December 1st
Intolerance and non-acceptance have always existed, with periodic exacerbations leading to wars, burning at the stake and other forms of violence. Why so much pride? Why can’t we accept that there are other points of view than ours? And why do we think we are the holders of universal truth?
You can’t change something you don’t understand. You can’t dispute something you don’t understand. There is science, there is magic. There is material, there is also spiritual. They can coexist, just as there is night and day, cold and heat, light and dark, yin and yang. We can enjoy people even if they don’t think, live and eat like us.
Happy Anniversary, Romania, land full of magic and good people!❤️
December 2nd
No, it’s not my dog. I was walking down the street and this dog came right to me, stuck to my legs and wouldn’t go away. I don’t know what attracted him to me, there were more people in the area, maybe he saw me smaller, it was easier for him to wrap himself around me. Or I smelled like meatball soup. After he got tired of the caresses, he let me go. Then I was taken over by a cat 😊.
December 4th
When following the Autoimmune Protocol (AIP), you can feel left out of the family meal. If you are the one who cooks for all the family members, it is even worse. You prepare all those wonders and you are not allowed to taste them. Nasty. So, you better find a way to cook goodies that will be enjoyed by everyone in the family, including you.
This pumpkin soup is tasty, savory and AIP. It can be consumed by everyone and at any time of the day. If you’re on AIP and wondering what else you can eat for breakfast, a bowl of warm pumpkin soup will get you out of the jam. If you come home in the evening with a chill and would like to eat something warm and light, again a pumpkin soup is perfect. What’s more, it’s very easy to make, if you have bone broth in the freezer, a piece of pumpkin and some vegetables in the fridge.
December 5th
I wrote the text below 7 years ago. In my youth, I also interpreted the world only through my point of view and rejected everything that did not fit into that narrow vision of reality: if I don’t understand and accept something, then that something doesn’t exist. They say wisdom comes with age. It’s not quite that. Wisdom is information plus life experience plus openness to the new. If anything is missing from this equation, age brings nothing but pain and malice.
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“Let’s say you really like vanilla nut chocolate cake. You love me. So you think, so you say. You give me your slice of chocolate cake. That’s how much you love me. You give up satisfying your pleasure for me. You give me what you like best. And you expect me to be as excited as you are about that slice of cake, to be grateful that you sacrificed yourself for me.
But we have a problem. I am allergic to gluten. Or nuts. Or I just don’t like chocolate. I love polenta and garlic fries. And you know it, I told you. But you chose not to listen to me.
You can’t understand how anyone doesn’t like chocolate cake. Because you like it. You cannot understand how anyone can willingly choose garlic fries over a slice of chocolate cake. Do you love me? Keep your cake, savor it, enjoy it. I will be happy to see you happy with what you like the most.
Make me polenta and garlic fries. Be happy for me too. I have what I want.
You don’t know how to cook? Let me make it myself. Just be there for me and accept that I’m different from you.”
December 6th
Today is Saint Nicholas Day, the day that kicks off preparations for the Holidays. A few years ago, I had a period of “adjustment” from the traditional Romanian preparations, to some normal, healthy meals, which would not leave me with stomach or joint pains, and with a few extra kilos. I felt guilty for a while, as if I was betraying all my ancestral roots, full of sarmale and cozonac 😊. But it passed. Now I happily prepare holiday meals, in my own style, in moderation, with meat, but also lots of vegetables, and gluten-free.
A year ago, I wrote an article on this topic, from which I reproduce an excerpt below. I leave the full article in the comments.
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“On holidays, people are brought together by food. It’s just that lately we’ve been thinking too much about food, consuming too much energy and resources for food, and gobbling up too much food.
