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About coffee

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Le café commence à avoir raison de moi. Ceux parmi vous qui boivent déjà du café se disent probablement “Pff… évidemment, comment est-ce possible de vivre 26 ans sans café ?!” Vous en êtes peut-être au stade où vous essayez la vie sans café pendant un temps comme Leandra Medine la semaine dernière. Mais j’ai toujours été contre la consommation de café en théorie ou en pratique. Ce n’est plus tout à fait le cas.

Tout d’abord, je n’aimais pas le goût (mais l’odeur hmmm), ce qui est une assez bonne raison pour ne pas en boire. Peut-être pas pour tout le monde, puisque le café est également devenu populaire pour ses effets. Ensuite, jusqu’ici, à chaque fois que je prenais un café, mon coeur se mettait à battre intensément et même un latte pris après le déjeuner rendait mon sommeil impossible jusqu’à 4 heures du matin. Sans exagération, c’est arrivé pas plus tard qu’il y a quelques semaines lorsqu’on est allé au Café Pinson.

Je ne buvais pas de café parce que ça rend dépendant, ça “toxifie” le corprs et le stimule de manière non-naturelle ce qui entraîne un état de chute libre une fois les effets de la caféine terminés. Aussi, j’ai toujours été une fan engagée de thé donc il n’y avait pas vraiment de raison pour moi de changer de boisson chaude. Jusqu’à 5 mois après le début de mon job.

Les matins sont sans problème, j’ai accumulé assez d’énergie avec le sommeil, mais après le déjeuner c’est tellement dur de se concentrer, être efficace et encore plus d’apporter des réflexions pertinentes. C’est comme savoir qu’on peut potentiellement faire mieux mais être restreint parce qu’on a pas pris de potion magique. DONC, un jour j’ai essayé un cappuccino. Je dois être une adulte maintenant parce que j’ai adoré. Et il n’y a rien à dire, ça m’a vraiment boosté. Depuis, je prends 2-3 cafés par semaine et maintenant c’est presque tous les jours. Je crois que je suis devenue accro.

Au début, je pensais qu’il fallait trouver un équilibre comme Gwyneth Paltrow et sa cigarette hebdomadaire. Ensuite j’ai creusé un peu le sujet et ai découvert comment le café peut - avec modération comme toujours - avoir des effets bénéfiques sur la santé. Harvard School of Public Health a publié une étude il y a 2 semaines qui montre comment le café peut par exemple avoir un effet positif sur les diabète de type 2. Bien sûr, on peut trouver n’importe quoi pour prouver n’importe quelle idée, mais Harvard School of Public Health me semble être une source plutôt convaincante. Donc une tasse de café par jour n’est peut-être pas so toxique.

Pour conclure, même si le café sera commandé plus fréquemment de ma part, quelques bonnes habitudes peuvent être attachées à sa consommation.

  • sans sucre ajouté
  • lattes et cappuccinos avec lait végétaux sont à préférer lorsque cela est possible (une question de bon sens)
  • pas plus d’une tasse par jour (je me demande combien de temps ça va rester d’actualité)
  • j’arrête si ça m’empêche à nouveau de dormir

 

Et vous, quelle est votre relation au café ?

***

I’m starting to grow something of a coffee addiction. The coffee drinkers among you will probably go “Duh… how have you been able to live 26 years without drinking coffee?!” You might even feel the need to try life without coffee for some time like Leandra Medine last week. But actually I have always been against drinking coffee, in theory and practice. It’s not exactly the case anymore.

First of all, I didn’t like the taste of it (love the smell though), which is basically a good reason for not drinking coffee. Maybe not for everyone as coffee has largely been used for its effects. Secondly, every time I had a cup of coffee, my heart would start beating rather intensely and even a latte taken after lunch would make it impossible for me to sleep until 4 A.M. No exaggeration, that happened no later than a few weeks ago when I went to Café Pinson.

