Would you like to eat less, slower or enjoy your food more? Eating mindfully can help you slowing down time and enjoying the now.
Routine
Fixed eating hours ensure a healthy daily routine. Once you got into a routine, your body will tell you when it is time to eat. Eating slowly contributes to a proper working of your metabolism. That is because this way your body can use all of its energy to digest the food. And on top of that, you will also feel satisfied for longer, which makes you eat less.
Mindful eating
Mindful eating starts at the moment you choose to focus on what you are going to eat. Sit down and choose to eat something you are in the mood for.
- The first step is to observe your food. Observe how it looks, how it smells and the texture. How does your body respond? Are you craving it even more?
- The second step is to eat it. Take into account how you bring the food to your mouth and how your mouth absorbs it. Are you chewing it? How does the food feel on your teeth and gum line? What is your tongue doing? Involve all of your senses.
- The last step is evaluation. How did it go? Was it easy, stupid or boring? Were you impatient? Did you eat less? These are things you normally will not realize, but now you can give it some attention. You will learn more about yourself, your body and the food you are eating.
People are more and more aware of the importance of a healthy lifestyle with plenty of exercise. People are starting to eat healthier, are exercising more and the percentage of smokers is at an all time low. However, drinking wine, beer or other alcoholic beverages is more popular than ever. Quite strange, because cutting down on alcohol has the biggest positive influence on your health next to quitting smoking. Yet the earliest changes in awareness can be seen. Dry January, no alcohol for a month after the holidays, is increasing in popularity. We will tell you about the health benefits of giving up or reducing alcohol intake.
You lose weight: People are aware of the calories they take in with sweets and snacks. However, not many people take into account the amount of calories that alcoholic beverages contain. You can calculate the amount of calories you take in with alcoholic drinks through this link.
Less sickness: Alcohol is linked to a number of health problems like heart and vascular disease, cancer, diabetes and pancreas diseases. However, alcohol may do the most damage to the liver because this organ breaks down the alcohol. Luckily the liver is a tough organ that recovers when you stop drinking alcohol. If the liver does not have to filter alcohol it focusses on filtering other toxins, contributing to your health.
You sleep better: People fall asleep easier when they have a drink before bedtime. Many people swear to their nightcap. That is because alcohol is a depressant. Put in a easy way, a depressant inhibits brain signals in certain brain parts. This causes a numbing effect, making it easier to fall asleep. Sounds good you would say, but this is not the case. That is because alcohol disturbs your REM-sleep which is an important phase in your natural sleep cycle.
You have more energy: First, because you sleep better now that the sleepcycles are in natural order and your REM-sleep is not disturbed anymore. Secondly, because alcohol influences the hormonal system. Because alcohol is a toxin it destroys cells in the body. This causes the release of cortisol (a stress hormone) which in turn, causes the suppression of testosterone. A healthy testosterone hormone basis is important for your energy levels, the muscles and your libido.
You look better: Next to the perks of losing weight and healthier muscle growth, is cutting down on alcohol also beneficial for your skin. Alcohol causes your body and your skin to dehydrate. It also narrows the blood vessels. You can see this by the red cheeks some people get when they drink. Cutting down alcohol takes away these issues, making your skin look healthier.
Stopping with alcohol may not be for everyone. However, being more aware of your alcohol use
and its effects is not something to shy away from. Also because alcohol is so socially embedded, making it harder to stop or cut down on drinking.
A new year with new opportunities: many people want to change things in their life, compared to their previous year. Losing weight, becoming more productive, quit smoking, drink less and exercise more are the most common resolutions. According to a survey of NU.nl (2017), a third of the Dutch population has New Year’s resolution. However, the chance of succeeding is almost as big as the chance of failing during the year. For many people, there are still enough ways to improve their chances of success. In this article, we discuss the steps that you can go through, making sure the good intentions for 2018 are a success!