All the people emptying the shelves and the storefronts seem to herald the Apocalypse, not Christmas. We don’t buy a few gourmets for an appetizer platter, but whole kilos of cold meats, cheeses, we make bowls of boeuf salad. We don’t make a cake and a small, festive cake, but whole trays of heavy cakes, lots of cakes, cookies, rolls. And more, we don’t put one piece of meat and one piece of sausage for each member of the family in the oven, but we fill the tray with many pieces. We rarely make salads from raw vegetables, because it’s winter and vegetables are expensive, we don’t have money, we forget how much we paid for excess food (some of which we will throw away) or for drinks, juices and crackers. We will accompany the food with mustard, mayonnaise and other heavy sauces, or pickles, mostly made with vinegar. And we do not clear the tables during all these days, but we eat continuously.
Let’s shift our focus and energy from food to people! Let’s fill our souls to the brim, not our stomachs! Let us empty our arms of meatballs and buns and wrap them around our loved ones! Let us empty our mouths of food and drink and use them to say nice words to those around us! Let’s take our eyes off the sausages and cakes and look at people in their beauty, the smile in their eyes and their kindness!
These days are about love and togetherness, about rebirth and hope. In the coming year let’s be healthy in mind and body, and realize that the world is made in our image and likeness!”
December 7th
Life is a continuous school. When you don’t want to learn anymore, when you think you know it all, you’re dead. We are here to perfect ourselves, to improve ourselves, to enjoy learning, and the ultimate goal is love. We think we know how to love, but we have no idea. And we think we’ve mastered a job, but it’s not enough. We think we are safe, but that is not the point. We get attached to people and things, but we are alone. Sometimes we have everything, but we have nothing, and sometimes we have nothing, but we have everything.
Life is of a complexity that we cannot comprehend with our limited minds. And it is slowly revealed to us, day by day, through every person we meet, through every tree, through every flower, through every bird song, sea wave, wind breeze… We just have to be present to perceive them. Let go of what we think we know and have. Let’s make room for love.
December 8th
We are halfway through the Christmas fasting period, as we know in our country, without animal products. It is quite complicated for people with autoimmune diseases to keep this fast. The cause is the correct consumption of proteins, or rather, the lack of them in the diet.
Many of people with autoimmune diseases have a damaged gut and cannot eat vegetables with a high protein content: grains and legumes. Thus, if they fast, they cannot get the necessary amino acids that their body needs. And if they also keep AIP, they know clearly that grains and legumes are not allowed and that the only source of complete protein is animal products. Few vegetables have complete protein, such as buckwheat, quinoa, soybeans and hemp seeds, but in the AIP they are not allowed, at least in the exclusion phase.
Why is it necessary to have complete proteins and in the right amount at every meal? I wrote in the article below.
December 9th
Yesterday, my article on healing diets caused a bit of a stir online. The Autoimmune Protocol (AIP) was discussed, how useful or useless it is, how safe it is in the perspective of a diet without nutritional deficiencies.
And someone said that diets don’t cure anything, that they are too much effort, and that life must be lived. I agree that life must be lived and that sometimes we put a lot of effort into relieving the sometimes-debilitating symptoms. But what kind of life do we live if we are in constant pain, where you wake up at night screaming in pain, where you are constantly tired from generalized inflammation, where your hands or spine are deformed, or where you spend time in bed or in a wheelchair? Is it not worth the effort to look for a remedy?
It was not easy for me to go against the tide, to look where no doctor had sent me. You know how frustrating it is to take the prescribed treatment and find that you don’t feel better, or you’re just on the survival mode. Or that the treatment also causes you other diseases, stomach, kidney, liver. Then try a diet, an exercise plan, some salt baths, some pain reliever. If no one supports you in your endeavor, if you read that there is no point in making this effort, if you are viewed with condescension, you will tend to give up at the slightest obstacle. And you will remain in pain and cry for pity further.
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Yes, a diet doesn’t cure anything, because an autoimmune disease has no cure. But it can go into remission for longer or shorter periods, periods in which you feel like a “normal” person. I say it’s worth the effort.
I leave an older article in which I explain the difference between remission and healing and what “healing” means from a holistic point of view.
