How I Developed My Own Healthy and Creative Cooking Method
About what formed itself in hindsight, revealing all that was hidden under the surface. A learning process without end, that is creative and joyful, with limitless possibilities at all times.
Back in 2004, I started cooking for myself. As a 16 year old, i just started from scratch. I knew how to make a sandwich, an omelet, or to warm up a pizza in the oven, but that was basically it. With my football coaching career as my main aim, and still being in school, there were these little time pockets in between afternoon and evening that I had to create my own dinners. Off I went, experimenting with pastas, rice curries, potato fries, and a lot more. It was just to provide for myself, so that I had the necessary energy for my coaching practices and the football practices with my own team. Or so I thought, for about 16 years. It turned out to become so much more.
Tradition wise, within the family that I grew up in, meat was the central ingredient in almost any dish. Everything was created around that, whether it was a hamburger, some spiced chicken or beef, or frequent treats like sate, meat was on the plate. Together with caramelized onions, loads of them. Fruits and vegetables were not that popular, especially raw. I can’t imagine having a raw salad for example, throughout my whole childhood. There might have been some on the side, but that was it.
Each week had the same pattern:
Monday’s typical Dutch cooked veggies and potatoes, like cauliflower or endive, together with a piece of meat and some gravy;
Tuesday’s boiled rice or bami (noodles) with chicken and knorr nasi or bami goreng spice mix. Occasionally with spinach and bacon. Often with sate (peanut butter) sauce;
Wednesday’s always homemade potato fries with meat, and the typical sauces, like mayonnaise, curry, ketchup, apple mousse, etc. Loads of salt on top;
Thursday’s was an attempt for Italian, with spaghetti or macaroni bolognaise. Meaning, the knorr or honig spaghetti or macaroni spices mix version, with stir fried beef (lot’s of spices), and a pre-package of Italian pasta vegetables;
Friday’s mostly fastfood takeaway, Chinese or to a snackbar as the most popular choices. Occasionally hamburger and chicken sandwiches or kebab skewers prepped at home;
Saturday’s mostly the same as Wednesday’s, while watching the Saturday evening football matches on TV;
Sunday’s a day for tomato soup with meatballs and veggies, veggies soup, or pancakes in the afternoon. And in the evening often meat sandwiches or homemade pizza.
Stepping out of My Comfort Zone from the First Moment Onward
The more this pattern repeated itself, the more boring it became for me. I longed for some variation, some new flavors and combinations to try out. That became my aim to start with. One of my first changes was with the awful spaghetti or macaroni sauce, replacing that with a bottled version. Since Heinz was the main brand in the supermarkets and popular on TV, I went for that one. Together with whole grain spaghetti, looking for options that were more healthy. I had this from the very beginning, don’t ask me why. Somehow it caught my attention and became a deep fascination for me, out of curiosity.
What I loved to do, was to look at foreign cuisines, especially Asian. Trying out different spice mixes, playing with sate sauce variations, using other types of vegetables, you name it. Slowly implementing changes, over and over again. Once I had access to the Internet, on my own desktop computer, searching for recipes online became a habit. Attempting to copy these recipes didn’t work out for me, it wasn’t mine. The flavors turned out less appealing than I would’ve expected. In return, I made my own version, without looking too much at ratio’s, cooking time, etc. For a long time, it was moving back and forth between following a (type of) recipe and going my own way. Always raising my standards, by stepping a little bit further outside of my comfort zone and leaving behind what didn’t work any longer. It probably takes a while to count the number of failures along the way. None of them slowed me down though, rather the opposite. It simply helped me to stick to my beginner’s mind, like a novice on his way to mastery.
Simultaneously, with my coaching career, I developed a deep understanding about the human body and how it functions. Getting the highest potential out of every individual was one of my biggest qualities, and it still is. This self-study brought me a lot of insights about food, cooking methods, diets, and all that you can think of connected to this. Both the study and cooking for myself were growing along each other, from both sides I got lot’s of inspiration. Learning about processed sugar and the detrimental effects to health and the body lead to a personal challenge to cut it out completely. I started with checking all the ingredients, and leaving out anything that contained processed sugar. Without a clear goal or deadline, this challenge lasted for over a year. It was one of my most energetic and powerful periods in my life. I can still see the faces of the people that I said ‘no’ to over and over again. Eventually, they just stopped asking, which is quite relieving!
