Dragan Bajkanovic, Coach, Nutritionist and Chef – You Can Enjoy Sweets Guilt-Free if They Are a Full Balanced Meal

The coach, nutritionist and chef Dragan Bajkanovic has “reconciled” his love for sweets with his need to eat a healthy and balanced diet. Experimenting with various raw ingredients and flavors, he created recipes for healthy, protein-rich and nutritional sweets, which he decided to share with others.

In his interview for eKapija he reveals the secret of sweet energy meals, how not to make mistakes when it comes to food during the Christmas fast, what kind of physical exercise each one of us should include in our weekly schedule, but also much more.

As he points out, education and moderation are the two most important things in nutrition, and it is never too early or too late to start exercising. Healthy habits which will bring results require time, discipline and persistence.

When did you launch Fit Food Bar and what is its mission?

– Fit Food Bar was created as an idea several years ago, but the idea was realized in September 2022. My mission is to enable people in Serbia, primarily in Belgrade, to enjoy sweets entirely guilt-free, but to have those sweets not just be additional calories, but a full balanced meal. All those who love sweet tastes have thought at least once how nice it would be if they could live on sweets alone. Now that’s possible thanks to Fit Food Bar.

Various treats are on offer, which are in fact balanced meals. How were the recipes created and what does each jar offer?

– The offer of Fit Food Bar features sweet energy meals in jars and energy cakes which we prepare per order, mostly for celebrations. All the recipes were created as a consequence of my love for sweets, but also my fight against sugar addiction. I am a coach, a nutritionist and a chef by profession, but I am also a serious sugar addict. There have been days when I would eat 300 grams of chocolate every day. Now image how difficult it is for such a person to give up on sugar or to replace such excessively intensive flavors with a healthy alternative. All my recipes arose from the need to continue enjoying sweet flavors at full intensity, while still making them full healthy meals. That was the only way for an unhealthy habit to be replaced with a good one.

Each jar contains different flavors. I make four types of sweet meals and they are all special, incomparable with each other, although they are all basically made from nuts, honey and whey protein.



Fans of cake can also choose healthier varieties of they favorite sweets. What is it in fact that sweets should provide to our organism and which foodstuffs are important in that sense?

– We make three kinds of cakes, the Snickers Cake, the Chocolate Cake and the Cheese Cake. The names themselves indicate what they are about. But I would like to highlight a small example. The Snickers Cake, which weighs around 1,400 g, contains 1 kg of various nuts. That says enough about the quality of those cakes.

Sweets should provide our organism with everything that a normal meal would. Each of my recipes has an ideal proportion of macronutrients, 35% complex carbohydrates, 10-15% simple sugars, which come from honey exclusively, 30% fats, which come from nuts and cold-pressed oil, 25% proteins. That’s all your body needs to function normally, a perfect fuel.

The Christmas fast is ongoing, and the holiday period follows, when, as a rule, people eat too much. What is your advice in both cases – how to avoid mistakes when it comes to food?

– The Christmas fast and any fast in general is an exercise in self-discipline. Many people eat very unhealthy during the fast, by mostly eating pastry and bread. If you have the required knowledge, you can get all the necessary macronutrients and micronutrients from plant-based foodstuffs. Protein intake is especially important, because most people neglect that in their diet during the fast. You can get proteins from legumes, nuts, mushrooms and certain grains, such as, for example, spelt. Spelt bread with seeds is very easy to make, and it is very rich in proteins, so, combined with, for example, boiled legumes, it makes for an ideal meal. There’s an idea for a meal during the fast. Education and moderation are the two most important things in nutrition.

Along with a healthy diet, a healthy lifestyle is important as well, which is reflected in doing sports. As a former professional athlete and long-time coach, what you would advise to a “modern age” man? What is it that each of us can do to be more fit and take care of our bodies?

– Exercising (physical activity) is just as important for a person’s health as food. The modern man is reduced to sitting and lying down for 20 hours a day. That’s a great deterioration compared to our ancestors who would walk for up to 60 km a day and were constantly active. Our organism is created for movement. Each of us can and should exercise. Those who have no time for physical activity will have to find time for illness. Unfortunately, we see that chronic illnesses and obesity are becoming increasingly frequent year after year, even among the younger population.

What I can say as a coach is that it is necessary to do strength exercises, body resistance exercises, or exercises with external resistance at least twice a week. Without that, your body cannot maintain a healthy muscle tone and the kind of muscle mass that is necessary for all the systems of the organism to function properly. In addition to these two exercises, you need to have at least one or two cardio exercises, even if it’s just an 8-10 km walk. That is necessary for maintaining your cardiovascular system. Keep in mind that that’s only four hours a week, which is minimal compared to the 168 hours of a week.

From the angle of a coach, what are your experiences? Are the trends and the understanding of the care for health changing with time? Is it men or women who exercise more, and in which age group?

– The trends are changing, but unfortunately, not fast enough. Especially in our country. You now have medical doctors who tell you to go home and rest for every small thing. It’s rare to hear from a doctor that physical activity is a cure for anything. The awareness of the importance of physical activity is at a very low level, despite all the available modern technology and the availability of information.

As a coach, I don’t differentiate between men and women, the young and the old, only the aware and the unaware. Those who are aware take care of their health regardless of the age and the gender. Among my clients are children, the young and the old, slightly more men than women, but to a negligible degree, considering that my training sessions are mostly based on martial arts. It’s never too early or too late to start exercising. Of course, the earlier the better, but I have managed to achieve fantastic results with people over 60. All it takes is time, discipline and persistence.



You have also published a book about nutrition, you have your own TV show. What are the plans for the future?

– The Fit Food show has been broadcast for several years now on Kitchen TV, I am pretty satisfied with that project. I would like to shoot a new series, but in a slightly different way compared to the first two seasons. We’ll see.

The book was published this year, although it was written back in 2019. It was written for ordinary people who don’t know much about nutrition. It is a good guidebook with all the necessary basics of physiology, nutrition and cooking. It sums up all my recipes from the Fit Food show, with beautiful photographs from the set. The book features all you need to deal with your diet in a thorough and fun way, you just need to have a little good will and persistence.

As for the plans, the future is unpredictable, my ambitions are big, with God’s help, I hope for new projects and the development of the existing ones.

Aleksandra Kekic

DRAGAN BAJKANOVIĆ PR PROIZVODNJA HOMOGENIZOVANIH HRANLJIVIH PREPARATA FIT FOOD BAR BEOGRAD

Dragan Bajkanović

Fit Food bar

Kitchen TV

healthy diet

balanced diet

balanced meals

high protein sweets

sweet energy meals in jars

energy cakes

nuts

whey protein

Snickers Cake

Chocolate Cake

Cheese Cake

spelt bread

healthy lifestyles

strength exercise

body resistance exercise

external resistance exercise