December 11th
For Romanians, the subject of “bread” is a very sensitive one. As is becoming more common with everything, we go to extremes: either we eat bread in the traditional way, that is, at every meal, with every mouthful, or we demonize bread and remove it from the menu definitively and irrevocably. There is no middle ground.
And because it is consumed so much, there is a very developed bread industry, which has invented thousands of varieties, for all tastes and budgets. In my time 😊, there were 3 big and wide varieties in stores: white bread, black bread and potato bread. Now I’m having fun when I go to the shops, and I categorize the bread into “sponge (the bread you squeeze in your hand and return to its original shape when you let go)”, “lazy bread (the sliced one)” and “weird bread (all kinds of chewable or with unnatural additions)”.
I haven’t bought bread in about 15 years, even before I went gluten-free. And my husband rarely buys bread, he prefers to eat the one I make. Bread is not a daily constant on my plate, so I make bread once a week, or every 10 days. I eat a slice in the morning or, less often, with the main course, if I don’t have dessert.
I have invented or innovated several types of bread, so I don’t get bored 😊: baguettes, flatbread, buns… Today I want to present you my latest creation: some slightly sweet and slightly fluffy buns, which are made quite quickly. Buns neither too much nor very little 😊. I made a full tray and we both ate them for a week. It keeps nicely in a plastic bag for 3-4 days, in the refrigerator for 7-8 days, or in the freezer for an indefinite time.
December 12th
It’s not complicated to eat healthy. It’s more complicated to change your mindset about food. Someone said: “you faster change a man’s religion than his diet”.
When I made the post advocating for moderation during the Holidays, there were comments like: “What’s Christmas without cozonac? What does it matter if I put on 2-3 kg by overeating?”
There is also the mentality: “Why bother with diet? We have one life, let’s eat!” Or the famous: “It’s expensive to eat healthy” Or: “Grandpa ate a lot and drank brandy, and lived to be 99 years old” And I end with: “Millet is for parrots and salad for goats” 😊
All this proves to us how wrong our perception of healthy eating is. I will not talk here about the strict diets prescribed for specific diseases, which are usually kept for a certain period of time, then return to a normal diet, but I want to say what this “normal diet” means, which we should all have, precisely in order not to end up with those diseases that impose strict diets and medication on us, and in which we have pain, be overweight and cannot tie our shoelaces by ourselves.
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Do you know how simple it is to eat healthy? It just involves a few basic rules:
- Regular meals. Let’s have meal times, as everyone feels good and as their schedule allows. Do not eat when there is food within visual or olfactory range, or when we remember to eat.
- Reasonable amounts. It takes a while to determine what “reasonable amount” means to you, but once you’ve determined that, helped by point 1, it’s not hard to stick to this rule.
- This rule is called “If it has more than 3 ingredients on the label don’t eat it”. So… no processed products. Cook as much as possible at home, from whole ingredients: meat, vegetables, leaves, legumes, fruits. Use as little and natural spices as possible.
- Drink water. Other drinks with more than 3 ingredients on the label (point 3) don’t hydrate, they add nasty stuff to your body. Water.
- There are other sub-rules, but if you follow these 4, it’s called eating healthy.
What do you say, is it hard to eat healthy? Can these 4 rules be the starting point to change your life?
December 13th
Yesterday I wrote the 4 simple rules to follow to have a healthy diet. One of those rules was to eat a reasonable amount of food. What does “reasonable amount” mean? An amount of food suitable for your height, current weight, age, level of physical and intellectual activity and any medical conditions you have.
Does it seem complicated? Then let’s take it another way. It means eating enough so that you are not hungry and little enough so that you do not feel full after the meal. Note: cravings are not hunger.
As I said in yesterday’s post, it takes a while to work out what the right amount is for you, but once you learn to listen to your body, it’s pretty easy to eat in a way that doesn’t put on weight, doesn’t make you doze off after a meal, not munching all day like a munchkin and not having gastroesophageal reflux. And first of all: not to be hungry! I repeat: cravings are not hunger. If you have a craving or someone offers you a piece of candy, set it aside for dessert at your next meal. Yes, it sounds crazy, but the process of delaying gratification is part of healthy eating.
