Fast confession – nutritional counselor of the famous, Lada Nosková: Tips and tricks on how to achieve a dream body

How are your clients usually doing before Christmas?

There is a very long break because they want peace and quiet to enjoy Christmas. I think the biggest hustle will come in January. They will be unhappy that they cannot fit into a skirt, that they gained 5 kilos, they cannot wear their ski clothes and such classic stories. But if I went to America for a month in December, nobody would miss me.

Is it really possible to gain five kilograms in the two weeks off?

Yes. I would not believe it if I had not seen it several times during my sixteen-year practice. But most of the time it happens to people who completely let themselves go. They don‘t care what they eat and they drink a lot of alcohol. They don‘t even have to eat cookies, it's enough to eat fatty things. Piles of potato salad, sandwiches, plates of hams and salamis, three-course lunches that they normally don‘t eat...They do not move at all, sitting on the couch at home and during visits. They want to relax, but they are creating health problems for themselves.

You've really scared me now. Is it possible to lose that weight quickly or not?

Fortunately, these are quick kilos, which can be lost in January and February. But why? Why should I treat myself like that, be unhappy, and work for two months? Why should you create such unnecessary obstacles at all? I see this as total irresponsibility and stupidity. But it does happen.

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So what should I do if I don‘t want to gain a significant amount of weight, yet at the same time I want to have my mom's potato salad at Christmas?

Indulge with reason. I am not telling you not to have cookies, potato salad, and New Year's Eve champagne. Surely yes, but there is always a need for borders. Have a clear idea of what my portion is and not overeat. Sometimes we eat out of boredom, there is nothing to do. We don‘t go to work, we sit in front of the television, time passes by. You do not even notice that you have a plate under your chin, ten pieces of cookies on it, and that you've consumed it all during one fairy tale. You will not even realize that the plate is worth five thousand kilojoules, which for some is their daily intake. We should think a little more about these things. The meals that are usually eaten at Christmas are very caloric, unhealthy, and we have no boundaries. Otherwise, it is clear that the result will be bad.

What do the holidays look like in your home?

I have a son and fortunately he doesn‘t like sweets too much. Now it's a little extreme because he's in puberty and he has decided for myself (I emphasize this was his own decision) that he does not want to eat sugar. With every cake, biscuit or anything healthy I make at home, he asks if there's sugar in it. And I say "no, Olie" or just a little bit. Or there is chicory syrup. But that‘s an extreme, I think he'll get over it with time.

Generally, in our home, we do not eat too many sweets. I've made about three or four kinds of cookies that are very alternative. Usually there is not much flour, or some healthier form of it, or it is sweetened with honey, chicory syrup, fruit. This means that the cookies are already lighter. But I think we do not eat much of it over the holidays, it's more for visitors.

As for Christmas Eve, we have potato salad, but I make it really light. I even replace part of the potatoes with other vegetables, either with zucchini, or my little trick is pumpkin. Pumpkin potato salad without potatoes, and is absolutely amazing! We do not eat fried carp, I make salmon or some other fish that I cook in the oven.

We eat normally during the holidays. On the 25th we go to my grandmother‘s, who makes duck, but that's probably the only problematic meal at Christmas. When we stay for New Year's Eve, I always make the usual snacks, lots of vegetables, cheese, ham...We don‘t make sandwiches, we do not eat sausages, pates, and stuff like that. Our Christmas dishes are very similar to what we eat during the year.

Maybe alcohol can be a problem because one wants to have a drink with friends or mulled wine during a walk. This year we went abroad to Canada. But as for food, I really do not have a problem with Christmas, and I do not think about it as a problematic period.

But a lot of your clients certainly do...

Definitely, yes. It's so funny for me, because they're scared of Christmas in advance. "Oh my God, I'll eat again, and I'll gain five kilos again!" That's funny. They know this is a problem, yet they are not able to do anything about it. Or they announce it in advance, they will say it as an apology to everyone. "Yes, I will overeat again, and I'll get fat." And thus they actually don‘t need to take responsibility, because they have already said it, so it must happen. It seems really crazy to me that Christmas is equal to overeating. I do not understand it, I don‘t get it, and it seems totally wrong to me.

You are known as the nutritionist of celebrities. How did it happen?

You help one and they'll tell each other. Because they meet, they compliment if one of them looks better, of course. So yes, it is enough to reach one and then the road to the next one is easier. I did not seek it out, it happened by accident. My first client was actress Kamila Špráchalová. At that time she was playing in a TV series, she was on screen a lot, and the tabloids wrote a lot about her. I then got to other celebrities.

Who among the famous is "naughty" and does not respect your strict hand?

I don‘t have naughty clients and it's a mystery to me. They were all terribly nice and they all followed my advice. Which surprised me, because it is objectively difficult for them. Especially those actresses who play in different TV series. They are dependent on catering, all day on set, often getting up at four o'clock in the morning, travelling somewhere. It's really hard for them to eat well, we do not even realize it. They basically have to rely on what the crew brings them, or what they are "eating" in the film they eat in real life. And sometimes it is very difficult to fit it into a diet. So we're always looking for some kind of crutches, a way to do it differently, or how to choose the right things from the catering.

One of the celebrities I looked after was Jitka Asterová, who was absolutely obedient, it was unbelievable. She did everything I advised, lost six kilos, and she was excellent. The same goes for Lejla Abbasová, she worked really hard and also did a tremendous amount of physical activity. She worked out at home with videos, and implemented everything I advised in terms of meals in practice, and it worked great. Unlike other clients who are not so exposed and under pressure, they were great.

What does it mean when someone says that their nutritional counselor is very strict?

