What started as a 30-day experiment on 2 August 2018 has escalated into a full-blown 90-day no sugar challenge. This is the story about the before and the after, and how much sugar I ended up not eating by changing my sweet-tooth, chocolate-loving ways. In the recent posts, you can read about the start of the 30-day no sugar challenge, and how it turned into a long-term project once my cravings only stopped after 28 days. BEFORE Basics Chocolate = necessity of life Sweets = treats Meals = sweet/savoury (half/half) Cravings per day = 5 (usually in the morning, during long afternoons & after dinner) Attitude = sugar will solve…
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Simple Wellness Soup
Follow my blog with Bloglovin You don’t need quinoa (kee-NU-wah) to eat healthy. Below awaits a recipe with local, seasonal & afforadable ingredients that together create a soup that is exceptionally good for your health. If you are battling the flu or trying to ward one off, this is the perfect soup to make! When my parents used to force me as a kid to eat savoy cabbage soup (in Croatian: kelj), I’d make all kinds of funny faces at them and fiddle with my food. Now I find myself cooking the same stuff, ah the irony! Turns out cabbage is just as good for you as my parents were saying. You’d…
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Indian Summer Salad
As I’m walking around the cookbook section in a bookshop a couple of weeks ago, a pop of color catches my eye – it’s the “Fresh India” cookbook by a lady called Meera Sodha. Indian cooking finally made simple and not taking 5 days of bending over the stove to make? Yes! This summer salad is refreshing and full of flavors (it originally also includes a spoonfull of sugar, which I leave out). Enjoy it with a big appetite – it has a grand total of zero (0) calories, really. Fun fact: I buy my bell peppers organic because peppers fall into EWG’s (Environmental Working Group) category of the dirty dozen. This is…
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Thai Red Curry with Shrimp & Mango
I AM TAKING A COURSE ON SCIENTIFIC INTEGRITY AT THE MOMENT where a very interesting movie came up:´The Insider´ (youtube / wiki). It is a movie from the 90s, based on a true story about a biochemist who was a whistleblower for the tobacco industry (an industry that, at the time, claimed towards the general public that tobacco was harmless and ignored the reports of its´ scientists about the dangers of tobacco for health). With main actors Al Pacino and Russel Crowe! Just wanted to tell you about it since it inspired me, and made me remember again how as scientists and doctors, we have a responsibility to find facts…
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Chocolate & Dried Apricot Cake
HELLO THERE! IT HAS BEEN A TOUGH & BUSY WEEK. Since I’m somewhat of an emotional eater (who can resist a sweet bar of chocolate in times of stress? ), I was definitely craving a big old creamy, fudgy chocolate cake to stuff my face in by the time it was weekend. Just as I was about to buy a (definitely unhealthy) cake at the supermarket (what a no-no!), a great friend of mine agreed to meet up for a bake session and save me from myself. EATING THIS CAKE REALLY HIT THE SPOT. It’s a very rich cake, filled with almond flour, real apricots, cinnamon & cocoa powder. You…
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The role of vitamin D, diet and exercise in prevention of colon cancer
Harvard Medical School publishes a health letter every year. In 2014, their letter listed five steps that help prevent colorectal cancer. In this post, I will explain three of the five points mentioned. Colon Cancer Prevention 1.Vitamin D Vitamin D is free (it comes from sunshine) and seems to have a protective effect on many diseases. Exposing most of your body to sunshine 10 minutes per day is enough to have good levels of vitamin D. You can have your vitamin D checked by a doctor to discuss possible supplementation. Although it is not clear yet whether vitamin D supplements have the same effect as vitamin D from sunlight, Harvard…
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Is raw milk and dairy good for you?
WEEKENDS ARE GREAT FOR watching inspiring documentaries and fun day trips. Last weekend I watched a documenary called “Milk?” . The documentary “Milk?” discusses whether milk is good or bad for human health. It was interesting to watch and especially inspired me to look for the label “raw” on the next organic dairy product I would buy. I ONLY CONSUME ORGANIC DAIRY PRODUCTS because of the poor way in which animals producing non-organic dairy are treated. Still, the concept of raw milk was new to me. Perhaps I just never thought about how many steps milk goes through from being collected to standing on a store shelf. What is raw…
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Fennel, Zucchini and Green Pea Soup
INSPIRED BY A RECIPE FROM the Veg cookbook, I bring you a very green, delicious soup that you can enjoy all summer long! It’s quick to prepare and the aroma that will fill your kitchen while making it will awaken anyone’s appetite! (Even my little brother’s, although he’s actually totally not into veggies, he actually does totally dig this soup! 😮 🙂 … of course, because it is an awesome soup!) Fennel, Zucchini and Green Pea Soup Serves 6. Prep time: 30 minutes from start to finish. Fennel, 1 large knob Celery, 2 stalks Spring onions, a bunch of 6 (or 4 if they are quite large) Zucchini, 2 small…
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Mother’s Day inspired: Coconut curry with millet and asperagus
Today’s Mother’s Day couldn’t have been better spent than laughing, relaxing and cooking together. Asparagus is in season now in The Netherlands, so we used this perfect timing to make a recipe using the green delight. Read on for the delightful spring recipe we made, inspired by a recipe from the ‘Forks over Knives’ cookbook. Coconut curry with millet and asparagus Serves 3. Prep time: 40-50 minutes from start to finish. Ingredients: 3/4 cup millet + 2,5 cups water 1 cup leek, white and light green part thinly sliced 2 cloves of garlic, minced 2 tblsp ginger, peeled and grated 2 cups green asparagus, tough ends snapped off, rest cut…
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Banana Oatmeal Pancakes
FIRST OF ALL, I feel like my picture does not give these tasty pancakes enough credit – they are tastier than they look! THE BANANA OATMEAL PANCAKE RECIPE is my first ‘non-traditional’ pancake recipe (I found it here and altered it a little bit), making these pancakes gluten free and dairy free. No sugar is added in the recipe, meaning that all the sugars in the pancakes are natural sugars. For baking the pancakes, I used coconut oil. The ‘healthy’ Banana Oatmeal pancakes were Practically unrecognisable from ‘regular’ pancakes that we’ve all grown to love Great in texture Extremely easy to make Delicious! Banana Oatmeal Pancakes Makes 10 medium-sized pancakes.…