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Let me explain this picture. I had taken 2 chicken legs out of the freezer for lunch and cooked them on the water grill, but I went out to eat. I left this note to my husband, more specifically the top part (you do not have to eat it all), along with the smiley that proves how talented I am at drawing 😊. There were 2 portions there. When I came back, I found him slumped over on the sofa, belly up, like a cricket just out of the honey jar. He had eaten everything, and he had also filled out the note (yes, I have to!), as a sign of frond 😊. His rebellion against my portions quickly passed after he treated himself with medicated charcoal and lay on the sofa all evening.
Sure, we can eat more, our stomachs are elastic, but my question is: why should we?
December 14th
These days the Romanian Internet is full of recipes for cozonac, cookies and caltabosh, and I stubbornly write about the soul. Well, this is how my reach decreases 😊. I have recipes too, but the days before Christmas, in my humble opinion, are really about the soul. Fasting means first of all spiritual cleanliness, then bodily cleanliness. If you have a clean soul, the body naturally follows this trend. No soy salami or sauerkraut and potato stew cleanses the body better than a prayer, a few words of thanks or a sincere smile.
So today I will write about the soul again. In the article below I wrote, contrary to the spirit of these times, about how to be satisfied with what you have, with what you are. Why contrary to the spirit of these times? Look around, we are all running after more, better, different than what we already have. We are always dissatisfied with the sparrow in the hand because we are shown, temptingly, the fatter crow on the fence. We don’t like anything anymore, we want something else. Where does this lead? What is our soul feels if we are always dissatisfied? How can we be satisfied with so much abundance around? Read my new article.
December 15th
Oana gluten-free project turns 9 years old.
If this project was a child, it would be in the fourth grade. This little kid has learned to write, to count, he is already doing complicated math calculations. He is well integrated into society, plays with children of the same age as him and looks up to the older ones with respect, wishing to become like them one day, when he grows up.
Oana gluten-free started from the bottom. The only tools were grammar, a little experience of 2 years of gluten-free eating and a great desire to share my success: going into remission after 25 years of constant pain from ankylosing spondylitis.
In 9 years I learned all the secrets of gluten free nutrition, and not only that, I learned to eat healthy, get and maintain the body weight that I wanted all my life and could not achieve. I learned to take photos, make videos and edit them. I have developed in directions that I did not even suspect 9 years ago. My mind opened, self-imposed barriers fell, and I began to “see”. I learned to write (grammar is just the starting point), optimize my texts and capture your attention in the ocean of content posted on Facebook. And I think I’ve added a little bit of good to this big world full of everything.
Oana gluten-free goes on. It is my soul project, trailblazer, master, teacher and disciple. And to you, new and old followers, I thank you for being with me on this adventure to health and healing of body and soul!
December 16th
I like sweets, I think you saw that in my reels in which I brag about what I eat. But I like sweets made by myself. And to further refine the choice, I love sweets made by myself that are easy and quick to make. I also have more complicated recipes, for which you need to spend hours in the kitchen, like amandine and Snow White, which I make once in a Blue Moon. I prefer simple and quick things.
So yesterday I went into the kitchen, cracked 3 eggs and in about an hour made 2 pans of amaretti and a pan of goldie cookies.
December 19th
Be better for Christmas! Better compared to what? Or with whom? You’re good all year round, and at Christmas can you be even better? You’re mean, but at Christmas you’re “better” than when you’re mean, and after Christmas you’re back to your original meanness? Better compared to your neighbor? This general exhortation to be better at Christmas has always puzzled me. I think we were so fascinated by the melodiousness of the rhyme in this slogan that we neglected the logical part… or illogical 😊.
I try to be good all year. If I could be “better” than good, I would do it all the time, not just at Christmas. But that’s all I can do. The urge to “be better” causes me frustration, as if someone is looking at me reproachfully for not trying to be “better”: come on, what are you doing, sleeping in your boots?! Be better, because it’s Christmas!