Thinking and planning
Why do so many New Year’s resolutions fail? One reason is that many good intentions are a solution for the symptom, but not the solution for the underlying problem. A good example is that people want to lose weight. People focus on losing weight as quickly as possible by burning fat. This may work in the short term, but this is only a small part of a healthier eating and drinking pattern. So, this probably will not work in the long run.
Now you thought about the underlying problem, it is important to have tangible goals with a corresponding plan. Set goals that you think you can succeed in, slowly at first so that you can get used to it, or in steps if you work on a bigger goal. This way you reduce the chance of your resolution failing.
Keep going
New Year’s resolutions are often about changing habits. Old habits die hard is not just a saying. It takes time, dedications and discipline to change habits. Because change needs time, it is important to make sure you hold on to your new pattern in the beginning.
Research also shows that those who hold on to their New Year’s resolutions, will likely make it through the rest of the year. How do stay strong in keeping your New Year’s resolutions? Add these tips to complete your New Year’s resolution plan.
- Create a list of benefits. This is a reminder for you during the difficult moments, so you do not forget why made these resolutions. Write these key advantages down. for example: I want to feel fitter, I want to be a good example for my kids or I want to feel happier.
- Tell people about your resolutions. Support, understanding and respect from your environment can give your motivation a decent boost.
- Do not give up after a ‘slip up’, but learn from it. Many people quit their resolutions after just one error. This is a shame, since you are already on the right track. See this not as a failure, but as a small set back. Find out why you, out of all those moments, made a mistake at that moment. Use this knowledge to prevent a slip up in the future.
- A habit change requires a lot of discipline and willpower. Succeeding should be rewarded. This way you associate these changes also with something positive.
- Because a resolution requires quite some power and discipline, it is wise to start with one resolution. This increases your chance of success.
The winter is coming! And so are the winter vegetables. A famous Dutch wintermeal is ‘stamppot’, a mashed dish using vegetables of the season. You either love it or you hate it. However, it is very healthy! We list some examples for you.
Endive
Endive is eatable either cooked or raw, however some nutrients get lost when it is heated.
That what makes endive so healthy are the minerals, endive contains more minerals than any other vegetable. For example: manganese, iron and copper. Manganese is good for your metabolism, iron is needed for oxygen transport and copper is good for the formation of bones and connective tissues. Furthermore, endive is rich in vitamin A and C, good for your skin, eyes and the resistance.
Kale
Kale got more famous over the years. We, the Dutch, have been using kale for years to make ‘stamppot’. But nowadays kale is also added to smoothies and salads. It is a superfood, you do not even need goji berries and chia seeds anymore!
Kale contains a lot of vitamins and minerals. Just like endive it contains a lot of vitamin A and C, but also a considerable amount of vitamin B3. You need vitamin B3 for energy supply and the production of fatty acids. Next to that, it contains magnesium and potassium. Magnesium is needed for muscle function and potassium to maintain a healthy fluid balance and to control your blood pressure.
Sweet potato
Try to vary between normal potatoes and sweet potatoes every once in awhile! Sweet potatoes are not healthier than normal potatoes, but they contain different nutrients. Sweet potatoes contain a little more kilocalories and a little less protein than normal potatoes, however they contain more fibers so it keeps you full for longer. The sweet potato contain more vitamin C, calcium, magnesium and a little less potassium. Also the glycemic index is a little lower, which means less fluctuations in your bloodsugarlevel. So it is good choice for diabetics!
Brussels sprouts
Brussels sprouts are not a very loved vegetable, because of its bitter taste. The smell and the reaction on your bowels do not make it any more populair. Too bad, because they are very healthy! They contain even more vitamin C than oranges and are rich in vitamin B, folic acid, magnesium, potassium and fibers. The sprouts will maintain the most nutrients when they are cooked shortly.
Chicory
It might surprise you, but chicory is family of endive. Next to sprouts, also chicory is not a very loved vegetable. You can soften the bitter taste by removing the core or by serving it together with fruits, for example in a salad. Also baking or grilling it will soften the bitterness. Chicory contains a lot of potassium and vitamin C. To maintain the nutrients you should store it in a dark place, for example the fridge.
