Meet Anne from Copenhagen who studies health, is passionate about food and shares a few good tips!
Can you explain what you study?
I’m studying Public Health Science at University of Copenhagen. It’s a very broad-spectrum study - you can say it’s kind of a mix of Sociology, Political sciences and Medicine. However, where medicine has its focus on curing we are mostly taught how to prevent disease and illnesses and promote better health among the population. Just to mention some of my courses, I’ve been taught in health systems, human biology, psychology, environmental influence on health and development, demography, epidemiology, politics, economy, statistics etc. (god it must be sooo interesting)
So you must really know a lot about health and stuff. What are your health tips?
Nutritionwise I think it will be… Lets see… buy a juicer! There nothing better than a fresh made juice filled up with vitamins. Try to vary your food and eat seasonally and colorful. And eat a lot of ginger – it cures everything! Besides that… don’t smoke and try to do a bit of exercise everyday. (yay I know what I’ll ask for Xmas)
You and I share that passion for healthy food: where did it begin on your side?
I think it started when I was about 16 or so. I found it very interesting how food and sport can affect how you feel, both physically and mentally.
So this summer you decided to go on a “health boot camp” in the US called “Urban Healthy Living”. Last time I mentionned it, I received a lot of questions. Can you tell us a bit about that?
Yes. It was an international people’s project held by CISV, which is an international organization that educates and inspires action for a more just and peaceful world. The theme was ’Cultivating justice through urban healthy living’, and we where a group of approximately 20 people from 8 different contries (USA, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, France, Belgium, Columbia and Peru) living and working together for two weeks. During the two weeks we worked at a school and in a community park where we made a peace garden, built a shelter and a compost system, made children’s activities with children from the local community, established an open day event, grew a vegetable garden and much more, everything with focus on our main theme. Besides that, we went to do cultural stuff in downtown Cincinnati.. For example we went to see the World Choirs Game, a baseball game, some museums and much more. We even went on field trips to different farmers markets around the city and went to Jungle Jim’s, which is a huge supermarket close to Cincinnati with food from all over the world. It was a crazy experience. I don’t think I’ve ever seen a place a place like that before. It was enormous!
Each night a delegation from the different countries cooked for the rest of the group and we had discussions on food access in our home countries, national programmes for nutrition and healthy living, subsidies, sustainable living etc. Every participant came with different backgrounds, which made it some really interesting discussions and an eye-opener for me. It was such a good time and I wish I get the chance to do it again some day!
Actually they are holding a similar IPP (International People’s Project) in France close to Paris this next summer. Check out www.cisv.org for more information! (hmm thanks for the tip, I’ll definitely check it out!)
Which health & cooking tips did you learn?
I learned about other food cultures and I got to taste so much delicious food! I learned a lot about composting, which we did for two weeks. Did you know how much of your daily trash you could reuse? It’s crazy! I mean… I wish I had a garden where I live so I could do composting at home!
And for the specific details: how much, where, when, with whom?
The project where held in the city Cincinnati in Ohio, USA, from 11th to 25th of July. I paid 70 euro for the whole stay, including lodging and food. We stayed in Six Acres Bed and Breakfast in north of Cincinnati, where we lived 20 people together in a three storey house divided into rooms with 3-4 people in each. I didn’t know anyone before I came and when I finished I had 19 new friends from all over the world!
Back to you: what do you generally eat for breakfast?
Uh, I eat a lot! It depends what I’m in the mood for but at this moment I prefer having 2 fried eggs and skyr (Icelandic product, it’s like yoghurt but with a high content of proteins) with fresh fruit and berries, raisins and almonds on top, a cup of coffee with soy milk or whole milk, and a glass of water. If I’m really hungry (and have a lot of time) I have a slice of Danish rye bread with butter and chocolate, and a glass of juice as well. (OMG I’m getting SO hungry!! Sounds amazing :))
Are sports important to you? Which one do you practice?
It is very important for me. I feel so much happier and healthier when I’ve done sport. I prefer running cause to me it’s a great way to clear my mind and it helps me focus. Sadly I had a knee injury in May and haven’t been able to run until now, so I’m slowly trying to get back in the game. I really miss it and I get a bit jealous when I see people running.. haha.. (but I guess you cycle a lot so that’s also counts!)
You live in Wonderful Copenhagen. What’s your favorite spot there?
There’s so many! It might be a cliché but I really enjoy a walk around the lakes with a good friend. I do it a lot all year around! I really like the fact that you can walk through the different areas of Copenhagen in one or two hours.
I specially like to walk in the late afternoon… you get the day’s last sun, and when you walk from Østerbro to Vesterbro (areas in Copenhagen) you see the sun goes down and the city is slowly turning on it’s light… It’s a beautiful view! And a good way to work out and catch up with a good friend in the same time.
Between the 2 of us, what’s your secret for holding up against the cold scandinavian winters?
Hot tea, candlelight, good friends and lots of love. (loving that answer!)
Tell us what you prefer in this city?
I prefer the summers. Copenhagen during the summer is the best! Everyone is happy and open to new things and people they don’t know… there is so many festivals and events around the city. You really feel the city’s pulse and I’m people will love Copenhagen if they visit during the summer.
To finish, what is the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
Believe in yourself, and do things that make you happy.
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