On a serious note, Christmas is a difficult time for some people. All this fuss causes them unnecessary stress. They’re reminded that they’re not good enough, that they don’t have the perfect Hallmark family waiting for them with open arms at the table, that they don’t have the energy and money to lay out shiny garlands. That they are exhausted, and the madness in the traffic prevents them from getting home faster, to rest. All those flashing lights are only funny for a few minutes, then the headache takes over. That all the obligatory running, the cramming in the shops, the “special” food to cook, the Christmas cleaning, which is added to the cold outside, the mounting bills, the normal aches and pains, all this puts pressure on the weakened organism of these people. People with autoimmune diseases.
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I say we are good enough. The house is quite clean, the fridge quite full, and the soul clean. We can only enjoy the people around us, people who are happy to have us around and who love us as we are, with good and bad, and whom, in turn, we love.
December 20th
Pumpkin is a healthy food, it is an excellent source of vitamins, such as vitamin A, vitamin E, vitamin C, beta-carotene, minerals: potassium, magnesium, and contains valuable dietary fibers that help the heart and intestine. Plus, it’s tasty and filling. It is a carbohydrate source that is also allowed on the Autoimmune Protocol. A goodie!
I like pumpkin. I can’t wait for its season to start, I buy it and prepare it in a lot of ways: soup, pie, pudding… Now I’ve pureed it and put it to work in a tasty tart.
December 21st
On this page I write things from my personal experience with an autoimmune disease. Over the years, quite a few people have sought me out privately, people who are dealing with autoimmune diseases and are asking for advice, an opinion, or just want to vent their pain. Some even became my virtual friends. Talking with them, I realized how lucky I am to have found a way to reduce the symptoms of my disease. Most of these people haven’t found it yet.
Sometimes I write about them. I write about their pain, about their fight with the disease, with themselves, with the world, with fate. You will rarely find in my texts a clear reference to such a person, because most of the people I talk to do not want to go public with their pain. So, I put my writing skills to work and compose a generic text.
Like the post from 2 days ago, where I was talking about the spirit of the Holidays and how hard it is for these people to get through this time. Looks like my writing skills failed me this time, because my girlfriends took it personally. No, it wasn’t just about me. Christmas lights do not bother me, but there are autoimmune diseases in which photophobia and photosensitivity appear as a symptom, such as systemic lupus erythematosus, dermatomyositis, sjorgren’s, multiple sclerosis, rheumatoid arthritis. Even in ankylosing spondylitis there are episodes where the eyes can be sensitive, I only had it once and it’s really nasty.
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You healthy people, think also of those with autoimmune diseases during this period. We may appear like Grinch, but we also want to enjoy the Holidays, in our own way. Don’t get mad at us if we don’t do all the customs and food and all that. To my girlfriends: don’t get mad at me for falling asleep with my head on the table on New Year’s Eve or grumble that it’s too tiring with cooking, tidying and washing the dishes.
The spirit of the Holidays means love, acceptance, giving. It means to accept others, with good and bad, to give them a kind thought, a smile, a comfort. Even something material, but there is too much emphasis on material lately. I don’t want to dispute the importance of gifts, I’m just trying to counterbalance this trend by emphasizing the spiritual and the soul. And love… let’s give it to everyone, whether we like them or not. Love and pleasure are different things. That’s it for today…
December 22nd
This morning, at 5.27am, the Winter Solstice took place. A few weeks ago, we started retreating inside, literally and figuratively. From today, we close the door, light the fire and sit. We are preparing for the coming year. We gather inside so we can burst out with force in the spring.
In this modern age we have the same activities all the time, regardless of the season. Only those lucky enough to have a garden or patch of land feel the passing of the seasons as our grandparents did. Now we just notice it’s colder in the car until the central heating comes on. Or that the price of utilities has increased. We put another coat on and know that winter has come.