Spinach
Because of the cartoon character Popeye you probably already know that spinach is good for you. He implies that spinach can make you stronger, but spinach has even more health benefits. The combination of iron and vitamin C is a magic duo, since they absorb the best when eaten together. Next to that, spinach also contains other important nutrients, like; vitamin K, vitamin A and folic acid. Vitamin K is needed for blood clotting, vitamin A is good for you eyes and skin and folic acid is needed for the generation of white and red bloodcells. Use spinach as lettuce in your salad, add some to your smoothie or make a delicious ‘stamppot’!
What is your favorite vegetable in the winter?
Want to know about the fruits of the season? Click here!
As of today the winter has started. The summer offers the most fruits, but also in the winter there is enough choice. Why you should choose for seasonal fruits? It is fresh, and because of its shorter decomposition process the fruits maintain more vitamins and minerals. Next to that, it is even more delicious! We will give you some examples of winter fruits.
Apple
Apple with cinnamon, typical for the winter! Apples grow all year round, so it is also in the winter a good choice. Apples contain vitamin C, but their biggest benefit is the amount of fibers and potassium. Fibers are good for your bowels and work satisfying. Potassium is good for your fluid balance and can lower your blood pressure.
Banana
Also bananas contain a lot of fibers and potassium. Bananas are, in comparison to other fruits, calorie dense and they contain relatively more sugars. That is why bananas are a good choice before working out.
Mandarine
Mandarins are ideal for winter! This is because of its high amounts of vitamin C. Vitamin C increases your resistance, so you will be less vulnerable to catch a cold or the flu. Next to that, you need vitamin C to absorb iron. An iron deficiency can cause fatigue. Also, mandarins do not contain that many calories and do contain a lot of fibers, which makes them a great snack!
Mango
When you think about mangos, you probably think about something tropical. But mangoes also go well in winter! Mangoes also contain more calories than other fruits, but also contain a lot of vitamin A and vitamin C. Both are antioxidants increasing your resistance. Next to that vitamin A contributes to a healthy and glowy skin, which you can use during the cold months in winter.
Pear
Just like other fruits, pears contain vitamin C and fibers. Next to that, pears can help your breathe during a cold. This is because it dissolves mucus. And pears contain some copper too. A copper deficiency can cause anemia, so pears will help prevent this!
What is your favorite fruit?
Want to know about the veggies of the season? Click here!
In the Netherlands about 8 to 10 percent of the population suffer from the irritable bowel syndrome (Maag, lever, darmstichting, 2009). A very annoying problem, but unfortunately there is not much known about it yet.
What is the irritable bowel syndrome?
The irritable bowel syndrome is a disorder which can cause intestinal staples, bloating, diarrhea, obstipation and abdominal pain. There has been a lot of research done, but there is no unambiguous cause found yet. However, nutrition seems to play an important role, as complaints rise after consuming specific foods.
Quality of life
Even though the problem seems pretty innocent, it has a big effect on the quality of life. The most common problems are avoiding specific foods or activities. But also your mood and sexual experience can reduce. The physical complaints can affect daily activities and social contacts.
Treatment
Because food is often the cause of the complaints, you would think these complaints can resolve by eliminating those foods. However, it lacks scientific evidence. The most effective diet seems the low-FODMAP diet ( Vanuytsel, 2016).
Fibre supplements are also used, but don’t always work and can even make the symptoms worse.
Complaints can also be a psychological response after watching a diet advertisement, for example. In that case there is no physical reaction on food and it’s unnecessary to eliminate foods.
Low-FODMAP diet
FODMAPs are small carb molecules that do not or do weakly absorb in the intestines. FODMAP rich products are for example: wheat, some sweeteners, soft cheeses, diary, some fruit and vegetables and some spices. Instead you can take: spelt or oats, rice, lactose free products and hard cheeses.
It’s not recommended to maintain a low-FODMAP diet for a longer time without seeing a doctor or dietitian. Because by eliminating certain foods you can create nutrient deficiencies in the long term. So try it for not longer than a week or seek for professional help.
