"Just so far," says the biker, who gave birth to her son Maximilian just six months ago. Good food was already part of Brandau's life before the birth of her son, but the way she deals with it has changed a lot. "In competitive sport, eating really causes problems for some athletes. I was one of them," explains the former German champion as she prepares the ground buckwheat with rice milk. "I came from road cycling and became anorexic there. The pressure was enormous. Many of my team-mates had serious problems with food. I destroyed myself. It was only the distance to road cycling that helped," she explains and sits down at the table. Around 25 per cent of all competitive athletes suffer from eating disorders - an alarming figure (study commissioned by the Cologne-based Federal Institute for Sports Science). "I actually think there are many more. Everyone is looking at their watts per kilogramme. But very few people realise that this slimming down doesn't help in the long term. At some point, the body takes revenge. You have to open your eyes to see the victims of the eating mania."
For Brandau, the capital is complete. Although, as she says herself, you never really get rid of it. There's this weighing up in your head of what you can and can't do. "I lived and trained without carbohydrates for a while. You can't do that if you do intensive sport. If you just want to lose weight, you can manage without carbohydrates. It doesn't work for athletes. I was so exhausted that I could hardly get off the pedals. My new trainer helped me a lot and explained physiological relationships to me. That relaxed me and I'm eating again without fear of gaining weight. And what ends up on Brandau's table? Basically everything. The Swabian doesn't make any major restrictions. She tries to limit her gluten intake and only eats organic produce - but she doesn't slavishly go without. "The most important thing is high-quality products. I only eat meat from our organic farmer," says Brandau. Although organic food is more expensive, she explains, you should take a look at how animals are kept and fattened. "The animals are stuffed full of antibiotics." It all ends up in the supermarket and then on your plate. "People eat too much with the euro in mind," says Brandau.
FAMILY FOOD - What do mum, dad and son eat? A small cross-section.
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