I always remember a conversation,

I had it with my father and a friend of his, way back when I was about 15 or 16 years old, the time when I was deciding what to do with my life after finishing school.

Since I didn’t know what I wanted to do, my parents recommended that I go to the French part of Switzerland and work on a farm or in a restaurant while learning the French language. I decided on the restaurant, of course, the idea of getting up at 5 am and milking cows didn’t quite enthuse me at the time.

Anyway, after I decided to do that a friend of my dads, who was a restaurant owner in a Neighbouring town, told me during that conversation I mentioned before that the most important things I should follow working in the Gastronomie business were to live a healthy, meaning eating the right foods, stay away from alcohol and smoking and spend a lot of time doing outdoor activities.

After almost 50 years,

In that business now, that conversation is still embedded in my head, I still remember the 3 of us sitting in a restaurant talking about it, all those years ago!

I tried to follow his advice and still do today, I have seen so many friends, and working companions destroying themselves through alcohol, the wrong diets, and or drug abuse; it is not easy to work in a hot, steaming, sweaty kitchen 12 hours a day, especially in the Caribbean and South Florida where most of my working career as a chef found its path.

Now that I am retired, I am reflecting back on how I could have survived all these years without being pulled down into the same ditches as so many of my friends and colleagues. One of the reasons is that I always respected and appreciated my body as being an incredibly wonderful invention by nature!

I am 70 years old now and have never had any major health problems except the normal wear and tear abuse of being a chef, like a sore finger or a trigger finger, and the occasional back pains that I used to have were self-inflicted through a motorbike accident in Bermuda, but otherwise, thank god, still standing strong!

Here are some of my suggestions,

to stay healthy in an unhealthy environment:

Drink a lot of water instead of sodas or alcohol

Drink one glass of red wine every day (pm), instead of beer

Eat as many red fruits as possible (blueberries, cassis juice, red grapes) instead of candy bars

Eat bananas, besides all the other fruits you should eat

Eat nuts instead of chips

Eat whole wheat or grain bread only, instead of toast or white bread

Eat yogurt and cheese whenever, the more the better

Eat a protein bar instead of chocolate; it could be a chocolate protein bar

Walk a lot, or whatever else you do when you are outdoors

Exercise every day, even if it is only 10 minutes

Daily Multivitamins, Vitamin E & Glucosamine

Enjoy everything else but in moderation, eat when your body requests nutrition, and don’t eat just for the sake of eating. Your body will tell you what it requires to be healthy and stay healthy.

If you are a young person,

Thinking of getting into the culinary business? Take my advice, and you shall enjoy a long, happy, and healthy career!

Your Blogging Friend Chef Ulrich Koepf