I look out the window. Grey, still, quiet. There are still some leaves around the garden, I should rake them. Dry leaves collect snails, it is a good environment for them. They will multiply, and in the summer, they will eat my strawberries and parsley. I am a lazy gardener, the leaves should all have been collected by now. But in recent years the leaves keep falling until December, it’s too warm. Another time, in early November there were no leaves left on the trees. In October the first frost fell, and that morning all the walnut leaves were down. I used to fill whole bags with them. This year there was no frost, the walnut leaves fell lazily, one by one.
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This morning, at 5.27am, the Winter Solstice took place. I moved my desk into the bed, under the covers. I feel the need to nest, to warm my hands on a hot cup of tea. Yesterday I had to go out. It was warm, too warm for a December day. Cars honked in despair, a fellow traveler on the bus swore at a clumsy female driver for minutes, everyone was in a hurry, there was a formal politeness everywhere. I was happy, it was sunny and warm.
Today, on Solstice, the Christmas season begins. Today, not in November. From today we withdraw in our soul. Also today, the period of Capricorn begins. Contrary to popular belief, Capricorn is not cold and unfeeling. He is burning inside, full of emotions and feelings that he does not want or cannot express. It is not expansive, like Libra or Gemini, nor impulsive, like Aries, nor flashy, like Leo. He was born when time stood still. This time.
December 23rd
Christmas meal. If for those who are old-timers in the gluten-free diet it is no longer a problem, for beginners it is a difficult test.
The meal takes place in the presence of the extended family, with many dishes, prepared by the host, usually the mother, grandmother or an aunt. It’s quite complicated to make grandma understand what gluten is and why you refuse her muffins, which you used to devour right when you stepped in her home.
If you are the mother, grandmother or aunt in question, the problem changes, because you will surely want to prepare traditional dishes, which also include pies, gingerbread and muffins. You need willpower and skill to prepare them gluten-free, in such a way that others will enjoy tasting them.
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If in the first case you will have to be diplomatic not to offend grandma, or have a strong will not to fall into the temptation of “just a slice, this time”, the second case, the one in which you are the host, I find it more complicated for beginners. If you’ve read my booklet, “Gluten-Free for Beginners”, you now know that if you have an autoimmune disease and want to follow a gluten-free diet, you’ll need to eliminate wheat flour from your home. If in the case of other foods, such as bread, biscuits, pasta, you can keep them on a separate shelf, packaged, you can’t keep flour “separate”, because it doesn’t want to. As soon as you take it out of the bag, it spreads everywhere. It hides in the most hidden corners, where it comes out when you at least expect, and then you say that the gluten-free diet has no effect on you, because you still have pain.
So… no gluten flour. You prepare beautifully gluten-free goodies for everyone in your house. Who wants “traditional” muffins has to bring them. I know, I’m mean and selfish again, and I don’t embrace the Christmas spirit. But where does it say in the law of the Christmas spirit that I will have to lie in bed after the Holidays with sore joints?
I wrote an article, “Gluten-free… on visit” in which I detail how to behave when you are invited to the Holiday meal. One of the stages is: be grateful to the host. Read the whole article in the link.
December 26th
A wise man was asked: who is the best doctor? He answered: the one you meet before you heal.
Moral: don’t ask who is the best doctor. Find the best one FOR YOU.
Extrapolating the parable of the doctor, don’t ask how life should be lived. Everyone has the life they can build at that moment. We cannot learn from others how to live OUR lives.
On Christmas evening I went to the country, to my in-laws. A beautiful sunset was forecast, so we climbed the hill behind the house so we could admire the sun in all its glory. We were accompanied by the dog, a mongrel who usually sits in the front yard, a valiant defender of the poultry. When he saw himself in that great outdoors, he began to run, tumble and jump, filled with immense joy. I had never seen so much joy.