I didn’t drink coffee because it makes you dependent on it, it “toxifies” your body and stimulates it in a unnatural way which means facing a heck of a downturn once the coffeine has done its job. Also, I’ve always been a committed tea-lover, so there really was no reason for me to switch hot drinks. Until 5-months into my job.

The mornings are fine, I have a lot of energy from my beauty sleep but then comes lunch and it is just so hard to focus, be efficient and least of all bring relevant input. It is like knowing you could potentially do better but choosing not to. SO, one day I tried a cup of cappuccino. I must be an adult now because I liked it. Like really liked it and nothing to say, it really gave a boost. Since that day, 2-3 times a week I would have a cup and now it is almost everyday. I swear. I am hooked.

First I thought that it really is all about finding a balance like Gwyneth Paltrow and her weekly cigarette. Then I started looking into the subject and discovering how coffee can - in moderation like everything else - have a positive impact on your health. Harvard School of Public Health released last week a study showing how coffee can have a positive effect on type 2 diabetes. Of course, you can find anything to prove any point out there, but Harvard School of Public Health seems pretty convincing to me.

To conclude, though coffee will be ordered more often on my behalf, some good habits can remain attached to the consumption of it:

  • no sugar added
  • lattes and cappuccinos with vegetable milk is preferred (that’s just common sense though)
  • no more than one cup a day (I wonder how long I’ll be able to maintain this rule)
  • stop if it keeps you from sleeping after a decent hour

 

***
What is your relationship to coffee?

 

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Detox Delight #2 : reasons & tips to a good detox

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Pour les initiés, c’est une évidence - 1 à 2 fois par an en moyenne, on se fait une cure detox. Mais pourquoi ? Et quels sont les trucs à faire pour qu’elle soit le plus réussie possible ?

Ca aurait été utile d’avoir ce post AVANT de faire votre cure detox me dites-vous ? Heureusement, on en a encore de nombreuses devant nous ! Je vous rappellerai tout ça la prochaine fois, promis !

 

` On detoxe pour :

1/ Eliminer les toxines càd tous les éléments toxiques pour le corps : café, cigarette, sucre, farine, l’alimentation transformée… “Notre organisme est naturellement armé pour faire face à ces toxines en quantité limitée, mais avec le temps et suite à de trop fortes sollicitations, ces toxines peuvent réellement affecter notre santé. C’est la raison pour laquelle il est conseillé de débarrasser régulièrement l’organisme de ces substances toxiques.” (Detox Delight)

2/ Reprendre de bonnes habitudes. Quand je fais une detox, ça me rappelle que je peux vivre et fonctionner même en mangeant light et principalement fruit & légumes. Finalement, quand je me dis “vraiment je ne vais pas tenir jusqu’à 20h si je ne mange pas du chocolat là maintenant”, bah si en fait, puisque j’y arrive en période de detox. Remettons les pendules à l’heure.

3/ Se faire une razzia de légumes, vitamines et minéraux et prendre bien soin de son corps pendant au moins quelques jours / semaines. On ne peut pas le faire trop souvent.

4/ Aider les organes à retrouver un meilleur fonctionnement sans encombrements / pollution. Il n’y a pas de risque de déficits en nutriment, au contraire “puisqu’on absorbe plus de nutriments avec les jus détoxe que lorsqu’on consomme une alimentation standard occidentale.” (Detox Delight)

5/ Retrouver une nouvelle énergie - souvent après les fêtes où l’on est un peu patraque et en manque de motivation. Rien de mieux pour retrouver la pêche !

 

` Voici les 5 conseils detox d’Alejandro Junger, le spécialiste detox de Gwyneth Paltrow.

  1. Mangez des aliments complets et bio pour ingérer le plus de nutriments possible. C’est ce dont vous avez besoin pour votre foie et la detox en général.
  2. Faites des respirations profondes et un peu de yoga.
  3. Prenez quelques c.à s. d’huile d’olive vierge le soir pour stimuler votre foie. Cela va éliminer la bile et permettre une circulation fluide.
  4. Si votre digestion se ralentit, buvez 1/2 shot d’huile de ricin puis 1 verre d’eau.
  5. La peau a également besoin d’éliminer les toxines donc n’ayez pas peur de transpirer en faisant du sport ou en allant au spa.

