Nutrition and nutritional advice

Healthy AND tasty – a contradiction? Not at METTNAU!

Nutrition plays a significant role in prevention and treatment, especially of cardiovascular disease.

However, the aspect of enjoyment is equally important.  Pleasure in food is quality of life! We will show you how to eat healthily and well and give you tips on how to implement this diet at home. One thing is certain: You will enjoy it!

Fresh food with a good balance of protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins and minerals, is essential for your well-being and ability to perform. All of our recipes are based on nutritional calculations and are geared to the recommendations of the German Society for Nutrition (Deutsche Gesellschaft für Ernährung – DGE).

Our dishes are also suitable for guests with metabolic disorders. Our food is fat-modified (with a high proportion of vegetable fats, so-called unsaturated fatty acids, and a low proportion of animal fats, i.e. saturated fat), making it suitable, for example, for people with elevated cholesterol levels. We also prepare our food with little salt to address the issue of a generally high salt intake (especially important for patients with high blood pressure). Guests with diabetes are served side dishes using whole grain. If you are trying to lose weight, we will portion the dishes according to your calculated calorie intake. If you cannot tolerate certain foods for medical reasons or require a special diet, please arrange this – preferably before your arrival – with our nutritionists.

Our nutrition experts support the theory that "No foods are forbidden – it's all a matter of quantity". For this reason, we also sometimes prepare rich foodsumptuous dishes for you. Guests who have opted for a calorie-reduced diet get smaller portions in these cases. Over the course of the week, we implement the recommendations of the DGE by balancing higher-fat dishes with low-fat food, such as soup.

At breakfast and dinner, we provide you with written examples of the meal which serve as a guide for each of the different diet forms for each meal as a guideline. Furthermore, nutritional information is provided for all food at the buffet so that you can see the calorie, fat and cholesterol content of the food. This should also help you to learn to judge what is in food and teach you to put together meals yourself after your stay.

In addition to our chef de cuisine, eight other cooks, mostly qualified nutritionists, care for you at METTNAU. We also have dietary assistants, housekeepers and a large number of kitchen helpers to answer any questions you may have.

Our motivated kitchen team puts together a varied and seasonal menu for you from around 100 tried and tested lunch menus. This means that we can serve a varied menu every day for at least five weeks, without repeating a single main dish.

In selecting the ingredients, we pay close attention to freshness and quality. Fresh fruits and vegetables are delivered daily. We buy local vegetables and fruit whenever possible, some of which is grown organically. In winter, we supplement our local supply with nutrient-rich frozen vegetables harvested when they are fully ripe. Our bread and rolls are baked by the local bakery. The majority of our milk products also come from the region.

The breakfast buffet includes not only fresh and frozen fruit without added sugar, but also raw vegetables. Of course, we serve a wide range of dairy products, various meats and cheeses with different fat contents, as well as different types of cereals, fresh bread and rolls, including whole-grain.

At lunch, you have the choice between three menus or salad. The salad is prepared with seasonal vegetables all year round and is the low-calorie alternative to the menu with approximately 200 kcal. The three creative menus are largely prepared using fresh ingredients. If necessary, we also use finished products, but these are mainly free of food additives subject to labelling, such as glutamate. The salads at the buffet are all freshly prepared and come directly from the field to your plate. Even the salad dressings are homemade and low-fat with fresh ingredients. We sweeten desserts exclusively with sweetener to cut down on the calories inherent in sugar.

At dinner, you are served a wide choice of fresh food: Fruit, crudités with a low-calorie dressing, tomatoes and mixed vegetable dishes round off the selection of raw, low-calorie and healthy dishes. There is also a varied selection of cold cuts and cheeses. About three times a week, we also serve a warm dish with the cold evening buffet. Every Monday evening there is a warm buffet, including crisp salads of course.