons of England, and advises a range of people, from Olympic athletes to addicts, on better nutrition.
More energy, better work, increased quality of life
Permanent fatigue, inefficient work, low self-esteem, constant colds, burnout - all this is quite common in the bar world with working conditions combined with poor nutrition, Bell said. With pH test strips distributed, he had the audience test their saliva - the further the measured value goes into the acidic range, the higher the risk of disease or immune deficiency. Bell's immediate tip: Drink a liter of water with lemon and ginger slices in the morning - this has an alkaline effect and thus counteracts hyperacidity. He himself does this every day and prepares his drink as early as the evening before.
Cocktails for more Well-being
How do bartenders achieve more energy and health? Bell has brought along recipes that can be mixed in a blender - which of course appealed to the audience - and can therefore be prepared almost like cocktails. For example, "The Blaster" for lots of power during work: walnuts, almonds, pumpkin, sunflower seeds, coconut milk and frozen berries off into the blender and mixed into a delicious smoothie before the shift - the drink prevents energy loss, fatigue and hunger during the shift. Expensive fresh fruit isn't necessary for this, Bell recommends using frozen anyway because it's higher in nutrients, and taking a mix of berries, mango, seeds and nuts blended and bottled in a thermos to work with you.
The drink for detoxing
For detoxing and relieving the liver, Bell recommends the "Liver Flush":
- Juice of 2 oranges
- Juice of 2 lemons
- 2-3 fresh garlic cloves
- 20 g fresh ginger with peel
- 20 ml extra virgin olive oil
- a pinch of cayenne pepper or a small fresh chili pepper
- some fresh parsley
Preparation: put all ingredients in a blender, blend until smooth and drink immediately.
Usage: drink in the morning and in the evening for 3 days, do not consume alcohol, red meat and white carbohydrates like pasta or bread, in addition drink at least 2 liters of water a day
Result is less fat in the liver (will be eliminated), reduced risk of inflammation, 1-2 kg weight loss, bright eyes, turbo energy boost and a great feeling, according to Bell.
The intestine reveals how we feel
Anyone who has read the bestseller "Gut with Charm" has known for a long time: listening to your digestive organ and understanding its signals makes a significant contribution to a greater sense of well-being. "Ninety-five percent of your mental state comes from your gut," says Bell, and makes it strikingly clear with the famous "Bristol Stool Scale." The graphic shows how the human excrement is ideally shaped when digested well - science distinguishes seven types, number three and four should come out the back. The right microbiome/intestinal bacteria are important for a healthy intestine. Where can you find them? In fermented foods, for example. In Germany, the land of sauerkraut, people are actually well provided for, says Bell: "Just add sauerkraut to the smoothies you mix yourself - other fermentation products such as kimchi, kefir and kombucha also work - and the feeling of happiness can come.
Iain's super salad
Bell himself prefers to eat sauerkraut with a piece of mackerel and salad. Not just any salad, but his self-created "super salad" with red cabbage, baby spinach, mushrooms for vitamin D, cilantro for more oxygen to the muscles, pomegranate seeds, lemon juice and extra virgin olive oil. Everything is chopped to break up the fiber, and is stored in a fresh-keeping bag or box and left to steep in an airtight container so the nutrients can work their full potential. The pro promises 20 to 30 percent more power per shift. He also advises pre-cooking pasta and leaving it in the refrigerator overnight, which reduces calories by about 50 percent because some of the starch becomes indigestible. Cook the tomato sauce for it again with extra virgin olive oil and add milk protein - a healthy dish for more power behind the counter.
His advice to the audience in closing, "Focus on yourself. Not on the drinks, not on the bar, the sales, the brands, but on you. No one is doing it for you but you. Make a plan, change your lifestyle and your whole life will change. Your head will clear and you will feel better than ever before."
