With World Health Day not long behind us, we thought we'd take a look at the 14th DGE Nutrition Report (the German Nutrition Society's report) and see what's going wrong and what's going right in the way we eat. What causes a rather poor diet, and how can each of us help make Germany "healthy"?
Summary of the nutrition report
The DGE Nutrition Report was published on 24 November 2020 and looks at the eating habits of Germans. A few tendencies and trends stand out.
More vegetables and less fruit
Let's start with the good news. Germans are relying more and more on vegetables, and pork consumption is falling. Tomatoes and root vegetables in particular have become very popular in recent years. There's another positive trend in drinks too. Germans are turning more and more to mineral water as well as herbal and fruit teas. At the same time, alcohol consumption is falling. Unfortunately, fruit consumption has also dropped. Apples and pears in particular haven't done well in recent years. On the other hand, banana consumption per person per year has risen by 180 grams.
Fewer apples included in the diet
Being overweight is still a big issue
Sadly, being overweight is still a big issue in Germany. Almost 60% of men between 18 and 65 are overweight, as are just under 37% of women. The rise in overweight among children and teenagers aged three to seventeen has stopped in recent years, but it remains at a high level.
Vegan, vegetarian or mixed diet?
The nutrition report also compared vegan, vegetarian and mixed diets. It found that calcium and iodine intake is very low in all three diets. When it comes to vitamin B12, vegans do best. It also showed that children and teenagers who eat vegan or vegetarian in particular eat more fruit, vegetables, pulses and nuts, and are more likely to skip sweets and ready meals.
Possible reasons for this diet
When it comes to nutrition, a lack of knowledge is often the reason for an unbalanced diet. It's mainly adults who lack the knowledge, and they're the ones who should be passing it on to their children. So it would help if children and teenagers built up their own knowledge and if schools dealt more closely with the topic of nutrition and health. The risk of becoming overweight would also fall, and children would develop an awareness of a balanced diet.
Many adults also associate healthy eating with a lot of effort. After all, meals should always be freshly cooked and varied, which takes a lot of time and means extra work. But it doesn't have to be that way, because there are plenty of quick recipes and tips and tricks for fitting healthy eating into any daily routine. To make your healthy life easier, we've put together a nutrition guide too (you get it when you buy a product and with our 5:2 intermittent fasting programme).
It's in your hands
All those statistics and numbers say nothing about you. It's up to you how you want to eat. So start now and do your bit to make Germany "healthy" through what you eat. Maybe begin with a juice cleanse to give your body a restart and to make the new way of eating feel normal.
Sources:
https://www.dge.de/uploads/media/Pressemappe-14-DGE-Ernaehrungsbericht.pdf
On the occasion of the recent World Health Day, we thought we'd take a look at the 14th DGE Nutrition Report and see what's going wrong and what's going right in our diet. What are the causes of a rather poor diet, and how can each individual help make Germany "healthy"?
Summary of the nutrition report
The DGE Nutrition Report was published on 24 November 2020 and looks at the eating habits of Germans. Some tendencies and trends can be read from it.
More vegetables and less fruit
First, the good news. Germans are relying more and more on vegetables and pork consumption is falling. Tomatoes and root vegetables in particular have become very popular in recent years. Another positive trend can be seen in drinks. Germans are relying more and more on mineral water as well as herbal and fruit teas. At the same time, alcohol consumption is falling. Unfortunately, fruit consumption has also dropped. Apples and pears in particular haven't done well in recent years. On the other hand, banana consumption per person per year has risen by 180 grams.
Fewer apples in the diet
Excess weight is still a big issue
Unfortunately, excess weight is still a big issue in Germany. Almost 60% of men between 18 and 65 are overweight, and just under 37% of women. The rise in excess weight among children and teenagers aged three to seventeen stopped in recent years, but remains at a high level.
Vegan, vegetarian or mixed diet?
The nutrition report also compared vegan, vegetarian and mixed diets. It found that calcium and iodine intake is very low in all three diets. For vitamin B12 intake, vegans do best. It also showed that children and teenagers in particular who eat vegan or vegetarian eat more fruit, vegetables, legumes and nuts and are more likely to go without sweets and ready meals.
Possible reasons for this diet
When it comes to nutrition, a knowledge gap is often a reason for imbalance. Above all, this knowledge is missing in the adults who are supposed to pass it on to their children. It would therefore be an advantage if children and teenagers built up their own knowledge and if schools looked more closely at the topic of nutrition and health. The risk of becoming overweight would also fall, and children would develop an awareness of a balanced diet.
Many adults also associate a healthy diet with a lot of effort. After all, you should always cook fresh and varied food, which takes a lot of time and means extra work. But it doesn't have to be that way, because there are plenty of quick recipes and tips and tricks for fitting a healthy diet into any everyday life. To make your healthy life easier, we have also created a nutrition guide (you get it when you buy a product and our 5:2 intermittent fasting programme) .
It's in your hands
All the statistics and numbers say nothing about you. It's in your hands how you want to eat. So start now and use your diet to help make Germany "healthy". Maybe begin with a juice cleanse to give your body a restart and to see the new way of eating as normal. The juice cleanses from frank. are tailored to all your needs. Choose a 3 day juice cleanse, or maybe the 5 day juice cleanse. You can also extend our cleanses with supplements from BIOGENA into a gut cleanse, beauty cleanse or energy cleanse.
Sources:
https://www.dge.de/uploads/media/Pressemappe-14-DGE-Ernaehrungsbericht.pdf
