The secrets of Eat Fat Be Fit

I am not a big fan of diets and readings about diets in general, but I am lately interested in healthy hacks and everything that has to do with a toxic-free lifestyle, therefore this book rose my interest. Also the fact that it is written by an experienced coach with background in neuroscience and not by any hobby dietetian next door increased the book credentials. 

My expectations were not in vain. The book is accessible also with people without a medical background, but it keeps the professional level and tone. Most importantly, it blows up a couple of easily vehiculated myths about fats, as for instance, that 'fats will make you fat', outlining their role in keeping a balance of vitamins into the body. 

For those interested to move a step forward into the pursuit of wellness, a 28-day meal plan is offered, packed with delicious recipes, aimed at creating a healthy daily life, focused on 'optimizing stress tolerance' and well being. Stress is taken here in both physical and mental sense. 

I recommend this book to anyone interested in reading more than a strict diet plan, but understanding how our body works and what we need to eat in order to have a healthy life, without fasting or creating additional pressure and stress on our body. Additional information and the app created to offer online help are available on Kusha Karvandi website.

Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Honey melon and banana smoothie

Summer is (almost) in full bloom in Berlin - forget one or two days or hours of heavy rains as today, and finding the best ways for a healthy hydration is one of the many questions of the day. Yesterday, I decided to be out of any smoothie books and prepare my own, unique smoothie, using the available ingredients in my fridge (efficiently using and combining leftovers and food is one of my latest objective, as I realized I am wasting a lot of stuff because not always thinking about how to create new recipes or meals). Here is my experience. It serves two and the preparation time is maximum 10 minutes.

 Ingredients:
1 and a half medium-sized banana. If you want a more creamy effect, you can use two.
2 teaspoons of Veganz coconut flowers sweetener
1/2 medium sized honey melon
175 cold water
Directions:
Cut the banana into little rounds
Scoop the seeds of the melon and cut it into cubes
Add all the ingredients in the blender and mix for around 3-4 minutes at medium speed

Here we are! The smoothie has a lot of natural sweetness - both banana and honey melon do have plenty of sweet. If you keep it in the fridge for half an hour, it is even get fresher. You can have it in the afternoon, while sitting in the balcony wrapped in the warm rays of the sun, or any time when you need a fresh drink for a healthy, happier day!

Get your life back! Out of your phone!

I grew up without too many technical distractions. We were free to run out in the gardens, ride the bike all day long, play hide-and-seek and read a lot of books, many of them aimed for the adults knowledge. 

As a journalist and social media consultant I appreciate and understand the blessings of 2.0 world, but on the other side, I kept the pinch of freedom that I grew in my childhood that helped me overcome the automatisation and the dependency on various tools. I can go hiking for a couple of hours without worrying who might comment on my Instagram page or if someone is trying to send a message on What's App. As an expat for most of my life and someone that loves to cultivate friendships, I take the blessings of the modern life and appreciate the possibility of connection beyond borders, but I also know that once in a while, the instant conversations can wait because life is happening now. 

This creative book by Ilka Heinemann is a reminder to return to the genuine simple life before the phones were taking over our existence. Simple facts as reading a book, planning your future, thinking about where will you be in 10 years, or a ridiculously creative dot-to-dot exercise can happily replace an afternoon spent looking at your screen. (Did you ever notice how many people are hardly noticing the others while walking, if it is not to stumble upon a pram or an old lady while their eyes are glued on the screen of their phone?)

It is an easy to read book sharing simple tips and even simpler life skills - like writing a love letter or remembering the names of the planets in the solar system or write your own bedtime story or sharpen your mind while solving some mathematical operations. 

If you are thinking about having a new, more meaningful start into life, use this summer vacations to think about the inspiration of this book. Cheers for the new beginnings! 

Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review

Coconut milk with veggies and salmon

I am using excessively coconut milk, in many sweet and sour combinations, particularly when I am trying to avoid dairy products for the sake of the kosher restriction of mixing meat and milk. 

The coconut milk with veggies is a meal that I am doing once in a while and always using a different combination of seasonal products. To add more consistency, I decided to mix also with salmon, that I fried in a pan with olive oil for about 15 minutes before adding to the mixture and boiling it for another 10 minutes.

Ingredients:

400 ml. Thai coconut milk

2 big carrots, cut into rounds

7 cherry tomatoes, cut into rounds

1/2 big onion, sliced

1 yellow paprika, sliced

100 gr. brown champignons, cut into small cubes

1 pinch of normal salt

around 10 leaves of parsley. coriander is even better as it have a different taste and texture

1/2 big zucchini, cut into rounds

250 gr. wild salmon

2 tablespoon olive oil

Directions:

Warm the milk in a pan at 250 gr. Mix it slowly for about 5 minutes.

Add the rest of the ingredients, starting with the carrots - which need more time to boil. Stir it slowly.

Meanwhile, fry the salmon for about 15 minutes. When it is well fried, cut it into cubes and add to the coconut milk mixture. Mix slowly with the rest of the ingredients.

