nutrition - Our Green Health

3 Healthy Breakfast Recipes, although Not for Everybody

14/02/202225/02/2021 by Hannie Mommers

For 40+ years I had breakfast with only fruits and a little fruit juice. You might think that is boring, but as the seasons change, the fruit choice changes as well. Because we only eat twice a day since 2019, I wanted to change my breakfast to eat varied enough.

Searching “Healthy breakfast recipes” didn’t at first offer me the kind of breakfasts I was looking for. But determination always pays off as you know, so now I have added 2 breakfasts to the one I had. And I am still looking for variations.

Why is it so hard for me to decide on other breakfasts? Well, as I have described earlier I was raised on bread and sweets. Maybe, if I try really hard, I could eat an American or English breakfast, but at the moment the thought alone gives me the creeps. As I am sure that Anglo Saxons will shiver at the thought of eating just bread. Or fruits. 🙂

Red Food and the Health Benefits of Antioxidants

07/02/202215/02/2021 by Hannie Mommers

The health benefits of antioxidants are most obvious in red food. Especially now that we’re getting older it’s important to look carefully at what we eat. We emphasize variety. The health benefits of antioxidants also get extra attention.

More in general our health is an important drive to pay more attention to our food. Tom had a couple of fierce gout attacks years ago and has kept a purine-free diet ever since. I have a tendency for arthritis, so I avoid among other things the use of salt and alcohol.

Healthy Lifestyle: What are the Lifetime Benefits of Organic Food

28/01/202208/02/2021 by Tom van Oosterhout

The benefits of organic food are numerous. We buy and eat organic food, because it’s better for our environment, for biodiversity, for our food supply, for our health, and for farmers as well. How to explain all these advantages?

For us, to buy organic food is a way to contribute to a better world. With this in mind, we have no problem with the extra price we pay for organic food. It’s an investment that pays off immediately.

Organic food is in fact cheap because we hardly spend money on doctors or medication. We also enjoy investing in the devotion and enthusiasm of the organic farmers and shopkeepers we know. We admire their craftsmanship and their courage for going against the conventional farmers and food industry.

Agrifood Chain Overlooks the Importance of Customer Loyalty

28/01/202201/02/2021 by Tom van Oosterhout

The importance of customer loyalty is overlooked by the agrifood chain. The loyalty of consumers is questioned by acting as if they’re stupid. That is one of the opinions I shared in the series of articles I recently wrote about the agrifood complex and its impact on customers.

The first article discussed the food anxiety depression that’s sold to us by governments, agrifood businesses, and scientists.

The second article introduced the debate about food safety.

The third article explained the complexity of the debate about food and the food industry.

In this article, I express my surprise about the lack of the food industry’s confidence in their own capacities. I will illustrate this with two examples. The first is the dairy debate that emerged in The Netherlands at the beginning of the 21st century. The next is the false claims in the European Parliament that the European Green Deal will cause food shortages.

Do We All Suffer from a Food Anxiety Depression?

18/01/202214/01/2021 by Tom van Oosterhout

The Food Anxiety Depression is a theory with very strong roots in government and food industry policies and in the science community: “What we can and cannot eat is determined by our fears and uncertainties. This anxiety is incited by the progress that has been made during the past 50 years.”

These are the words of a prominent international expert on food and agriculture. Yet, can we trust these words to be true? Are we really that anxious about what we eat? Did the progress of modern society indeed impose a food anxiety depression on all of us?

Moreover, if food anxiety depression is really spread widely, can we still speak of progress? Do we fear our food? From an opposite point of view we may ask ourselves: is our food dangerous?

Unlock the Benefits of Reducing Food Waste with a Personal Food Plan

06/04/202204/01/2021 by Tom van Oosterhout

The best way to start to reduce food waste is by developing a Personal Food Plan. This plan helps you to reduce food waste by reflecting on why, what, when, how, and where you eat.

Your Personal Food Plan has many more advantages, but for now, I stick to the benefits of reducing food waste. Write your Personal Food Plan down on your laptop or mobile, or by hand in a journal.

I will explain the details of the plan in this article. At the bottom of the article, you find a link to an example of a Personal Food Plan.

Unexpected Vitamin D Deficiency despite a lot of Sun?

16/12/202123/11/2020 by Hannie Mommers

“How is that even possible? I just got back from 3 months at the South coast of Spain?”

At that time I was living in the Netherlands and had been travelling to the sun in wintertime. I was in the GP’s office to get the results of my general medical test and just didn’t understand how I could have a Vitamin D deficiency despite a lot of sun I had been in.

The doctor explained to me that ageing skin does not absorb as much Vitamin D as younger skin and suggested taking supplements. Until then, I was very reluctant to take any supplement at all. I thought that a healthy diet should be sufficient.

What is the Difference between Chocolate and Cacao, or is it Cocoa?

11/12/202119/10/2020 by Hannie Mommers

In Dutch we have the expression “I can’t make chocolate out of it”, which basically means I don’t get it. Well, I couldn’t make chocolate out of the difference between chocolate and cacao. And then I discovered there is also cocoa. Time for some investigation!

Women and chocolate are an infamous combination. It’s our favourite comfort food. And given all the rave articles in the women’s magazines in recent years, most of us no longer feel guilty about being addicted to chocolate.