Move More, Live Longer

An article published in the 10th of December edition of TIME magazine largely confirm my assumptions outlined in my article about How to have a homeworking healthy life experience. Based on various medical studies, it outlines that every single movement we do in our everyday life would significantly help to improve our health condition. 

However, it should not be anything big and impressive and overwhelmingly intensive. For instance, although you may not need to book a year-long - at least - gym membership, you can at least try to be as much as possible on the move. Like, parking your car a couple of steps away from your entrance will force you take a little bit of more steps. Refusing to take the elevator and walking on the stairs instead. Accepting the challenge of carrying on your groceries as a way to work your arms. Spend your weekends going dancing, which can help you burn up to 300 calories every half hour. Explore the outdoors through gardening, nature walks and bird-watching.

The studies are mostly aimed at the American public, in order to encourage them to move as 'every movement count'. Even things like standing on the subway or walking while you talk on the phone - been there, done that - rather than sitting down, can have an impact, according to Jacque Crockford, a certified personal trainer with the American Council on Exercise, quoted in the TIME article (p.22, section WELLNESS). Such activities, known as 'non-exercise activity thermogenesis' - are associated with lower body weight, better over-all health and increased life span. In fact, the sum of every movement you are doing over the day will help you improve your overall health condition and open up new possibilities of improving both your health and increase your life-span. 

Personally, I am following accordingly such advices, with moving as much as I can either indoors or outdoors. From walking my son to the Kindergarten to taking a movement break from my office chair every half an hour when I am doing home office, carrying my grocery bags and walking at least for one full hour every day, I am trying to take every single opportunity to offer myself a better and healthier life. I am glad I am on the right path and my aim this year is to follow as much as possible such advices for a healthy life. Small steps also count when it comes to feeling and doing better.

Honey Mango Banana Smoothie

I have a very limited experience with mango. Except eating it sliced or in compote, I have no idea how to have it. I've heard about mango sticky rice, or cakes with a touch of mango, but I haven't tried any of them (yet). But this year is everything about new tasty experiences and going beyond limits so a couple of days ago I decided to stop dreaming about how to prepare a mango and proceeded to its very own preparation instead. 

For the beginning of my mango journey, I decided to start with the easiest taste reconaissance step: a smoothie. 

I used a very simple combination, which follow a precise, predictable flavor line: various degrees of sweetness melting into the cold water.

Ingredients

2 ripe bananas, cut into chunks

1 medium size ripe mango, sliced

1 tablespoon honey - the same amount of brown sugar can be also used

500 ml. cold water. If you want it less thicker, you can use 750 ml. cold water instead

Directions

Mix the ingredients in the blender at moderate speed for 1 minute. Pour the result into glasses and keep it in the fridge at least 30 minutes before serving.

Preparation time: 10 minutes

Serves: 2

2 Spinach Recipes to Boost Your Morning Energies

Especially in the last days, due to some overload of work, baby screams and other life assignments I cannot delegate to anyone, I felt like all my energies are just out in the wild, leaving me completely alone to deal with the everyday life nasty challenges. But despite all odds, I keep being optimistic by nature, trying to find the best ways to challenge the lemons life throws on me once in a while.

As usually, being creative and offering myself something good - and a bit sweet too - is my answer to all those problems. Although I do have my second thoughts about spinach, I've tried to do my best to include it at on our menu at least once the month, with an easy recipe that the baby loves too. This time, I was looking for an overload of energy and iron, which the spinach contains in big chunks, can balance my deep fatigue. In combination with other healthy fruits, I created fast two good recipes to boost your mornings with lots of good and healthy energy.

Surprisingly for me, the spinach is blending perfectly, the metallic taste being taken over by the combination with the other ingredients. Instead, it offers a good colourful healthy basis for the smoothie. 

Spinach, banana and pomegranate milk smoothie

Ingredients

2 medium size bananas, cut into chunks

1 cup spinach, clean

1/2 cup pomegranate seeds

1 cup milk - the same amount of water can be also used

1 full tablespoon of brown sugar

1 tablespoon lemon juice

Directions

Add all the ingredients to the blender. Mix them at medium speed for 2 minutes. Let it rest for a minute. Because the pomegranate do have some small seeds which might be annoying, you may consider using a strain to clear them out. Serve it cold or at the room temperature.

