Dress for the weather

Hot temperatures are ahead, it's almost summer time and chances are it will be a scorching hot summer this year, like it has been almost every year the previous years.

I have some cliché advises for everyone, which are important to follow if you wish to survive the upcomming summer months:

1. Dress for the weather. 

Make sure you have your sweaters and woolen knits stored at your ceiling, and consider short sleeves, summer dresses, skirts, light footwear and short and light to wear pants. No matter what style you follow, I suppose you can buy wearable summer clothes for any style. It's no excuse to show up in winter gear at a hot day.

2. Stay hydratated 

Make sure to drink enough liquids. Not only fresh water, which is just delocious after a hard day outside, but also herbal teas and waters with natural fruit flavours are a good idea. If you feel you have been out for too long in the sun and you feel a bit wobbly, cubes off broth dissolved in some hot water can bring you back to life if you drink bouillon.

3. Make sure to wear sunscrean 

I'm someone who burns very fast in hot sunlight, I'm the opposite off a witch who melts in water, I can't stand hot sun. I'm one off these examples off people who don't get away with not putting on at least SPF 50 and still have to be super carefull in the sun. I suggest you to put on sunscreen every day and don't forget your face.

4. Eat hearthy foods 

This is to maintain your levels off salt. It's possible to loose a lot off salt and minerals when you're out in the sun all day, sunbathing. It can make you feel wobbly and out off balance, and it's dangerous. Make sure to get in enough minerals and salt, and give your body what it needs during summer.

5. Don't go sunbathing all day. 

It can do damage to your skin,  the UVA and UVB levels in modern sunlight are extremely high and might cause cell damage and skin cancer if you decide to stay in the sun for too long. I would say about three hours at most every day is perfect these days, to still get in sun energy but not the damage it can cause if you do so for too long.

6. Don't be too hard on yourself these months. 

If you fight the heath, it won't get you anywhere. Just be more laid back, take life the way it comes and accept there is nothing to do about it but just take it easy. Trying to achieve something you better keep for cooler days is not a good idea. It's summer, it's time to be laid back. Just take your time to relax in your backyard with a popsicle. And take it off your mind to go to extremes.

Good afternoon at the 27th off May, 2020

Good afternoon everyone,

I hope my guardian angel watches this.

I feel exhausted, I have incredible trouble sleeping at night, and I can't seem to relax. Nothing helps me to feel at peace, something in my mind is always troubled and I'm doing hard with it.

I have talked through it with my mental health provider but what she suggests are things that don't work. Like reading, or taking small walks in the evening, or listening to relaxing music. I found stuff like that doesn't actually work for me. I'm looking into kinds off herbal tea which may work.

She also suggested for me to go to bed later instead off 21.30 in the evening, as that might work. It sounds like one thing I haven't tried yet. What to do to fight restlessness and exhaustion during times like this?

I have episodes like this a lot. Mainly during stressfull events.

The tv show 'Well Rested.' should be canceled by now. I wish we could find the reason for my sleeping issues. That's a bad ending for such a remarkable show.

My target to eat more healthy on the other hand, often goes well. I eat healthy, less than before, and I maintained to loose about 2 killograms this month, I don't know how I did that, it just happened but I feel good by it. I think it's mainly because I only ate breakfast and dinner for a while, but that's not the most healthy way to do it. I'm glad it worked to loose weight. I tell you this while eating a roll off chocolate digestives. I could get smart with it and finally start to eat healthy completely and make it a habbit. But to get rid off sweet tooth and a love for food is hard. Though I'm doing better with it since a few months.

These days some idiot at the pharmacy changed the brand to one off my meds and it doesn't do good on me. Luckily Leviaan made it right, so tonight I'm back at the usuall brand. I hate when that happens since it makes me unstable. Luckily, it was possible to set it back. It might take me some days to get re-used to the old brand.

** 

It's late spring, almost the beginning off summer in the Netherlands. We have bright days often where the sun shines and people are out more often. I feel less depressed than during winter. lack off sunlight even affects me. Instead off staing in bed for hours since I couldn't get enough sleep during the night, I was out early and spend some time on looking good today, and on my breakfast. I got to the morning coffee moment 'de Boed.' has outside on the terrace, but I can't say I feel energetic. I had two cups off coffee and tried my best socializing despite feeling moody.

after that I made some strawberry-rhubarb compote for dessert this evening with fresh strawberries and rhubarb. It's yummy and relatively healthy compared to most desserts. it's vegan, gluten and diary free and plant based. despite it having sugar in it. But that's mainly it. The combination off strawberry and rhubarb, if you can get your hands on it, is one off the best things off this season and a favourite off mine. It should  be on the list 'spring / summer foods.'  during winter I made a blog on how I found it hard to decide what foods are in season for spring / summer. Strawberries and rhubarb defenetely belong on that list.

Allright, I feel like I might overwhelm the audience with all off this. I'll make this the end off this blog post.

Thank you for reading.   

Good afternoon at the 11th off May, 2020

Good afternoon, 


I feel like starting a rant about how everyone should start to eat appropriately and not to skip meals because they are always buisy. It's important to eat well, and to matter about what you eat. It would benefit the entire world if they would do so.

But I mention to have a light off-day today myself, though I'm not planning to give up healthier eating habbits for a lifetime. though I feel 'off.' due to a lack off good vitamins and minerals, probably. I personally feel better mentally and physically if I eat well. I'd like to shout it to those people who lack to eat, and who eat junkfood all the time instead off the good stuff, preferably only once a day instead off spreading their nutricions throughout the day:

'Goddamn it people, start to eat appropriately. To begin with the three main meals each day.'

