#19: Lea Gugler
"[Health is] maintaining a state that makes it possible to be content but not stand still."
Welcome to Health Gossip. Today’s guest is Lea Gugler, a casting director, filmmaker, and friend.
Location: Berlin
Astrology: Capricorn/Libra/Libra
What does health, or being healthy, mean to you?
Maintaining a state that makes it possible to be content but not stand still.
How would you describe your current lifestyle?
My life at the moment is very much focused on the close people around me, and work. I’m trying to get back into routines, as these last couple years have been marked by lots of changes and moving around. I realized that I lost certain reoccurring things in my life that were really necessary, like doing yoga multiple times a week and going to the same place to work almost every day.
I’ve had to become more cautious about what I eat as I started getting these stomach cramps again, which I hadn’t had in a couple of years. This time I really took the time to look into the Alkaline diet and learned that my stomach was too sour, meaning I consumed too little foods that would neutralize the natural acid. This can also be caused by stress, or probably a combination of both. It’s very much affected my mental state recently. I’m getting back into a slower pace now, to be able to be more aware of the triggers.
How do you start and end your days?
Morning: I always drink lukewarm water and apple cider vinegar, then I have a small breakfast — mostly including egg and Kefir, but this always changes. As I work from home, I try to be out of the house as much as I can, so I take a walk every morning before I start what I have to do that day.
Evening: In an ideal scenario, I’ll take the time to have a slow evening with my partner. We’ll have dinner no later than 7pm and I’ll put on my diffuser to sleep (I suspect I have a little dust allergy, this helps me not wake up with mildly swollen eyes). Since the summer started, this has become harder and I mostly just come home from an event, dinner, etc and go straight to sleep.
What’s your relationship to self-healing?
Of course there are a lot of layers to this, but being able not to take painkillers and antibiotics has always been a big topic for me. Growing up in the Austrian countryside, where it’s normal to go to the doctor immediately if something seems slightly ‘wrong’ with the body, I was treated with a lot of antibiotics as a child and early teenager. I had bad tonsillitis until the age of about 20, as a child sometimes 2 or 3 times a year.
Today, my immune system is not the best and I get the flu or a fever at least twice a year, even if I try to prevent it as best as I can. It’s still hard for me to get rid of it without taking painkillers, but this I’m trying to change slowly. I feel like my friends who grew up in very anti-medication households are the people who struggle the least in maintaining a healthy state in general.
Was there a specific moment in life that made you change your approach to health, or become more conscious generally?
I would say this happens on a regular basis. It’s always in a moment when I’m unhappy with something about myself or in my life that makes me need to change something. This can be just adding something to my diet. Awhile ago, I started using teas as something healing or enhancing — garlic tea when I have the flu or, recently, anise tea for my stomach. Just knowing that I can change something to feel better already makes me feel better.
Where do you look to for information and guidance?
Friends (special thanks to Laura, Buki, Lily, and Linus), parents of friends, random blogs and podcasts I find or get recommended (recently I’ve been enjoying this blog), and Victor, who just keeps me healthy by being honest and observant.
When do you feel the most at home in your body? The most nourished?
For me it’s connected to how comfortable and confident I feel. If I then become aware of it and consciously try to appreciate what the reasons for it are, I’d say I feel very much at home in my body. [The most nourished] after doing yoga, taking a hot-then-cold shower, and having a nice meal.
Fuck, marry, kill: three health trends of your choice.
Fuck: diffuser and aroma therapy oils, marry: medicinal and healing waters, kill: weekly sauna visits.
You have $300 to spend at a health food store of your choice. Where do you go and what do you buy?
First, I would go to LPG (organic food store chain in Berlin). I would buy all the greens they have, the expensive artichokes, dark chocolate with cacao nibs, spirulina, a lot of cheese like Comté and fenugreek sheep’s cheese, Luvos Heilerde (medicinal earth powder), ECOVER wash detergent. After, to this small organic store my friend showed us in Athens for fresh goat and sheep’s yogurt and milk, olive oil cookies, almonds and walnuts, tahin and Greek coffee chewing gum.
What’s your palette like? What meals do you find yourself returning to?
My palette does change regularly, though probably not as much as I think it does. It includes a lot of green vegetables (as much as I can, as I enjoy those the most); fish; at least an egg a day; recently, a moderate amount of dairy — especially goat and sheep products… I need carbs with almost every meal — at the moment, I enjoy potatoes, polenta, pumpernickel bread. 100% dark chocolate with cacao nibs, as this ups your serotonin levels.
Honestly, I always forget the meals I really enjoy making. It’s mostly the ingredients I come back to and then make something completely different out of it. My partner has the same ‘problem’ and so we’ve accepted the fact that no dish will ever be recreated. I have a few comfort dishes I will sometimes not eat for months, but when I do, it’s great. Shakshouka, Semolina porridge, warm potato salad with onions, capers, etc, pasta bolognese, this Slovakian soup with oats and vegetables my grandmother always makes.
What do you think is the most pressing health issue of our time?
The overconsumption of sugar, to name one. My housemate Anna brought me onto that topic.
What advice would you give to your past self?
Don’t do controlled intermittent fasting, it just causes an eating disorder.
What advice would you give to the person reading this?
Walk as much as you can, but don’t check your step count. Also, try seeing coffee as a treat. It makes a huge difference.
Note: This Q&A was originally published via Mailchimp. Read the full issue here.