Whoever said Vegan
food is tasteless ...
hasn’t prepared
it correctly!
routinely take fiber out of food because it can affect
taste and consistency. These foods have what is
known as a “vanishing caloric density,” meaning you
can eat an entire meal and be hungry a short time
later. It can also mean the food is rapidly digested,
which makes more insulin than the body needs and
can increase diabetes risk.
There are not enough good fats like omega-6
fatty acids in our diet today but there are bad fats
to take their place, such as trans fats.
Some people learn about the nuances of the
food they eat the hard way. Food allergies, Celiac
disease, heart disease and diabetes all play a part in
the lives of people we see all around us, and more
and more people are added to that list every day.
Nicole Netik, the owner of a newly-opened
eatery on Placida Road called The Green Fox
Bistro, had horrible food allergies as a child and it
prompted her and her family to experiment with
different eating options including one that was
virtually unheard of in Germany 40 years ago -
organic. Her goal is to eventually become 100
percent vegan at her bistro, but she is starting out
slowly.
Her store was named for a joke between her and
a friend.
“In Germany you call a person who is very smart
a smart fox,” she said. My friend and I had a running
joke ... he would ask me how to do something or
what he should do, and I would tell him. Then he
would go and do it his own way, only to find out
my way was right. He started calling me ‘smart
fox,’ so I changed it to green because of my
love for healthy, green food.”
Nicole had to choose between her two
loves – healthy food and dogs – when she
choose what type of business she was going to
open.
“There wasn’t much open to me in the dog
field, but I love healthy food so I went with
that,” she said.
Nicole came to live in Florida in February of
2017. She is originally from Kronberg, Germany,
near Frankfurt.
“When I was about 3 I had a skin illness from
my head to my feet,” she explained. “It’s something
in the nerves of the skin. I wasn’t allowed
to eat anything but brown rice. No sugar, no
sweets because of the food coloring. I couldn’t
eat white bread or fruits that contained acid. I
couldn’t eat vegetables that weren’t organic
because of pesticides. I was growing up healthy
as I could, but years ago they didn’t have
organic groceries in Germany. When my aunt
opened one there about 30 years ago people
laughed at her and said no one would ever
come. She ended up opening several stores,
they became so popular.”
Nicole admits that it wasn’t easy for her
mother to keep her from sweets and would
occasionally allow her a treat. It didn’t always
end well.
“One time my dad came home with some
sample products from the United States a
friend had given him,” she said. “They were
small packages of Skittles. I ate one pack and
was itching after 10 minutes and became red
46 GASPARILLA ISLAND January/February 2018