Bread Talk: Sven Mostegl, Nutritionist
Did you know that 85% of the bread that you eat reduces your lifespan by ten years? And that the saucy hamburger you are biting into right now contains more preservatives than a bottle of coke? I didn’t know any of this either until I met Sven Mostegl, the owner of Baker’s Kitchen.
Mostegl is a renowned baker from the Black Forest in Germany. He utilized his unique knowledge of masters in constructional engineering, Ph.D. in project management, and a lifetime of experience baking from his family business, and turned it into a well-established venture, Baker’s Kitchen. For the last five years, he has played a monumental role in the lives of people looking for a healthier choice in Dubai. Being a professional nutrition expert, he has gained fame and amassed over 11K followers on his Instagram account, @bakerskitchenuae today.
Growing market of bread
Mostegl foraged through his exhilarating kitchen in Dubai Marina during this exclusive interview with him about bread and healthy food. He reveals his thoughts on the diet dominating the olden days, Paleolithic. Due to the industrial and agricultural revolution, people switched to a carbohydrate-based diet, considering its cost efficiency and convenience. As bread is the most well-known and accessible carbohydrate, its consumption proliferated, leading to bread becoming a multi-billion-dollar business. To cater to the needs of the growing market of bread, companies sped up their production methods by using preservatives to cut down costs. Mostegl argues that when bread that is not fermented for a minimum of 24 hours is eaten, the Ph content of your stomach increases, making it acidic in nature. This makes people susceptible to diseases such as IBS and Ulcers. Several prominent nutritional experts that Mostegl worked with have criticized bread claiming it to be the most major disease-boosting carbohydrate in the world. Mostegl declares that what these world-class experts don’t know is that bread can be a healthier and more protein-filled alternative than meat itself.
White or brown bread: Which is healthier?
On a typical Thursday morning, Mostegl was invited to tour farms that specialize in producing wheat. He catches sight of the lead farmer carrying a large glass bottle of pesticides and witnesses him pouring down half its content into the fragile wheat crop. Mostegl frowned heavily at this sight, his fists tightened in frustration, and he departed.
“Some plants are already poisonous in nature,” he says, “Farmers add their poison into it, and then the baker ruins the quality even further with sugar and preservatives.”
Mostegl shares his thoughts on the ongoing debate between white and brown bread among nutritional experts. The word “brown” implies fully fermented whole grain bread, but companies that produce brown bread disregard these basic requirements. White bread is seasoned and dyed with brown colouring, with extra syrups to reveal a brown colour, making it ‘brown’ bread. Several other companies produce brown bread with wheat and exclude other grains to maximize their profits. “Brown bread must be whole grain, not whole wheat”, says Mostegl. Laboratory experiments have been conducted by scientists on brown bread produced by various companies, and they have revealed it to be unhealthier than white bread in most cases.
Cancer in food
During a typical day in his life, Mostegl leisurely strolls around various restaurants advising customers to follow healthy eating habits at every opportunity he catches. He doesn’t expect to gain anything in return, but he does it anyway. Additionally, he recently undertook an exhilarating journey to Tokyo to conduct a speech on eating habits that contribute to causing cancer. Research conducted by the World Health Organization (WHO) shows that 80 to 90% of cancer is caused by over 38 popular bread brands because of the high content of potassium bromated iodate. Mostegl demonstrates in his experiments that gluten is removed from gluten-free bread and replaced with arsenic rice. International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC) has declared arsenic to be cancerous.
“There is no point in replacing one toxic chemical with another”, says Mostegl.
Mostegl’s theories on health are not just specific, but they are the unfiltered truth of the outcome of his experience.
“The idea of eating is to feed your body food to maximize your lifespan”, he shares.
Sourdough bread @bakerskitchenuae
It’s just before dawn at Baker’s kitchen, and after four days of complete fermentation, there is a faint, warm aroma of grainy sourdough bread as Mostegl pulls out 13 loaves from the oven. He bakes his sourdough bread in neat rectangular trays while seasoning it with sun-dried tomatoes for flavouring. To produce keto bread, he has eliminated the use of flour in the recipe to maintain a perfect balance between omega 3 and omega 6 (fatty acids). The keto bread contains carbohydrates in fibre, making it extraordinarily chewy and easily digestible in comparison to the options found in any other bakery. To avoid external contamination, Mostegl and his team at Baker’s kitchen mint their own sour and flax seeds. This increases their cost of production to exorbitant amounts.
“My concept is unlike that of other bakeries,” Mostegl says, “My priority is to make people healthy when they enter my restaurant. The profits find their way eventually.
Consequences of meat
Starvation is a prevalent issue in the world because there isn’t enough food to satisfy the hunger of 8 billion people, but there is enough to feed 65 billion cows because they eat greens. If humans want to survive, meat needs to be treated as unique as caviar. Globally, meat consumption has increased by a shocking number of 58% between 1998 and 2018, excluding the US, where statistics are much higher. If people don’t reduce overall meat consumption by 75%, a report suggests a shortage of beef by 2040. Meat, especially red meat, is saturated and produces amino acids in the body, which cause acidity and inflammations in the lining of the stomach as well as heart diseases. Initially, the average age a human reached was 100+, but currently, 79 years and meat consumption play a vital role in this.
- How can athletes gain the same protein from meat in a vegan way?
During my youth, I was obsessed with building my body and searched for vegan options to build muscle. I catch people saying, “veganism is too expensive,” but that is nonsensical. People lack the knowledge to know where to spend. There is slight variation between the prices of meat and flax seeds. Athletes require protein 1.5 times their body weight in pounds which is 150 grams on average. This is easier to fulfil in a vegetarian way because greens boost your immunity system while providing protein simultaneously. Chickpeas, walnuts, flax seeds, lentils, and countless more foods, if consumed on a daily basis, fulfil the daily protein requirement in a cost-efficient manner. A high-quality fillet would contain approximately 20% protein, but 100 grams of flax seeds would contain an impressive 25% protein and a perfect balance of fatty acids compared to meat which is completely out of balance.
- Describe your experience working at Baker’s kitchen.
“During my young days, I was a national European horse rider. When I went to bed, my heart pounded with excitement for the session the following day. That was the last time I felt the passion in my heart until I opened Baker’s kitchen. I have been baking since I was 9. The credit to this restaurant goes to my wonderful wife and her support throughout my ever-changing career.”
“My team at Bakers kitchen is my family, and my customers are my dearest friends. I work 15-20 hours a day because I love my job. Work is a festive party in the kitchen, and I could not be more grateful.”