I was thinking: Bobby has no existential questions. He doesn’t wonder in his dog mind if he has the perfect life, the life he deserves. He doesn’t know and doesn’t care that there are other dogs staying inside, on cushions, gorging on the brand of kibble they are served in china bowls. He’s glad he got out of the yard for an hour on the hill behind the house. It rejoices with an intensity that we humans rarely experience, busy searching for something else that we have.
What is the best life? The one you have.
December 27th
Fermented foods are rich in beneficial bacteria, called probiotics, which help maintain a healthy and balanced digestive system. These beneficial bacteria help ferment and break down food in the stomach and intestines, which can facilitate digestion and absorption of nutrients.
Fermented foods also help boost the immune system. Probiotics in fermented foods can improve the balance of bacteria in the gut and reduce inflammation, which can have a positive impact on immune system health.
Fermented foods are also a good source of digestive enzymes, which help break down and absorb nutrients from food. This can facilitate digestion and reduce discomfort from indigestion or other digestive disorders.
In addition, fermented foods can be a rich source of vitamins and minerals. The fermentation process can make certain nutrients more easily absorbed by the body, thus contributing to a balanced diet and providing a variety of essential nutrients.
So eating fermented foods can be beneficial for your digestive system, immune system and nutrient intake, thus contributing to better health.
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What foods can be fermented?
There are a variety of foods that can be fermented, including:
- Vegetables: Such as cabbage (I leave sauerkraut recipes in the comments), cucumbers, cauliflower and carrots.
- Fruits: Examples of fruits that can be fermented are apples, citrus fruits and berries.
- Dairy: Such as yogurt, fermented cheeses and fermented milk (kefir).
- Cereals: For example, rice fermented to make rice wine or barley malt used in beer.
- Legumes: Such as soybeans, which are fermented to produce products such as tofu, miso, natto and tempeh.
- Alcoholic beverages: Including beer, wine and others.
- Condiments: Examples of fermented condiments include soy sauce, chili paste, and kimchi (a Korean specialty, I leave the recipe in the comments).
- Wild ferment used for bread.
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This is just a short list and there are many other products and foods that can be fermented. Fermentation is an ancient process that can improve the taste and nutritional value of food and also confer health benefits, as we saw above. It would be good if we consider these foods, especially in the cold season, when the body is under more stress than in the summer.
Who can’t eat fermented foods?
People with histamine intolerance. These people have a strict diet and lifestyle, in which fermented foods are excluded.
For people with stomach diseases or gastroesophageal reflux: they can try it. Everyone has their own tolerance.
For the rest of us, fermented foods are safe to eat, as long as we eat them in moderation. I got some small bowls, the size of the palm of my hand, you probably noticed them in the reels. They include 2 tablespoons of sauerkraut, kimchi, or other fermented goodie. Excessive consumption can cause bloating, gurgling or other abdominal discomfort.
Fermented foods are beneficial if eaten frequently, but in moderate amounts.
When I say “fermented foods”, I don’t mean those pickled with vinegar. Vinegar kills the beneficial bacteria and leaves behind tasty and well-preserved produce, but lacking the qualities I talked about in this post.
December 28th
Everyone knows that the best indicator of good health is a healthy lifestyle. What is less known is what this lifestyle means and what its components are.
Healthy lifestyle refers to adopting habits and practices that have a positive impact on physical, mental and emotional health. It involves the following aspects:
- Balanced diet: eating a variety of healthy, nutrient-rich foods and avoiding those foods considered “unhealthy.”
- Regular physical activity: Incorporating an exercise routine into your daily life.
- Adequate rest and sleep: ensuring a regular sleep schedule.
- Stress management: using relaxation techniques such as meditation, yoga or deep breathing to reduce stress levels and maintain emotional balance.
- Avoiding harmful substances: quitting smoking, moderate alcohol consumption and avoiding drug use.
- Maintaining a healthy weight: maintaining an appropriate weight for your height, age and body structure.
- Control and prevention of diseases: carrying out regular medical check-ups.
- Maintaining a work-life balance: devoting sufficient time and attention to personal activities and relationships while maintaining a work-life balance.