NiceDay: try the low-FODMAP diet for a week and write down how you feel in the diary.
Every year millions of dollars in gym memberships go to waste. Why is it that a lot of people have such good intentions to become fit, but are not capable of maintaining a healthy exercise schedule. A lack of motivation is usually the culprit. In this article we will explain the concept of motivation and we will also give you some tips that can help you to stay motivated: This way your gym membership will not go to waste!
Motivation & Sports
Motivation is that which drives an individual to a particular form of behavior and is often divided into two categories. First, there is extrinsic motivation. This form of motivation comes from the outside. They mostly consist of punishment avoidance and rewards. For instance, what motivates people to go to the gym? A lot of people would say that they go to the gym to lose weight and look better, trying to win the approval of others (Reward). This is a form of reward that comes from an external source because you do this, hoping that you will win the approval of other people. This creates a certain amount of pressure. This pressure causes your motivation to fade away after a while because you do not like what you are doing and you are not doing for yourself.
The other form of motivation is called: intrinsic motivation. This form of motivation comes from within. For instance, lets say you play soccer. Most people who play soccer do it because they love to do it. This comes from within. The health benefits that accompany it are an extrinsic bonus. So what you need to do is try to raise your intrinsic motivation, because this form of motivations lasts longer. How can you do that? Take a look at the tricks and tips below.
#1 Choose the exercise/sport you like: You can force yourself to go to the gym, but this will not work in the long run if you do not really love to fitness. Intrinsic motivation is important in the long run, so do not try to force something that you are never going to like. However, quitting is easy and sports/exercising does not always go well at first. Try to give it a fair shot. If it is not for you, that is fine because now you know.
#2 Baby steps and Goals: Do not rush into the sport or exercises with a super intensive program. Your body will let you know that it has a hard time coping with this program through painful muscles and fatigue. Both are motivation killers. Try to steadily build up a routine through small goals. For example, start with a 10-minute run once or twice a week. After a few weeks you will notice that you can run faster and you are not as tired at the end as when you started. Now you can increase your routine to a 20-minute run once or twice a week and so on. Before you know it you are able to run a 10k. Because you achieve your goals, you feel a sense of achievement. This raises intrinsic motivation.
#3 The buddy system: Sometimes you are just a bit too tired or stressed to follow your routine. A buddy can help you push through this and motivates you to go on. Try to meet up with a friend to help each other achieve the goals you set. Another suggestions is joining a team sport. Teamsports have social obligations which will make it harder to ‘’let one slide’’.
Just do it! It is a quote from a Youtube video depicting famous actor Shia Lebeouf shouting: “JUST DO IT!”. I always like to remind myself that I exercise for me and for no one else. When I am feeling tired or lazy and I am considering to skip the gym, I do the same as Shia. Somehow this activates me enough to get up from the couch.
Veganism, the ultimate degree of vegetarianism: A lifestyle in which you avoid all animal products. Meat, milk, eggs and even the aromas in paprika chips are not vegan. Today, the first day of November, we celebrate World Vegan Day. But why should we eat plant-based more often? We will explain.
Animal friendly
“I do not see why someone should lose their life just so that you can have a snack”, Russell Brand says. Happily there has been a lot of commotion concerning the milk- and meat industry. Now there is strict control on animal cruelty and bigger punishments. Vegans want to minimize animal cruelty and therefore they avoid all animal products.
“I personally chose to go vegan because I educated myself on factory farming and cruelty to animals, and I suddenly realized that what was on my plate were living things, with feelings. And I just could not disconnect myself from it any longer.” -Ellen DeGeneres
Eco-friendly
Are you turning of the lights when leaving the room? Do you close the tap directly after using it? Good! But do you want to be even more friendly to the environment? Try to eat less animal-based products. A weekly steakmeal for you and your family harms the environment almost as bad as the average use of electricity in a family per year. Animal-based products are harmful for the environment because of the cattle feed. For one kilogram of meat, you need five kilograms of cattle feed. For the production of cattle feed you need land, fossil resources, water and energy. Plant-based products, such as beans, tofu and nuts are less polluting [1][2][3][4].
