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| Why Morten Harket (44) was unexplainably tired!! With Thanks to Fernanda Jacqueline Van Der Feer As Morten Harket edged toward 40 he discovered the connection between how he felt and the food he ate. When he cut wheat flour from his diet he felt measureably better. But Morten loves bread, so his live-in partner Anne Mette Undlien (35) worked out a recipe based on spelt bread that Morten now can't live without. And Baker Hansen was so impressed that they have begun production of Anne Mette's spelt bread. "I had to be 40 before I began to really think about what I ate, and - most importantly - discovered the connection between that which I put into my body and the amount of energy it gave me," says Morten Harket. Until then Morten was a simple fellow in terms of diet; he ate what he was served. And if there were large cakes and sweet desserts on the table, he helped himself. He still does. "Morten is impossible when it comes to cakes," confirms Anne Mette Undlien, who works for the time being from home while taking care of the couple's one-year-old daughter, Henny. Actually, this interview is not supposed to be about Morten Harket at all. Which is why a place is not even set for him at the kitchen table. But suddenly he cruises into the kitchen, just the same. We can naturally enough imagine that the king of pop's press antennae have popped up, with Hjemmet closeby. So we plod ahead, knowing how difficult he can be to talk with, and in spite of the fact he has refused our entrities for interviews on numerous occasions previously. Morten is obviously eager to share with us his thoughts on a subject close to his heart, which is his live-in partner's baking and the health benefits of spelt bread. "I don't want to tell others what they should do. I only know how eating spelt bread has affected me, and believe that many others could also benefit from it," says Morten. It also has to do with a bread that was developed right here in this kitchen by his patient, but once very inexperienced at baking live-in partner, Anne Mette. "She began with no knowledge at all. The woman couldn't bake! It was I who had an idea of how a yeast-based bread dough should look, because I began baking bread when I was a teenager. But now she is better at it than I am," confesses Morten. Focusing on Health and Cutting Out Wheat "When I met Morten five years ago, he complained that he sometimes felt very tired. It had nothing to do with not getting enough sleep. After breakfast his body cried out for sleep, and these periods of tiredness were very frustrating for him," says Anne Mette. Something didn't add up, and they eventually understood it had something to do with food. But where should they begin their search? "When a-ha got together again, Magne Furuholmen had heart problems, and in connection with this he had discovered the blood type diet. I saw that the diet had a positive effect on him, and Magne convinced everyone they should focus on the food they ate and on their health," says Morten. The blood type diet pointed to wheat products as the reason for the tiredness Morten so often experienced. So he cut these out of his diet and noticed an immediate improvement. But even though Morten had solved one problem, he had created another - he missed eating bread. This started the hunt for a good alternative to the bread he used to eat. They found several alternatives in health food stores, but they tasted more like dried "huntonitt(?-trans.)" than bread. "That's why we began to bake ourselves. But what a job! We discovered one can't bake spelt bread in the same way as wheat bread. The dough of spelt bread has to be sticky," explains Anne Mette. During this trial and error process, Morten's brother, Kjetil, was recruited to for his help. Over two years they arrived at a recipe for a bread that needed to rise three times. And the last time was the most critical. "If you don't put the dough in the oven at just the right point, it falls when you bake it," says Anne Mette. This is simply not a bread you can just throw in the oven. It requires both planning and diligence. "On the days I bake, I have to arrange my appointments and errands according to the rising schedule of the bread," says Anne Mette. Up to 16 Loaves of Bread a Week But the hard work has paid off. Today Morten is a more energetic and fit man. "The exhausted tiredness disappeared as soon as I cut out wheat," says Morten, who also doesn't eat wheat pasta or potatoes. He has followed this discipline during the last 18 months, and when he travels he takes his own bread with him. When a-ha was on tour last fall, Morten had eight loaves in his suitcase. They lasted a week. "Morten is not allergic to wheat. His physical reactions to wheat are not explained by any blood tests. Just the same, he is sensible about what he eats. For my part, I notice that my digestion functions better when I eat spelt bread," says Anne Mette. Morten adds that when it comes to the ingredients of spelt and regular wheat flour, there is no difference. But many experience a measurable difference in the way their bodies respond to the two, just the same. "Why is a mystery. But it is clear that many who have wheat and gluten allergies can't eat spelt, even though they have to be careful and see how they react," he says. Anne Mette's spelt bread is highly regarded in the couple's circle of friends. People like to have a couple of pieces when they drop by. And when Morten's three oldest children are visiting, they eat quite a lot of it. "To begin with, I bought other types of bread for them, but I've stopped that now. They want my bread, and that's great, even though it means that I have to bake 12 to 16 loaves a week," says Anne Mette. "Now it sounds as if we only eat bread. We don't. A varied diet is important," insists Morten. Just the same, an average of 10 loaves of spelt bread gets eaten at their house each and every week! |
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