Preparation time: 5 minutes

Serves: 4 full glasses of smoothie

Spinach, raspberry and banana smoothie

Ingredients
2 medium size banana, in chunks
1 full cup of fresh spinach leaves, cleaned
1 cup raspberry, cleaned
2 tablespoon brown sugar
2 cups water

Directions
Add all the ingredients in the blender and mix them at medium speed for around 2 minutes. Serve it fresh, or leave it for a couple of minutes in the freezer. It is a light, delicious and very fresh smoothie. Baby fully approves it too!

Preparation time: 5 minutes
Serves: 4 big full glasses of smoothie

Yoga in the Office or How to Keep Yourself Fit in the Cubicle

Most of my working life I spent in an office, on a chair - not always chosen taking into account the highest health standards for my back, in the front of the computer. With over 10 years as a journalist and PR executive, I also had the advantage that once in a while I had to go out and move my feet or just run up on down the stairs of the office to check some lead or proof-read once again my article. At the time I was very unhappy with all the hassle, but in fact it was a great advantage for my mobility.

As a freelancer, I was even less tempted to move very often, but I rarely spent 24 hours in my home office without going out at least for one hour. I do not drive in Germany, therefore, I have to walk until the next metro station which is 10 minutes away of walking. Since I do have a smart phone, I am trying to check the Samsung Health app every day and reach my 6,000 steps the day. However, once in a while, I still feel stiff and I did experience a lot of back problems lately.

At Office Yoga by Julie Schoen is a great inspiration to keep moving your body and improving your mobility, even you have to sit at your desk the whole day. With pre-, during and after-work practical exercises, beautifully displayed in photo and explained in words, it includes a couple of exercises that keep you in good shape and even help you fight headaches without overload of medication. The cover looks not so appealing, but the materials included in-between the covers is very good quality though.

I am not a regular yoga practitioner, but once in a while I like to do some exercise, feeling less stiff and more mobile. Especially for the office part of the practice, you might not need to take your yoga mat in the office, as the exercises require a limited space and sometimes without even leaving your chair. But it is enough to make yourself comfortable in your body and relax in-between stressful assignments. Besides the obvious health advantage, a regular yoga practice will also help increase productivity, as you can relax, take a deep breath and maybe see things in a much better light.

My personal advice is to take the full advantage of the lunch break and spend some time walking around the office, to keep the window open and preferably to have your office near a window to relax yourself once in a while looking outside. Taking short breaks is also recommended, outlined by small walks in the office and some of the yoga exercises recommended in this book. You can be happier, more efficient and healthier too. 

A recommended read for any modern woman looking to have a better life quality.

Morning Healthy Treats: Pomegranate Juice with Honey

I love healthy mornings, and drinking something fresh is part of my daily ritual. Either tea or some smoothie is definitely worth to wake up 10 minutes early to have enough time to prepare and clean the utensils.

As the Jewish New Year traditionally involves using a lot of pomegranates - and honey too - after everything is over, there are a couple of bowls full of seeds left over that I don't have the heart to throw to the trash. The easiest way to use them, besides adding them to some salads or maybe to a batch of cake is by making a juice out of them. As simple as that!

For one glass of juice, I used the seeds from one medium-sized pomegranate, plus one tablespoon of honey and one glass of cold water. Added all those ingredients in the smoothie maker and blended at moderate speed for 2 minutes.

The most complicated - but not impossible - part is to come: the pomegranate do have strong seeds that during the blending process are took out, but should be filtered through a strainer. It takes another minute to do so and after that your juice is ready. 

As I had the curiosity to taste various ready-made pomegranate juices, I enjoyed mine much better, as it has the right sweet balance and the original taste, which I do not fancy, is diluted. Therefore, at least for the winter, I might consider including pomegranate part of my regular diet, given also its natural qualities, which go beyond the skin-care protection generously offered. For instance, pomegranate seeds contain antioxidants which fight cholesterol, increase oxygen levels to the heart, fight cell damage and can also balance your weight. Compared to other fruits, the pomegranate juice has the same healthy concentration as the fruits and the seeds. 

