What should a person eat to feel good? A seemingly simple question, to which however different answers continually arrive. One day a food is indicated as essential for health, the next a new study seems to question it. And so, instead of providing clarity, the enormous amount of information about nutrition can end up creating even more confusion.
It is precisely from this consideration that Uwe Knop, German nutritionist, author and popularizer, starts from, describing his approach to nutrition in an article published on Oeko-Test.
His starting point is particular: after having spent over twenty years dealing with nutrition and, according to what he says, having read thousands of studies on the subject, he says he does not follow an increasingly rigid and detailed diet. On the contrary, he claims to eat more relaxed today than in the past.
Knop first of all invites us not to consider each new study as a definitive ruling on what we should put on our plates. A single research work, he explains, represents only one piece of a much larger picture. In particular, remember that a correlation does not necessarily mean causation: observational studies can identify associations between certain habits and health conditions, but they alone do not prove that one thing causes the other.
It’s a reasoning that led him to stop continually changing his habits based on the latest published research. No more obsessive attention to every single study, therefore, but an overall look at nutrition.
The 3 V principle
And this is where his “3 Vs” model comes in. The name derives from German: the three words used by Knop all begin with the letter V: Vielfalt, that is, variety; Verfügbarkeit, availability; Verhalten, behavior.
In Italian, therefore, the acronym “3 V” partly loses its original linguistic play, but the concept remains the same.
1. Variety
The first V is that of variety. According to Knop, the wider the variety of foods we consume, the less necessary it is to focus obsessively on the single food that is at that moment promoted as a “superfood” or, on the contrary, demonized.
His recommendation is therefore not to eliminate entire food groups simply for fear of a single study or piece of news. The goal is not to achieve a perfect diet in every detail, but to have a sufficiently varied diet over time.
2. Availability
The second V is Verfügbarkeit, or availability. The principle is very simple: what we normally have at home is also what is most likely to end up on our plate.
For this reason, according to Knop, it may be more useful to make foods that we want to consume more frequently easily accessible, such as fruit, vegetables, legumes or dried fruit, rather than relying only on a long list of prohibitions. In short, the environment in which we live can concretely influence our daily choices.
3. Behavior
The third V is Verhalten, i.e. behavior. For Knop, a healthy diet should not depend on the ability to perfectly follow a series of rules, but on habits that we can actually maintain over time. Therefore, it is not just the single ideal meal that counts, but what we usually eat over the weeks.
A very strict dietary rule may be theoretically interesting, but if it is incompatible with our daily life we will hardly be able to follow it for long.
Also listen to your body
In his approach Knop also introduces the concept he defines as “culinary bodily intelligence”. The idea is to pay attention to individual cues: hunger, satiety, tolerance and feelings of well-being after eating.
It does not mean, his reasoning specifies, completely ignoring scientific knowledge. Rather, these should be integrated with one’s own experience and how a certain eating style fits into daily life.
For Knop, in fact, there is not necessarily a universal answer to the question “what should I eat?”. Different people may have different needs, preferences, habits and tolerances.
Three questions before changing your diet
The nutritionist also suggests a small filter to apply when new news on nutrition arrives. Before changing your diet you should ask yourself:
According to Knop, these questions can help you avoid constantly switching from one dietary rule to another. In the end, his basic idea is simple: the best diet is not the one that appears perfect on paper, but the one that adapts to the person, to his daily life and that he really manages to maintain over time.
Of course, this doesn’t mean that all nutritional claims are equivalent or that scientific research has nothing to tell us about nutrition and health. Knop’s message is rather an invitation to interpret individual news with caution and not to transform every new study into a new dietary rule.
