selfcare - Our Green Health

What are 7 Healthy Eating Habits when You want to Be Active?

06/01/202218/03/2021 by Hannie Mommers

Healthy eating habits? In the Netherlands, when we were children, we ate 2 sandwiches with chocolate sprinkles or peanut butter for breakfast. The same for lunch. And at the end of the day between 5 and 6 pm the warm meal: potatoes, meat, and vegetables.

The same every day.

Later, when Tom and I had our son and wanted to be a healthy family, we changed some of these habits. Only fruits for breakfast, sandwiches with cheese for lunch, and more variation for the evening meals, alternating the usual Dutch food with rice, pasta, salads, and such. Changing the time to a hipper 7 to 8 pm.

Food with a Conscience is More than just Healthy Food

06/01/202210/03/2021 by Tom van Oosterhout

Food with a conscience is something most of us want more and more. We visit the supermarket and try to think beyond what we want on our plate. Yes, we want healthy food, but we also want to know where the food comes from.

However, the more we have to buy, the more difficult it is to keep track of our good conscience. And if both parents have a busy and demanding job, there is little time and energy left to be mindful of what we buy and eat.

That’s why I’ve made up some rules of thumb for ‘food with a conscience’.

How to Improve your Diet – and Health – with White Fruits and Vegetables

11/02/202224/02/2021 by Hannie Mommers

How to improve your diet and health is easy with white fruits and vegetables. For instance, a high intake of white food may reduce the risk of a stroke by 55%. In a healthy and nutritious diet, white fleshy fruits and vegetables are common.

Some ten years ago my father-in-law died. Ten years before that, he suffered a massive stroke. The stroke seriously impaired his speech and walking capacities. For most of the time, he sat in his chair watching TV.

My father-in-law’s stroke was a wake-up call for Tom, my husband. Strokes usually run in the male line of the family. Of course, I don’t know why my father-in-law got a stroke or why it was so massive. What I do know is that white fruits and vegetables can reduce the risk of a stroke and have many other healthy and nutritious properties.

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.

Why do you have a Soap Allergy? What are Promising Solutions?

10/01/202211/01/2021 by Hannie Mommers

From the 70s my parents went on holiday in Spain and brought Maja soap back home with them. The scent of that soap still reminds me of my sunburnt mother who blissfully unwrapped her soap.

The scent was too flowery for me, but what I liked was the paper packaging. I don’t have a soap allergy, but I want sustainable products, including their packaging. Nowadays there is hardly any soap available in Spain that is wrapped in paper. Even in the Eco store, the Marseille soap is wrapped in plastic.

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.

Different Kinds of Water, Does it Matter which Water we drink?

13/12/202102/11/2020 by Hannie Mommers

We used to only drink bottled water when we were on vacation. As soon as we crossed the Dutch border, my parents urged us, kids, not to drink from the tap, because we would get sick. That is so ingrained that I am still reluctant to drink water from an unknown tap.

Tap water is 30 to 1.300 times better for the environment than bottled water because of the non-polluting production process of the packaging and simpler transport. Although the purification of the water needs energy as well.

It is also 150 to 500 times cheaper than bottled water. For 1 euro, a Dutch person can daily drink 1,5 litres of water for a year.

The Benefits of Water for the Human Body. Source of Life.

06/01/202226/10/2020 by Hannie Mommers

Water is one of the 6 essential nutrients, next to carbohydrates, protein, fats, vitamins and minerals. We need water for the human body.

We can live without food for 43 to 73 days, depending on the climate. But we can only survive 3 to 6 days without water.

When we age the system that indicates that our body needs water or food can be disturbed. We don’t always feel hunger or thirst signs. That’s why a lot of elderly people end up dehydrated or malnourished.