Et j’ajouterais : 6. Buvez beaucoup de tisanes et beaucoup d’eau.

7. Gommage pour le corps, masque, crèmes hydratantes, huiles corporelles qu’on a pas encore testées… sortez toutes vos crèmes bio du placard !

 

` La detox parsemée tout au long de l’année ? Vous pouvez tout à fait : faites-vous de temps en temps des dimanches exclusifs jus de fruits et soupes, 2,5 litres d’eau (moi j’utilise une bouteille Evian pour mesurer), tisanes, yoga, exercices de respiration, massages… c’est la journée où l’on se pouponne de la tête au pieds !

 

 

For insiders, it’s obvious - once or twice a year in average, you do detox. But why ? And what are the tips for a successful detox cure?

It would have been easier to write this BEFORE starting your detox cure, you say? Luckily there still are a lot ahead of us! I’ll remind you of all this next time, promise!

` One detoxes in order to:

1/ Eliminate toxins ie elements which are toxic for the body: coffee, cigarets, sugar, flour, processed food… “Our body is naturally armed to cope with those toxins in limited amount, but with time and after excessive abuse, these toxins can really affect our health. That is the reason why it is good to get regularly rid off those toxic substances.” (Detox Delight)

2/ Reconnect with good habits. When I do a detox, it reminds me that I can live and function even when I eat light and mainly fruits & vegetables. In the end, when I’m telling myself that “I really need this piece of chocolate now otherwise I won’t make it until diner at 8 PM”, well yes I can actually, as I’ve done it during detox time.

3/ Replenish the body with loads of vegetables, minerals and vitamins and take good care of one’s body during at least a couple of days / weeks. You can’t do it too often.

4/ Help organs get a better functioning back without pollution. There’s no risk for deficit in nutrients, on the contrary “as one absorbs more nutrients with the detox juices than when one eats standard western food.” (Detox Delight)

5/ Gain new energy. It is quite common that after the holidays you feel down and lacking motivation. There’s nothing better to get the energy back!

` Here are the 5 detox tips given by Alejandro Junger to Gwyneth Paltrow, her detox specialist.

  1. Make sure you eat whole organic foods, which have the best chance of having all the nutrients needed for liver and general detoxification.
  2. Do deep breathing or gentle yoga.
  3. Take a couple of spoonfuls of extra virgin olive oil at night to help stimulate your liver to eliminate bile and keep its circulation flowing.
  4. If your digestion slows down, you can accelerate things by drinking half a shot glass of castor oil followed by a glass of water.
  5. The skin gets rid of many toxins so it is important to sweat, either by exercising or taking a sauna.

And I would even add : 6/ Drink a lot of herbal teas and water.

7/ Body peeling, masks, moisturizer, body oils you haven’t tested yet… get all your organic beauty products out of the cupboard!

` Detox all year-round? You absolutely can: once in a while you can have Sundays where you exclusively eat juices & soups, 2,5 liters water (I use an Evian bottle for measurement), herbal teas, yoga, breathing exercises, and massages, this is the day where you treat yourself like a prince / princess from top to toe.

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ONE CHANGE - speech by Sarah Britton at TEDxAmsterdam

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La fascinante Sarah Britton a été invité pour faire un discours au TEDxAmsterdam (rien que ça) le 5 décembre dernier.