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In this post I want to say a few words about point 3, ensuring a regular sleep schedule.
In recent years it has become increasingly evident to scientists that: “chronic sleep deprivation has significant adverse effects on health and overall quality of life. Several data support the hypothesis that reduced sleep duration is associated with an increased risk of being overweight and developing obesity in children. In particular, recent studies suggest that reduced sleep duration may impair children’s ability to self-regulate their appetite, thereby contributing to childhood obesity. These findings have sparked scientists’ interest in exploring the mechanisms by which sleep deprivation regulates appetite.
As research has progressed, the establishment of animal models of sleep deprivation has greatly aided researchers in exploring the relationship between sleep and food intake, body weight, and metabolism. In recent years, the establishment of a growing number of models has demonstrated that sleep deprivation contributes to the central regulation of appetite by modulating the expression and function of appetite-related hormones. Existing studies support the possibility that pro-appetite peptides, including orexin, ghrelin, leptin, and insulin, mediate central appetite regulation by sleep deprivation.”
The quote above is from a study done last year. In short, sleep deprivation makes us eat more, through hormonal disruption. The more inadequate our sleep, the more we will eat to compensate for the loss of energy. Also, in this study it is demonstrated that if adolescents and children do not have sufficient sleep, the risk of becoming obese in adulthood increases, eating mechanisms will be dysregulated for the rest of their lives.
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Conclusion: if we don’t sleep enough, we will be more and more tired. If we are more tired, we will eat more, to compensate, we will not have enough energy to exercise, nor to think, plan and order our life. Or to resist food “temptations” and unhealthy habits (smoking, alcohol, gossiping, lying on the sofa watching brainwashing programs).
December 29th
Unlike other year-ends, when I would sit and make my inventory, this year I don’t feel the need to make inventory. I have started so many projects, that this end for me is a beginning. I feel the urge to learn, to develop myself. And I feel alive when new things are revealed to me, when unseen wonders come out of my mind and hands 😊. As a true Capricorn, while my body ages, my spirit rejuvenates.
I begin this end, or end this beginning, with a new article. This article is addressed to those who want to step into the mysterious world of gluten-free bread. I have written many times about bread and have designed bread recipes for the last 10 years. It was not easy for me to understand how to get a decent gluten-free bread, there were not as many materials, recipes and flours as there are now. I had never made a wheat bread, but as I say in the article, “if you were making bread at home before you started the gluten-free diet, forget everything you knew. It is no longer useful to you. You will never again get bread from the simple mixture of flour, salt and water.”
This article is an introduction to the art of making gluten-free bread. You will find out what gluten is, what makes gluten-free bread different from gluten bread, what ingredients you can use, how many types of gluten-free bread there are. Is it hard to make gluten free bread? You will find out in the article.
December 30th
When you choose to take a break from running around, it’s like sitting in front of a mirror. Look at you. Do you like what you see? Would you choose to spend time with that person if you weren’t the one being reflected? Or would you run as far as possible? Would you be attracted to the conversation with that person, would you be amazed? Or would it bore you? Do you think she is a beautiful person?
I leave in the comments an article written especially for the end of the year. An article about perception, but also with concrete information. Below is an excerpt.
“Everything is in the way we think. There we can find our well-being. How we perceive things, how we perceive those around us, how we perceive ourselves. Let’s understand that things are as they are and not otherwise. That mourning and crying for pity doesn’t help anyone and to roll up our sleeves to look for new solutions ourselves, nothing falls from the sky. Let’s be grateful for what we have: a house, a bed, a family, a puppy, 2 hands, a beautiful day. Another day, and another day…
That being said, I wish you a Happy New Year, or something. To open your eyes and heart and choose what is good for you, even if at the moment it does not seem like it would be good. The easiest way is not always the best way. Really, have you seen the cool gluten-free sweets I’ve learned to make? If I can, you can too, I am not some kind of genius. Happy New Year!”