Going Back and Forth between Creativity and Traditions
Some people were more aware, and started to ask questions. About sugar, certain ingredients, healthy food in general, as well as the body. A lot of times, it was related to pains, immobility, stress, or depression. Family members, friends, colleagues, and relatives had one thing in common. They all wanted to feel better, and they didn’t knew what to do or how to do it. Wherever I could, I gave tips and directions what to look for. No pressure, just try it out for yourself. In most cases, I went to the extreme, I wanted to know everything. That was a bit too much, especially within family. Over time, the distance was growing slowly but steadily. More and more I developed my own style, while every now and then turning back to family traditions. And although the latter was tempting in the short term, I knew that it wouldn’t last. Throughout the years, I became known to find any good restaurant or place to get the most delicious food. Every type of cuisine I tried for myself first, to get inspired and create something even better myself.
My creativity and curiosity were way stronger than anything else. Each dish became a unique version of itself. Without the urge or need to repeat a recipe, to write it down, to create something twice. The journey itself is a lot more fun when keeping options open and tweaking a bit here and there. I can still remember my first leeks, coconut, and mango sauce, together with noodles and stir fried onions and garlic. Somewhere around 2015, already 10 years in my cooking process. Totally absorbed in the process, I enjoyed the whole experience. In my imagination it was wonderful, until I took my first bite. That blew me away, better than all my expectations upfront. When I sat down to enjoy every bit of it, my phone rang. A friend of mine, a fellow coach, invited me to visit his football match at his new club, that started about 20 minutes later. Within 5 or 10 minutes my plate was empty. Not my style at all, as I always take my time to enjoy my food to the fullest. Despite some moments of rushing through a meal when in a hurry, at all times I return to this, it’s a non-negotiable.
In between, I had some experiences with various types of diets. For example, midway in my twenties, I wanted to gain weight and muscle. I had a very lean body, which was great, my mind wanted something more. During my football matches, I played against opponents that looked like giants, with a lot more physical strength. A lot of occasions during matches, I was caught off balance. Learning about proteins for building muscles, I started a low carb and high protein diet. And starting off great, it all seemed wonderful. Months later I found out that I had more muscle cramps than ever before, a lot of belly fat that was foreign to me, and especially troubles with energy and sleep. Through experience I learned that following diets like this is very detrimental, it just sucks.
Bumping into Plantbased Food and Nutrition Opened My World
Fast forward to September 2020, where I’m following a 12 week food sensitivities protocol. The first 4 weeks was cutting out sugars, especially the processed ones. Music to my ears! It went very well and was easy to catch up with. The second period of 4 weeks was high protein, low carbs. Very familiar to me, with my former diet attempt, also easy to stick to. The last 4 weeks became the most interesting period, cutting out all animal proteins. Plantbased only, my first time, and life changing. A few days in, I attempted to make a raw salad, consisting of multiple types of leafy greens. It tasted awful, with little to no flavor at all. I scratched my head, what to do with this? The next day, spontaneously a thought came up. I used spices and mixtures a lot, but had no idea what they tasted like individually. So I started tasting, chewing on cumin seeds, putting my finger in a jar of cinnamon, I tried them all. Creativity coming alive! Within no-time, I developed my own combinations, out of the blue. The one more amazing than the other. With lot’s of recipes stored on my PC and bookmarks, I never looked at them again. Only in high exceptions I search for a recipe, to look up something I’ve never heard of before.
A year before this experience, I attended a nutrition seminar at FC Barcelona Football Club. I was on a stadium tour through Spain and Germany for the whole year, with Barcelona as one of the top locations. I booked a weekend and midweek where I visited a match of the first team (amazing experience!) and booked a seminar about physiotherapy. Being highly interested in the mechanics of the body linked me to this seminar. Out of interest as a football coach to up-level my skills, I booked a nutrition seminar as well, with zero expectation. The seminar about physiotherapy turned out to be boring, very formal and theoretical. Totally not my vibe. The next day I went to the nutrition seminar, and within 10 minutes 2 others individually came toward me like a magnet. Reaching out their hand and starting a conversation. Before I knew it, I spend a whole day with 4 others, all experienced nutritionists. They introduced me to numerous people they had connections with, as well as the specialists that gave presentations and the organizers of the seminar. Around 6:30 am I went to the seminar, in the evening there was an after-party in a sushi bar, and I returned to my hotel room around 10:00 pm. With a bucket full of inspiration and joy, I returned home the next day.
My understanding about health and nutrition made a couple of leaps during these years. After September 2020, I started to create more and more dishes without meat, dairy or fish. Out of curiosity and out of joy. What stood out the most for me, was the purity of the flavors. The more raw and natural, the better it turned out to be. In March 2021, I had found HMI Nutrition on Instagram, that posted about a 66 Days program. I decided to try something similar myself. 66 Days of only plantbased dishes, to see if it would stick. Within 10 days I had so much fun, energy, and inspiration, that I didn’t look back any longer. My decision was final, no more meat, dairy, and fish for me. A few days before I started, I came home from a walk in nature, I consumed a giant plate of Greek gyros and grilled meat, together with french fries and lot’s of tzatziki yogurt sauce. That’s how fast it can go.
