Petra Kindlund is a trained nutritionist and former elite runner, and a well-known profile in the Swedish running community. In the autumn of 2013 she founded Runacademy, a running community that has grown to over 10,000 active runners and more than 600 coaches across the country.
Now Petra is taking the next big step: to revolutionise how we think about food and weight loss. With a strong conviction that the conversation should focus on “highly rewarding food” rather than “ultra-processed food”, she wants to educate consumers on how to find a sustainable weight and long-term health.
“It is easy to get stuck on labels like ultra-processed food, but I believe we need to talk more about how food actually affects us. Highly rewarding food has an incredible power over our reward system. Understanding that can help us build a healthier relationship with food,” says Petra Kindlund.
As part of the initiative, Petra is developing a ground-breaking AI-driven nutrition app focused on the category of highly rewarding food. The app has been trained on the world’s collective research and can analyse a meal through image recognition, identify nutritional content and provide individual nutritional guidance. Users can upload their own recipes, receive suggestions to improve nutritional value, and access recipes tailored to their personal needs. The app is called Nutraware and launches on August 19 at Karolinska Institutet.
The concept of highly rewarding food was introduced by a research group in the United States in 2019 and better describes how certain foods such as crisps, biscuits, buns and sausages affect our reward system and drive us to eat more than we actually need.
“My goal is to help people who want to lose weight and who struggle with emotional eating gain control of the food noise. I want to give them the knowledge and tools they need to take charge of their own health, in a way that is sustainable and based on facts — not diets and restrictions,” says Petra Kindlund.
To understand why consumers are interested in weight loss, Petra conducted a study where participants answered questions about their habits around food, weight and health. Of the 700 respondents, 44.5 percent stated that their main motive for weight loss was to gain more energy. The study also highlighted several challenges related to eating habits. Emotional eating — eating due to stress, fatigue or as comfort — was reported by 22.7 percent of participants. A further 17.8 percent said they often eat very quickly, and 17.4 percent reported often choosing an unbalanced diet.
Everything does not have to be perfect all the time. It is important to also enjoy what you really love — it is about finding a balance. If it gets too strict, you will never be able to keep it up long term. Make sure you have a good nutrition plan with regular meals and a plan for what to eat. Snacking increases when we do not have a good plan.
Petra’s best tips for maintaining your weight
Increase fruit and vegetable intake
- Always have fruit ready and cut up in advance.
- Always have at least one vegetable on the plate at every meal.
- Swap snacks for fruit, vegetable sticks or berries.
- Add berries to yoghurt, porridge or smoothies.
- Buy ready-made vegetable mixes or frozen alternatives — frozen vegetables contain just as much nutrition.
- Grate vegetables into bolognese or stews.
- Use fruit in desserts instead of sugar.
Increase protein intake
- Include protein at every meal.
- Add cottage cheese or quark to your snack.
- Choose lean meat options like chicken, salmon and tuna.
- Eat more legumes such as lentils and beans.
- Swap snacks for nuts or almonds.
- Choose protein-rich dairy products.
Increase fibre intake
- Eat more legumes such as chickpeas and beans.
- Switch to wholegrain products.
- Add seeds and nuts.
- Eat more fruit with the peel on.
- Choose fibre-rich vegetables like broccoli and carrots.
- Eat more berries.
- Use psyllium husk in your cooking.
- Include root vegetables in meals.
- Swap rice for quinoa or whole oats.
- Drink more water to avoid constipation.
- Choose wholegrain bread instead of white bread.
For more information, images, or to test the app, contact:
Petra Kindlund, founder of Nutraware — M: +46 70-275 47 77 — E: petra@nutraware.com
Instagram: @petrakindlund · @nutraware