with what you eat…

Can you introduce yourself?

I am a 37-year-old mother with a child who graduated from Hacettepe University, spent great university years, realised her professional dreams, built two brands, namely Formeo and Fitiz; never gave up cooking as a self-educated cook, created a YouTube channel named "Doya Doya Yaşam"  in February 2018 to tell what she wants to, shared her professional knowledge, life, motherhood, and dreams with followers on the social media, wrote 2 books named "Doya Doya Zayıfla" and "Hayallerin Defteri". I am preparing to write a new book and I am soul saying "Every day is a brand new day!" I love writing, travelling, eating, reading, nature, kids. In short I love to live the life to its fullest! I have made promises to the 80-year-old Elvan sitting in her desk, and I am working and producing to realise them.

You battled some weight issues in your university years - a process ending in success. Can you tell us about that process and how you lost weight?

The real story started when I was a child. I was always a hearty eater and fleshy. All my family and friends know my soft spot for chocolate. I remember very clearly the very first day I felt uncomfortable with my weight. In 2nd grade, we had height and weight measured and I was the tallest and fleshiest student of the class. And this was made known to the whole class. It was the first time was worried about and even embarrassed with my weight.

This did not change in the following years. I first went on a diet when I was in college, which I found inside a book named "Lose 3kg in 5 days" in my father's library. We didn't have a bathroom scale at home, so I don't really remember how much weight I lost. This is how my diet story all began. In my college years, I was always carping about my weight and a picky eater. I lost all my extra weight while I was studying for the university entrance exam and then I was 58 kg. However, living in a new city, new responsibilities, and having a life away from my family for the first time had a bad effect on my eating habits and I gained 80 kg in three months. I was responding to my depression attacks eating chocolate, French fries, and other food my mother sent to me. On my first break, I visited my family and my mother couldn't believe how much weight I had gained and kindly warned me about my weight, which once again led me to crash diets. I became 65 kg in one and a half month doing exercise and going on popular diets, which was a process followed by depression. Unfortunately, this was the beginning of a tough period for me. I started to cut myself off from with due to accompanying weight anxiety and depression. I fed on little food and liquids for 24 days, which resulted in 51 kg and anorexic behaviour and depression. I received psychotherapy and nutritionist support for a year. This period contributed to my professional knowledge. Today, I become the "then Elvan" in my relationships with many of my patients. I owe my professional success to her.

Do you have any forbidden food on your list? Is there anything you would never eat?

No, but my diet is based on local food growing in our soils and food produced by brands I trust. I prefer to eat seasonable and enjoyable food. I don't really like saying "I never eat crisps, I do not eat food including gluten" and professionally I believe that this approach should evolve and my colleagues should reach a consensus.

What should be done to be successful in eating healthy food? How can it become a habit?

Diet is a tailor-made model of behaviour as a matter of fact which is affected by physiological, psychological, and social factors. My first suggestion would be avoiding diet and food suggestions such as super food, mixtures for reducing oedema, crash diets etc. Remember that the world is battling with obesity and it is now being defined as an epidemic. It would be great to have a pill or list to solve this problem. A healthy diet cannot be defined with words like gluten-free, alkali, ketogenic, and detox; additive-free, unprocessed, or organic. A healthy diet means eating adequate, balanced, various, reliable, local, and enjoyable food. Firstly, you must analyse yourself and to do this, identify threatening food and make use of them. That is, if eating chocolate is a threat for you, instead of cutting it off completely, know which chocolate to eat and when to eat. Knowing this would be good for a healthy and customised diet program.

You wrote a book named "Doya Doya Zayıfla" (Lose Weight by Eating)? Is it really possible?

To be full up or not is the question. When I said "Losing weight by eating is possible." in 2007 for the first time, people thought that I was crazy. Although they have been accustomed to this idea and many of my novice colleagues use this phrase more often, people still find it weird. Here is my answer to your question: To what extent has the recommendation "Eat less and be more active!" worked for the last 30 years. The answer is clear. The world continues to fatten up. Yes, it is all about to be full up, but you must feed your mind and heart as well. The obesity problem people are facing is the problem of hunger for life. As long as we don't feed our mind with wisdom and soul with love, we put the blame on food. Plates are full, but they do not make you feel you are full up. It has been 12 years since our clients understood that only a diet list is not the solution to weight loss. I tell the story to my clients again. I remind them of the minute they were screaming when they were born and the minute they calmed down and became silent. The bosom of a mother is where we feel both full up and safe, where both the soul and the body are safe and sound. So, it is all about being full up, and we will teach people how to be full up for solving obesity and hunger problems. Being full up not eating but living the life is the question. Then we will have learnt what to eat and how much to eat.

You talk about spiritual satisfaction. What does it mean?

Being spiritually satisfied is both the most important and the most difficult part. Love is the main food of our souls. In order to feed on love, we should touch, smell, taste, and see. In order to nourish your soul and body, you must activate the five senses. For instance, lay your favourite table cloth and put your favourite china and flower in a small vase next to your glass on the table. Put a slice of lemon, a sprig of rosemary and turn on relaxing music. You should put your table next to the window or opposite a picture frame. You must do all these when you are all alone. Remember that you are the most valuable guest, the most talented cook, and the most unique waiter.

Eating a healthy diet becomes more important in summer. What are your recommendations for this summer? What food shall we avoid eating?

You should definitely eat tomatoes, watermelon, and yogurt. There is no certain food to avoid. Be careful about spirits and cocktails containing sugar. One glass of spirits may contain between 150 and 500 calories. Increase the amount of water you drink especially when you are spending time at a beach. You can consume 3-4 litres of water and 1 litre of this might be soda. Preparing a sandwich with whole grain bread would be a good move for lunch to manage daily calorie intake since dinners contain more enjoyable food. I cannot think of a summer without ice-cream, so I recommend you eat 2-3 dollops of ice-cream at about 5 in the afternoon. Enjoy the ice-cream and swim to burn the calories. You should also take omega 3 and probiotic supplements during the summer. Most importantly, do not forget to enjoy your friends, the summer sun, and sleep.