A Cooking Method where Strategy and Creativity Meet Each Other
Now, after 2,5 years of plantbased only, and multiple detoxes and cleanses done, creativity is limitless for me. Since mid 2020, people starting pointing to me that I had something unique with my creative cooking. It all sounded nice, but I ignored it for most of the time. There was no motivation to make this a thing, and the attempts that I tried differently weren’t working out well for me. For example, I’ve been telling myself that I’m not that strategic and that focus is often a challenge. When looking at the surface and moving throughout every day life, it’s easy to think that progress is lacking. It seems to go all very slow, with my mind looking for the big decisions and the giant leaps to take. While of course this is all beautiful and something to strive for, it paints a picture that is a bit distorted. What I forgot to notice in the short term were all the tiny steps forward I’ve maid in the long term. So easy to get distracted when looking for more. All that I need right now I already have.
What I know now, is that since 2004 I’ve been developing a cooking method, one that has changed my life over and over. It has proven itself to work with numerous cuisines from all over the world, as well as the cooking styles that come along with that. Cooking from home, at the camping, with strangers, in a giant shopping outlet center, at work, you name it, it all works. It even works when living on the street, without a roof over my head. Having no time, no experience, no energy, no motivation, it’s all not a problem. It’s actually the opposite, each one of these variables adds to the fun, to the quality and to the whole experience. Curiosity and creativity in the lead is all that it takes. Looking back, I realize now, that I’ve got a laser-like focus and a strategy that brings me the most in every situation. A strategy of aiming for getting the maximum out of what I have represents my masculine mind. Coming from a place of beginners mind opens up my view, it helps me to see every ingredient as if I see it for the first time. This represents my feminine creativity. Both go hand in hand together in harmony. The only thing I need to do to activate this, is being present in my body.
The more I look back at the transformations I’ve maid since my first plantbased experience in September 2020, the more that I’m amazed by it. During that period of time, I knew where to find the best quality meat, the best restaurants (not the expensive ones, but the ones with real, authentic and high quality food), and everyone close to me knew who to ask for advice. Back in March of 2021, I experimented a lot with alcohol, trying out basically everything except beer (also using alcohol with cooking). The first time I tasted a mandarin was at the beginning of my thirties. The first time I ate broccoli was late in my twenties. Once the seed was planted, visiting the Saturday market in Rotterdam-Zuid became my greatest joy, like a weekly Artist’s Date. Every time I went, I was scanning for new fruits or vegetables that I had never tried before. With a car full of fruits and veggies I went home, enjoying the purity of flavor in each ingredient. The moment my meat, dairy, fish, and alcohol consumption reached their climax, I dropped it all. At the same time, I stopped my football coaching career as well. What has remained ever since, is what brings me the most value, healthy and creative cooking and studying the mechanics of my body. And it has brought me more creativity, joy, and inner peace than I could ever imagine to be possible.
Key takeaways:
Creative and healthy cooking doesn’t follow a certain cuisine or cooking style. Instead, you can create in whatever style you want, at anytime, wherever you are. You become the creator of your own delicious, healthy, and nutritious food. And at all times, you can choose whether you want to cook Indian style, Vietnamese, Mediterranean, Italian, or a combination of all. Your creativity is limitless!
Creative and healthy cooking helps you to narrow down your focus. You automatically start looking for fresh and pure ingredients, reading labels of pre-packaged food, and what stores to go to for the best quality ingredients. This is your strategy developing itself over and over again, you become the master of your own kitchen. Saying ‘no’ and sticking to your values never has been so easy!
Having a healthy lifestyle has nothing to do with being ‘vegan’ or ‘plantbased’ or any other form. It is about your intention to do everything you can live as healthy as possible. Start where you’re at and focus on getting the most out of what you already have. Aim for what you want more of, and it automatically comes your way.
Making life changes is easy with your creativity in the lead. Instead of a linear step-by-step process, where someone tells you what to do when, you’re able to make giant leaps forward in no-time and without effort. It still requires work and effort, the joy that comes out of your creative pursuit takes the heavy load from your shoulders.
Sticking to certain habits because of family traditions has nothing to do with you. Look at you current patterns and ask yourself if this is coming from your own choices, or if it’s heavily influenced by the family or community that you’re a part of. Next, ask yourself if this truly resonates with you, or if you want something else. Focus on what you want, instead of trying to fit into a group or concept.