For former wheelchair top athlete, Paralympic gold medalist wheelchair table tennis in 1992 in Barcelona, Jolanda Paardekam (52) from Rotterdam, it is Sit Smart Diet been a 'a way of life' for a few years now. “I am very happy and grateful that this way of eating gives me back control over my body and health”.
For ex wheelchair top athlete, Paralympic gold medalist wheelchair table tennis in 1992 in Barcelona, Jolanda Paardekam (52) from Rotterdam, the Sit Smart Diet has been a way of life for a few years now. “I am very happy and grateful that this way of eating gives me back control over my body and health”.
"The fact that dietitians don't even know that your calorie intake should be much lower if you don't use your legs was a big shock to me."
Jolanda Paardekam has been living in a wheelchair since 1979 and can therefore rightly be called a “sitting veteran”. After an intensive and successful top sport career, she started to feel more and more in recent years that sedentary life leads to health problems. “As a wheelchair athlete, I have always been able to rely on my body and was in top shape for many years. I had to because I traveled all over the world, I lived out of my suitcase. But I lost that confidence in my body more and more in recent years”.
Bladder and bowel problems
Like many wheelchair users, Jolanda developed more and more pain and fatigue, suffered from poorly healing wounds and had intestinal and bladder problems. “I often had 'migraines in the stomach'. If I ate a slice of pizza, the hours afterwards were horrible.” She also found it increasingly difficult to make transfers, and she was increasingly afraid to go out alone. “I also didn't dare to be alone with our daughter, or to drive a car, because my stomach complaints were so intense that I sometimes almost fainted and could no longer see properly and would act”.
Big shock
The doctors and dietitians Jolanda consulted could do little for her. She discovered that doctors and dietitians have little knowledge about which food and how much food is good for a wheelchair user. "That they don't even know that your calorie intake should be much lower if you don't use your legs was a big shock to me."
I was prescribed pills to slow down/reduce the action of my intestines against my stomach ache. I should 'just' eat brown sandwiches with cheese twice a day, an apple in between and potatoes, vegetables and meat in the evening, said the MDL specialist. According to my rehabilitation doctor, “it was part of the job”, I had to accept that I was “finished”. And my dietician told me that I ate too few calories (I kept track of that myself with the Eat meter of the nutrition center, I knew / know exactly how much I consume). Well, you have to rely on such advice”.
“If I had listened to the dietician I would have gained unnecessary kilos. If I had listened to the MDL doctor, my stomach complaints would have remained. And if I had listened to my rehabilitation doctor, I might have thrown in the towel. Fortunately I am stubborn, I did not listen and did what Annemarie told me. My life is so much better now.”
Jolanda Paardekam about the Sit Smart Diet: Too high inner fat percentage
Jolanda, through the book The Sitting Chef , by Annemarie Postma, had been eating 80-90% Sit Smart for about two years before participating in the Sit Smart Challenge (a pilot project with 10 wheelchair users to eat Sit Smart for several weeks) . ”Beforehand, our body composition was measured in a BodPod. As slim as I was, I turned out to have a much too high inner fat percentage (31%). That was a bit of a shock, because this was not visible from the outside, as with many wheelchair users.
After just a few weeks, the inner fat percentage had dropped to 28%. “So I first fell into a risk category for diabetes and cardiovascular disease, for example, and now I don't anymore. I now ate 90-95% Sit Smart due to the challenge. I was surprised what a difference in vitality those few 'few' extra percentages made. It was really palpable. And also noticeable in weight, by the way. I now weigh 50 kilos”.
No more traveling with antibiotics
Jolanda is now enjoying her life to the full again. “I'm so used to feeling good now that I can hardly even imagine how bad I was before, and how my health affected my life and my happiness. When I go on holiday I no longer have to travel with all kinds of antibiotics and I dare to leave the house more”.
The Sit Smart Diet also has an incredibly positive effect on her psyche. “I am also much happier and more positive than before. About 3 years ago I didn't even dare to dream about that, because I often didn't even know how to get through the day – let alone how to grow old, I didn't even know if I actually wanted to anymore. I am therefore very happy and grateful that with the help of Annemarie Postma and The Lifestyle Docs Clinics I have been able to take back control of my body and health. Doctors, dieticians and medication could not offer me that help – and healthy food could”.
