Back when I was a child, I used to go to our garden with my family almost every day. It was located at the other end of our village and offered a million different things to play with. My sister and I would use soil, water, plants and all the garden equipment our parents had as elements in our games, which is why we were never bored when we played there. Little did I know what great an effect playing in nature had on our health. Time has passed since then and living in a big and bubbly city with everything so conveniently close to my apartment, doesn’t require going out into nature ...
Lifestyle
Healthy Morning Routines for a Happy Body and Mind
Whenever it comes to starting healthy habits, we love to say “tomorrow”. Yes, tomorrow is a great day to start something new, refresh our intentions in terms of healthy choices and simply refocus on a healthy lifestyle. It all starts with small steps, and a new day is always a good moment to begin with. Our motivation is probably at its peak and a young day simply evokes fresh energy and the intrinsic wish to change something and start anew. Having gone through that process many times myself, I know how great it feels to plan a new health habit, workout plan or – despite its rather negative ...
Have a Drink? Why I Turned Water into my Favorite Drink
When I was a child, I resented drinking water and tea. I associated tea with sickness, as my mom forced me to drink tea whenever I had a cold, cough or stomach bug. As for water – it simply was the most boring thing to drink on earth, at least for me! I was literally addicted to orange lemonade; the bubblier, the better. Fast-forward twenty-something years, today tea and water is all I drink. I have banned all lemonades, sodas and conventional juices from my diet and I barely ever drink milk. However, until last year I still enjoyed a glass of apple juice with sparkling water during meals, ...
An Ode to my Diary
Dear Diary, It was back in 1997, I was only ten years old, when I received a little blank booklet with a violet hard cover as a Christmas gift from a dear friend. I immediately decided to make this book my very first diary. Little did I know how meaningful my relationship to you would become the following years, especially once I turned into a teenager. Almost every day I sat down to fill the pages with all my thoughts, feelings and experiences. Writing into my diary became a habit, a routine just like brushing my teeth. Book cover, hand writing and frequency, even language have changed ...
Have a Peaceful Merry Christmas
They say if you wish for something very very much and believe in it coming true, then eventually it will. If I could make a wish for this year's Christmas, I would choose peace over books, love over jewelry, freedom over chocolate and free education for everyone. The recent tragedies in many parts of the world have made me so sad that I actually questioned how to proceed with my blog. Will another recipe make a difference in the world? Will a few more health tips prevent future tragedies? Even though it might sound unbelievable but the answer is yes! Let me explain why: I strongly believe ...
Sticky Rice Meets Coconut in Laos
Laos is one of the countries that we were truly fascinated by. We love the fact that it appears rather undiscovered, detouring tourists to its neighboring coastal countries and away from landlocked Laos. This is probably its savior from mass tourism and metropolitan urbanization and therefore one more reason to fall in love with the "Land of a Million Elephants". The mighty Mekong turns Laos into a lush green paradise for fertile soil and jungle forests with a wildlife variety that is most impressive. Despite having suffered from a tragic past and despite being the most bombed country in ...
The Late Year’s Resolution
The end of December is approaching faster than in any other month. In order to live up to the sudden acceleration we speed up and push our health aside. It's just easier to focus on "more important" things, such as getting the Christmas tree in the right size, baking the seventh batch of Christmas cookies and decorating our home. New year is coming soon and with it the famous new year's resolution list with all our good intentions neatly written down reappears. But do we really have to wait until the beginning of the new year to trim off the fat and get our engine started? Why not move your ...
How to Stay in Shape While Traveling
Every time I pack my bag to go traveling, my sport wear and running shoes mingle with my sunglasses, scuba-mask and mosquito repellent. I often imagine myself running along a lonely beach with a scenic sunrise in the background or doing yoga stretches in a beautiful bamboo hut with a stunning ocean view. Merrily I throw the motivation in my backpack and am ready to take off! Once I arrive at my destination though, I often realize that my plans are far away from being realized so easily. There is no beach front where I could go for a run, my hotel room is simply too small and doesn't even ...
Save the World: Terra Madre Salone del Gusto
I still get shivers when I think back to the five days I spent in Turin at the end of September this year. I still see a beautiful melting pot of people from all nations, I still hear them talking in languages I've never heard before and sharing food from their home countries in the middle of a huge piazza in Turin. The letters on the colorful billboards still ring in my ears: Vote with your fork, Good Clean Fair Food, They are giants, but we are millions, ... Originating from Slow Food in 2004, Terra Madre is a network of farmers, craftsmen, fisherman, and other small scale producers who ...
Another Day in Paradise: Siau Island
North of Sulawesi the archipelagic Sangihe islands string together in the Celebes Sea, forming Sulawesi's eastern limit and connecting the state of Indonesia with the Philippines. While Bunaken, a short ferry ride away from the second largest city of Sulawesi, Manado, is quite popular for its spectacular diving spots along the steep coral reefs, the other islands remain remarkably untouched by tourism. When boarding the boat to the volcanic island Siau on a wet Saturday morning at the port of Manado, we were the only tourists aboard. Even though it was terribly cold on the ship due to the ...