Preparation time:

15 minutes

Cooking time:

30 minutes

Serves 3

Bon Appétit!

Smörgåsbord - the Swedish way of eating

Many of us are experiencing the Swedish food as the tasty reward of long hours of IKEA shopping, but obviously it is much more than that. The beautifully illustrated Smörgåsbord offers an extraordinary lesson of food history, providing not only recipes and interesting directions about preparing a real Swedish meal, but also explains basic principles of life philosophy and style. 

Smörgåsbord means a buffet set up with many small dishes, including bread, butter and cheese, cured fish, meatballs. The dishes can be up to 100, but there is a specific order that shall be followed: first, the pickled herring, the hardboiled eggs, the potatoes and aged hard cheese; after, the fish and seafood dishes; the charcuterie, pickles and salads; the warmer dishes, meatballs or gratins; thereafter, the sweet table with fruits, whipped cream, cookies and cakes. 

Plentiness doesn't mean greediness. 'Overloading your plate just make you unhappy'. Instead, you should learn to enjoy life in small portions, one small dish at the time. 'Take small portions and eat slowly', and this direction helps to keep the balance not only in food, but in life in general. 

The book is also rich in recipes, from various types of Swedish breads to how to make sausages and pickles. 

A good read recommended to any food lover and an inspiration for the food writer and illustrator too.

Rating: 5 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review  

Interior design inspiration in Stuttgart: Rolf Benz Store

My trip to Stuttgart included also a couple of short, but insightful searches for some local interior design and fashion brands. Rolf Benz is the most famous in the region, and in the last 50 years, all over the world, for its famous sofas.

The company was created in 1964 in Nagold, a locality in the Black Forest. His main focus was always to offer comfortable, pleasant and multi-functional sofas. In the first post-war decades, the frugality was an important driving force between any creative efforts, but at the end of the 1960s, the West Germany recovered little by little and was more eager to experience a bit of pleasure too. 

The store I visited is located at the ground level of the elegant super-store Königsbau Passagen and display a diversity of interior items, besides the sofas. For instace, those Moroccan-inspired tables are a discrete but colourful add to the home, without taking too much place. In case you don't have enough space for a big livingroom table, you can add some of those tables and create a small setting. Meanwhile, one can use each of them separately for other purposes: as night table, computer table, newspaper table etc.

This goes with the main idea behind the design projects developped by Rolf Benz: creating sofas where you can enjoy the sheer pleasure, relaxing your feet but adapted to different contexts. The sofas can be upgraded to luxury levels, only by changing the covering fabric, adapted either to classical living or to open spaces - including outdoors.  

Many of the furniture presented at the store are following this complex relationship between comfort and elegance. This closet is organised so smartly that you can store your wine glasses and bottles generously - including in a small fridge, without taking too much space from the room. 

Every decade, Rolf Benz developped his concept and therefore nowadays it is considered one of the most successful and famous German brands in the field of interior design. Many of its creations are hosted to architecture museums from all over the world.

The usual prices are medium to high, but it is considered that buying such an item is a life-long investment that can even be passed from a generation to another. 

The visit at the Rolf Benz Store was very inspiring and taught me some important lessons about a famous German interior design brand and concepts.

The first year with the baby

The first year with the baby is difficult and I am not sure that the feeling of insecurity and permanent fear decreases with the number of kids or is rather the result of acknowledging the huge resonsibility of the small being completely depending on us. 

I personally have a lot of funny and scary experiences some of them shared already on the blog, some kept for later. I just remember the need to over check the baby all the time and the fear that for unknown reasons, he might not evoluate the 'right' way. 

My luck was to trust completely my children doctor and also to have access to resources that guided my steps and calmed down my - paranoid - fears. The baby is over a year now and things are - thanks G-d - going in the right direction. 

Dr. Dawn's Guide to Your Baby's First Year is one of those trustworthy companions.  Written by a medical doctor and a mother of 3, this book offers a very easy and practical guidance for basic issues regarding the first 12 months of the baby. It is a fast guide filled with a lot of practical information that can be easily read in-between naps. 

I particularly liked the practical emphasis. Stop considering yourself a super-human as the more you overload yourself the worse for you - and the baby. Therefore, it is a good reminder to not forget to take care of yourself too and seize the opportunity to rest. It also offers first hand information about how to breast feed correctly and how to maintain a good milk supply, dealing with teething problems and developmental checks. You are also introduced to an A to Z of infant ailments and adviced what to have in your medicine cabinet and how to take the proper safety measures at home. 

As a big supporter of vaccines, I appreciated the encouragement to keep doing all the necessary vaccinations. 'Our babies' immune systems are exposed to thousands of allergenes and germs every day. What isn't safe is to leave them exposed to some very serious illness by delaying vaccination'. 

Mr. Dawn's Guide... is one of those books you need to have in your library because it makes your mom's life much easier.

Rating: 4 stars

Disclaimer: Book offered by the publisher in exchange for an honest review