“One to change a few. A few to change many. Many to change the world. Starts with one.”
Health benefits
Animal products are not unhealthy, nor healthy. Animal products have some health benefits, for example the high amount of protein, iron, vitamin D and vitamin B12. Your body absorbs iron better from animal-based products than from plant-based products and you can find vitamin B12 only in animal products. For this reason vegans should take suppletion for at least vitamin B12. However, a plant-based diet comes more often with a healthy lifestyle. A vegan consumes on average more fruits and veggies and less saturated fats. Chronic diseases and overweight appear significantly less in a vegan lifestyle (The plant-based diet, 2011).
Will you be eating vegan today?
How many plants do you have in your environment, at home, at school, at work? If you have some close by, for example at your desk or in a corner of the room, you might have noticed how nice it is to have a plant nearby. Unfortunately, there are many places, such as offices, schools and shops, that are lacking plants, and that’s a shame!
Benefits
Several studies have been conducted regarding the usefulness of plants in the environment, especially in offices. Extensive research has been made on which plants contribute to improved air quality (NASA, 1989). Plants and microorganisms in the potting soil can, among other things, clean the air, provide oxygen, and extract various toxins from the air. In addition, the appearance of plants can contribute to a better environment to live and work in, and a more relaxed mood.
Oxygen
Through light and photosynthesis, the plant converts CO2 (carbon dioxide) and H2O (water) into sugars, which the plant uses as nutrition at night when there’s no sunlight. The waste left in this process from the water molecule is our precious oxygen! At night, these plants repel CO2 to a limited extent. There are also plants that conduct this process reversed, such as the sansevieria. That’s why it’s a good idea to place it in your bedroom, because at night it will provide you with fresh oxygen.
Toxins
Unfortunately, there are toxins in a lot of products around us, for example in furniture, carpeting, paint and printers. The 3 most known toxins are formaldehyde, trichlorethylene and benzene. These substances may irritate the skin and mucous membranes, cause headaches and asthma, and they are associated with an increased risk of cancer.
At school
TNO investigated at several school, classes with and without plants, in order to research the benefits of plants in the classroom. In the classes with plants, after 16 weeks, 10-20% reduction of CO2 was measured, degradation of unwanted odors within 45 minutes at 0, 7% less health complaints, more creativity and on average more than 20% improvement in scores from tasks and tests.
At the office
TNO also did research on plants in the office, which showed that people who worked with a computer for more than 4 hours a day, felt less stressed, more alert and more at ease when there were plants in the workplace (2 plants per 12m3). In addition, the aforementioned improvement in air quality was found as well, as improvement in atmosphere and acoustics.
Take a plant
Not everybody has green fingers, but fortunately, it’s easy to enjoy a nice plant. Many houseplants are very easy to maintain and require little attention, and prefer rather less, than too much water. There’s quite a lot of research from renowned research institutes, that emphasize the beneficial effects of plants. So make sure to include plans at work and at home, to reduce your work stress and improve your performance. In the list of NASA you can find a plant that fits your environment. Watch out for poisonous plants if you have children and animals nearby.
Day after day, week after week. The clock is ticking, but time has stopped. You speak, you laugh, you pretend everything’s fine. Your environment passes you by. You feel everything, whilst feeling nothing at all. Fled from you feelings. Wanting to be alone, alone in this world. You feel empty. Broken.
Mental health
When you got a stomach flu, you don’t even hesitate to visit your doctor. For mental health problems that’s a different story. Your thoughts, feelings and behavior are such a big part of your life. So why is there still a taboo on this subject? Why is there a stigma about psychic problems while almost half of the adults in the Netherlands suffer from them?
Get help
You are not overreacting. It’s not your fault. Your are not stupid. You are not alone. You are not a burden. Talk about your problems! NiceDay wants to break the taboo on mental health problems. Join the online community or connect with one of our NiceDay-coaches via the ‘NiceDay-app’. Together we can beat it!