I don‘t know if I'm strict. I think it's a first impression, because I honestly say what I think about it: "It won‘t work like this, we cannot achieve anything here, we have to change it." But I think my method is more "sugar and whip " style. I'll show them what's really behind the line, but I can motivate people, praise for success, and share their joy with them when they stand on the scales and find they have another three kilos down. I sincerely look forward to them and we often hug, we rejoice together. I try to be positive and nice, but if something is not working or unnecessary excuses appear, I will make it clear.

Not long ago you published the book Happiness on a Plate. And now I see you already have your own products.

This is a complete novelty, in my entire career I have never had my own products. They are fast snacks you can have on the go. Instead of buying a baguette or some other crap, you can make a protein shake from superfood that mixes with water only. Or I have amazing bars for the morning and afternoon you can keep in your purse. It helps get rid of hunger between breakfast and lunch, lunch and dinner. They are available in six flavors.

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I had them custom-made, according to my nutritional values, so that they fit into the catering plans of the clients. Now it helps me a lot because it makes it easier for me to work with the client. He or she does not have time to prepare a snack, does not feel like having a knackebrot or rye bread with cottage, or has a meeting and cannot bite into a sandwich... The bar looks sophisticated, it can be unwrapped at a business meeting.

Regarding smokers, is it true that they lose weight more easily?

I don‘t think so.

They have a faster metabolism...

I don‘t know about that. I haven‘t noticed any difference between non-smokers and smokers.

I mean, when a smoker quits smoking and wants to lose weight, his or her metabolism really slows down.

In this case, yes, because smokers use cigarettes to fill in times when a normal person eats instead. They have a cigarette and they no longer need to eat, so naturally they can eat less in the day. When they quit smoking and need to calm down, they go after food. It can be so, and it often happens. I know these stories. "I quit smoking, I gained ten kilos in three quarters of a year." There is a certain logic that food took the place of cigarettes.

Then there is another important interesting effect for smokers: cigarette slightly deaden the taste buds. When they quit smoking, they suddenly find the food tastes more interesting, it regains its taste again. They find that this thing is really sweet and is sweeter than they thought before.

You were on Bali for a month. In some countries, nutritional values or ingredients do not appear on the products. Do you know how to monitor your daily intake in such cases?

The biggest problem I have is with America. Whenever I'm in America, and no matter what state, I have a problem with sugar in food. Even in food where one would not expect it, such as ham or toast bread. This drives me completely insane and I have a big problem eating. I spend two hours longer in the supermarket before I manage to buy the right food because I have to turn everything around, read the label and I cannot choose. There's fast food on every corner and ghastly huge servings in restaurants. I suffer in terms of food very much here.

But there are also countries where I really like it, where I can relax. Such as Bali and all of Asia, because it has the ideal diet for me. I love fresh fruit, vegetables, fish, shrimp, sometimes some rice. I can choose any place from a very common warung, which is a kind of cheap canteen on the side of the road, to some super hipster breakfast bistro. I'll have everything there, because I always get fresh raw materials in excellent quality. Often even in organic quality. It's not my goal, but it pleases me. The important thing is that these are foods that are fresh, do not have an extended shelf life, are not vacuum-packed and do not contain many added substances.

Whenever I come back to Europe from Asia, I am in shock as to how many preservatives and added substances are naturally added to the ham, cheese, yoghurt, and dairy products we eat. Notwithstanding the fact that even packaged bread is preserved. Then I have rather interesting digestive problems for a week or fourteen days before I get used to the European diet again. Depending on the country I am in, it is always very different. But I should probably live somewhere in Asia. (laughter)

So do you want to move there?

I do, but I have to wait for my son to grow up. But I want to.

How do you manage when you go to Bali for a month? What about your clients? They must be crazy!

I‘ve already solved it, and it's my online counseling service. I'm constantly in touch with them, as if I were in Prague, twice a week. They use MyDiet.cz to write reports on what and how they eat. I comment on it twice a week, so it doesn‘t matter which country I am in. I even send them what they should cook through the counseling service. They get ten recipes from me a week which are tailored to them, so it's really easy for them to lose weight.

Support for their weight loss is permanent, they can choose what to cook in their account and never make a mistake, because all the recipes they have recorded are calculated exactly. I see what they ate and write some comment. "You were successful here, add more protein here, replace yoghurt with cottage cheese." I give them this advice at a distance because, of course, I cannot keep them in the blue.

I think the world is getting fat. How do you see mankind in twenty years?

It is a problem, the quality of food is getting worse. We eat lots of substitutes and poor quality foods. What was once pure food, even the common chicken killed in the backyard, is actually being produced somewhere in Libuše. I do not want to offend anyone, but I really have to call it that - the food is produced. Chicken is there for twenty-one days, from that little cute chick to being killed and wrapped in plastic, and that's not normal.

There are a lot of problems associated with this that accumulate over time. And that's just a tiny segment of the food we eat. The same applies to all dairy products, the bakery industry and the like. Food quality is worsened by the need for long-lasting food and the fact that we want it to be available whenever we like. And a lot of food is also imported.

But there is no way out of it...

No, there isn‘t. It is a consequence of the global world. It's not normal, but it's hard to change. We have gotten used to the comfort of having mango and strawberries in January, and so on. There are, of course, people who do not buy these foods, because they understand that there is nothing in them and that it is just matter. But a lot of people buy them, and that‘s just how it is.

Actually, I don‘t even know what should or would have to happen for us to eat in high quality again. I think a time will come when more and more people will become aware of how food is connected to how we feel and how we look. So people on this planet are getting fatter and are thus killing themselves, but there are still many who want to change that.

Lada, thank you very much for the interview. I wish you a Happy New Year.