Voici quelques éléments clés de son discours avec une petite intro sur elle-même :

Sarah n’a pas grandi avec un mode de vie particulièrement sain. Elle a découvert seule que l’alimentation était bien plus que juste être rassasiée. Elle n’avait aucune idée de l’importance que cela pouvait avoir. Le moment où tout a basculé fut l’année de ses 23 ans où elle est partie travailler dans une ferme bio. Pendant ce séjour, elle ne mangeait que des aliments qui venaient de la ferme, rien qui sortait d’un emballage et c’est là qu’elle a compris. “La nourriture que je mange définit comment je me sens dans mon corps. Et la manière dont je me sens dans mon corps change mon comportement.” Même si vivre dans une ferme est un peu extrême pour citadine comme moi, c’est très intéressant de comprendre l’influence que l’alimentation peut avoir dans un tel cas.

“On sait comment fonctionnent nos téléphones, nos ordinateurs, nos voitures, mais on passe une vie entière sans vraiment comprendre comment nous fonctionnons. N’est-ce pas absurde ?!”. Complètement.

Changer son alimentation ne modifie pas seulement sa santé, cela modifie sa vie entière (feedback des lecteurs).

A quoi ressemble un changement ? Cela peut être aussi simple que passer du riz blanc au riz complet ou carrément remplacer les plaques de lasagne par du céléri.

Vous saviez qu’on pouvait faire son propre lait d’amandes (ou noix) ? Je n’avais jamais pensé. Plus sain, moins cher et vous l’avez fait vous-même, comme elle dit. C’est super simple :

  • Faites tremper des amandes (ou noix) pendant 24 heures. Mettez les amandes dans un blender. 1 unité de noix pour 4 unités d’eau. Mixez pendant 30 secondes. Vous pouvez rajouter ce que vous voulez : des dattes, une gousse de vanille… Filtrez ensuite le mélange avec un filtre pour lait d’amandes. Et voilà !

Conseil d’or : “Les noix et les graines ne sont pas très digestes dans leur forme crue. En les faisant tremper, vous améliorez leur qualités digestives.” Aussi, tous les bienfaits nutritionnels d’une amande, par exemple, sont enfermés à l’intérieur. L’eau permet d’extraire toute cette force et ces bienfaits.”Donc même si manger une poignée de noix est meilleur que de manger un sachet de chips, faire tremper vos noix améliore votre digestion et multiplie l’absorption des bienfaits par 10.” Merci Sarah ! Ma mère me l’a toujours dit mais je savais pas pourquoi il fallait le faire…

The amazing Sarah Britton was invited to give a speech at TEDxAmsterdam (just that) on December 5th.

Here are some key aspects of her speech with a little introduction on herself:

Leading a healthy lifestyle wasn’t what Sarah was taught as a child. She learned on her own that making you full is not what food is about. She had no idea about how much it can affect us. The moment everything shifted was when she went to work on an organic farm as a 23 year-old. She would almost only eat what came from the farm, nothing from a pack and that’s when she got it. “The food I eat defines how my body feels. And the way I feel changes my attitude”. Although living on a farm is kind of extreme for a city-loving girl like me, it is really interesting to understand the influence food can have in such a case.

“We know how our phones work, our computers, our cars, but we go through our entire lives not really understanding how we work. Isn’t it absurd?!” Completely.

Changing the food not only changes one’s health but one’s entire life (feedback from the readers).

What does one change look like? It can be as simple as changing from white rice to brown rice.

Did you know that we can make our own nut milk? I had no idea. Healthier, cheaper and you made it yourself, as she says. It is super simple :

  • Soak the nuts in water for 24 hours. Take the soaked nuts and them in the blender. 1 cup of nuts for 4 cups of water. Blend for 30 seconds. You can add anything if you’d like : date, vanilla bean… Filter then the mixture through a nutmilk bag into the container. There you go!

Golden Tip: “Nuts and seeds are actually very hard to digest in their raw form. By soaking them, you improve their digestive qualities.” Also, all the nutrition of an almond, for instance, is locked up inside. Water is the key to extract all of that lifeforce and nutrition. “So although eating a handful of nuts is better than a bag of chips, soaking your nuts improves the digestion and boots the nutrition tenfold.” Thank you Sarah! My mother have always told me to do it, but I never knew why…

Crédits: Erik Sellgren

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Meet Anne

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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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