Easy spinach recipe

I confess that I am not neutral when it comes to spinach. Although as a child I loved the watch the cartoons with Popeye the sailor, I wasn't such a blind admirer to follow his eating habits too, mainly his love for spinach. When I started my own foodie adventures, I rather tried to find reasons for not eating it, but somehow it was a very twisted argument: although my warning were scientifically based, it had to do only with the ready made frozen products - which I do not like anyway - and not with the fresh spinach. 

In fact, I was quite afraid to prepare a recipe from scratch. I had no idea how to mix ingredients, for how long to cook the leaves, what spices to add. It is a very common occurence to me, when my lack of experience in tastes and foods operates as a deterrent for improving my cooking skills. But I am brave enough to fight my fears therefore, I decided last week to do from scratch my own recipe of spinach.

The list of ingredients was very easy:

- 150 gr. fresh spinach leaves. I cleaned them throughout under cold and warm water several times and then chopped finely

- 3 big garlic cloves, finelly chopped

- 100 ml. walnut oil

- 1 tablespoon za'atar

- 3 big scallions, finelly chopped

- 100 ml. butter milk

- 50 gr. Emmentaler cheese, shredded

Preparation time: 15 minutes

Directions:

Add the oil, za'atar, garlic and scallions in a pan heated at 250C. Mix well for around 5 minutes. Add the spinach leaves, batch by batch, and mix every time well. At the end, add the butter milk and the Emmentaler, and keep mixing. The dairy ingredients will give a special milk consistency to the ingredients.

Cooking time: 15 minutes

To be eaten warm, with some tomatoes slices, for the decoration and more freshness too. It can be accompanied by meat, pasta, and even fish. I personally eat it as a stand alone meal, but I was so excited by the results that I was hardly thinking about any foodie match.

Right now, I feel that I have so many open options to try that most probably I will keep sharing even more spinach-based recipes in the next weeks!

Bon Appétit!

Some secrets about Kiwi

Even though I love a lot the kiwi green, for me not all the kiwis are the same. Some of them are ripe and juicy and tasty, some are too raw and not necessarily sugary enough to love them by themselves, and I may need to combine them with bananas and strawberries. 

However, if I have second thoughts about kiwis as simple fruits, after reading this article about the health benefits of those small and genuine fruits, I've found a serious reason to introduce them on my weekly diet. Apparently, it can give enough force to fight deterioration of the immune system, to protect the skin and prevent anaemia, among others. Of course that in case that you have a chronic malady, the solution is to go to the doctor and follow the medical recommendations. 

Good news: Content redesign

The blogging is getting very intense in the last weeks, and I wish I will continue at the same pace. However, as I dedicate more and more time and energy to my online writing life, I decided that it is about time to diversify the topics covered by this blog. 

The food and the kitchen will be the main topics of interest. I will share - I hope - interesting posts about my adventures in the kitchen and the fancy meals I am preparing or discovering. I will try regularly to write extended posts about regional and local cuisines. Right now, I document a post about Canadian cuisine and I am reading a book about the Hungarian cuisine and I will continue regularly to offer historical perspectives not only about various styles of cooking, but also about dishes with local flavors.

The books and publications about cooking will be featured more frequently. In addition, when possible, I will try to get more interviews with authors and food writers, as well as with chefs. Before cooking food, I always cooked words and I want to try now to make a perfect cocktail for increasing the quality of the blog.

I intend to add more interesting pictures and find out interesting photographers that focus on food. There it is a long term project and a lot of research will be involved as well.

I tried a couple of months ago to introduce some kitchen products reviews and I will continue doing so regularly in the future. I have in sight some nice sponsorships, but till there it is not a final deal reached, I prefer to keep silent. 

As this blog is equally about healthy life, there will be at least one weekly review about some healthy cosmetics and perfumes. I do not want to switch this blog into another blog about fashion, but I felt very often the need to cover more topics related to healthy life and various ideas that implies DIY, such as how to prepare your own soap or cream. I know, I need to take some basic classes in video production. Maybe the last half of this year, I promise.

I am lately interested as well in kitchen design and kitchen interior design and I intend to write as often as possible about what I find appealing in this domain. I have in mind some interviews with designers and participation at special fairs and events, but this will happen only when this blog will grow big enough to be noticed by the big brands. Till then, I will humbly do my job of writing food chronicles.