Verdomme mensen, eet nou toch eens fatsoenlijk. Te beginnen met de drie gewone hoofdmaaltijden per dag.

It's hard, though, to get people off off their bad habbits and get them to better new ones. It's a whole matter off proces, behaviour and habbits people have created throughout their lives. I would advocate for a collective lunch time at work where people can eat for one hour during lunch time at a collective lunch cafetaria (for example) and have time for healthy lunches, and people taking their time for healthy lunches at work and at school. It can make a diffrence in how they do their job and how they feel throughout the day. That's one idea I have.

I'm into nutricions and vitamins and minerals these days, I'm looking up information about the most healthy foods people can eat and what they do for your organs, how they boost your immune system, how they help you to live longer and feel younger, and I would advocate to eat fruits, vegetables, fatty fish, nuts and multigrain bread and other products. and lean meat.

But I have been snacking on a bag off small chocolate easter eggs while writing this blog. I know how hard it is to stick to such diet rules. Despite that they are so good for you. But I myself, I'm not a clean eater (yet)   

Good evening at the 6th off May, 2020.

Warning: this is about personal health issues.

I have this annoying issue where my shoulders cramp incredibly and hurt like there's no tomorrow. Preferrably around morning just when I'm about to wake up, I'm pretty sure it's my muscles that hurt. it hurts until I get out off bed, and it's impossible to lift my right arm until some time after breakfast where it starts to work again.

I know what could solve it: a good shoulder massage could release the pain, but people are supposed to keep 1.5 meters distance so I don't see that happen soon.

Better news: I'm into healthy eating recently, I have been onto that for about three weeks, and I start to feel more energy and less pain in my gut after simply eating good meals throughout the day. I have been onto this quite serious, so I have been reading up some information about healthy foods and nutricion and started to incorporate beneficial foods into my daily diet.

I take my time for healthy lunches and usually put some soup rich in vegetables on the menu for lunch, to start off with. Some bread aside with my soup, I made it a habbit to eat an entire cucumber and a bag off lettuce aside to that. sometimes with tomatoes and some other time with raddish, And I decided on to drink plenty off green tea. I think it's important to get all the healthy goodness from all off that in and feel more energetic. You heard me complaining about a year ago about being low on energy and being tired most off the time during, well, during the entire year and gaining excessive weight during that time. 

To eat better foods sure does support how I feel both physically and mentally. Though there is still a constant emotional state off sorrow sometimes, most off the time I feel more energetic. So to eat more healthy influences my state off depression or feeling good. I believe in the benefits off it for my entire system. 

It doesn't mean I stopped to snack on sugary treats, I still fall for that most off the time and eat cake with my green tea. It's hard to stop such a habbit, to pig in excessive amounts off candy and other sweet foods. (I have been told I have or might have a sugar addiction) If I knew a way to mentally survive without this, I could finally cut some ties and start loosing serious weight. Life would be so dull and hard without sweet treats. That's probably a step further, or even two or three steps further.

That's it for now,

Thank you for reading.     

Good afternoon at the 4th off May, 2020

Supermarkets around europe are bulking with fresh fruits and vegetables. Restaurants can't open their doors and farmers can't sell their goods to them like usuall. I have been keeping up with the news recently. (It's not as much as a huge suprise as it would have been if I had just entered the supermarket and simply see all the vegetables as cheap as a brick) 

I have never seen them as affordable as these days, and I think to eat them, or so to say, first buy them prior to eating them, can support the farmers and the supermarket who would otherwise be stuck with all off that fresh goodness.

I love to eat vegetables at the moment, I eat at least one cucumber and an entire bag off lettuce with my lunch each day. (I'm not kidding) I munch them in like a vegetable cookie monster. It's also part off the 'fight corona by boosting your immune system.' plan. Simply to eat healthy and hopefully corona won't enter my door. (My idea off trying to protect myself)

I would like to encourage people to buy a lot off vegetables and eat them, to help support your farmers and boost your personal health. It's pretty much a win-win situation if you do so.

Even I can afford to buy and eat fresh aspargus this season, despite not sharing them with my family. Usually aspargus are damn expensive. But I think this season during a deep crisis, most people can afford them.

 I hope you people love fresh vegetables as much as I do. I have been raised with eating fresh veggies and I can eat my salads without dressing, or blanched foods without sauce. It's important to learn to eat them that way, just like learning to drink tea without sugar. It's much better for your health if you can do so. I know very few people who can eat them like that. But to give it a try and teach yourself could do good for most.

I hope you guys aren't stuck in the house with boredom, but know how to entertain yourselves. These are no times for envy towards each other. It's never a time for envy, but especially during crisises like these, to put your shoulders under this task and simply overcome is more important than poking out each others eyes. (I doubt if they can overcome this in the fantasy scene. those people are always jealous, no matter what. But like I said, this is no time for jealousy or acting low. That won't help anyone out.)

I hope people can think inventive these days, and come up with brilliant ideas that would have never been if ther would not have been a serious crisis like this. Sometimes the most brilliant solutions to things come up during matters like these. Not just a medicine for corona, but hopefully a lot off other solutions for serious problems just as good. If that would happen, this would have been good for something. But that's probably to know for the world after this crisis. I keep my spirits high these days. Sometimes miracles happen during deep sh#t.

Allright, keep all off that in mind if you are willing to take my advise.

Thank you for reading,

XXX- Maaike.