Wellness Wednesday

Make your own drink

From the 16 teaching .

A Jedi understand that well-being consists in the physical, the mental and the spiritual.

That is why making your own healthy drink can be a way to help your self be healthy , instead of opening a can of heavily sugary soda. There is many ways to make a delicious beverage with ingredients that would as well be very benefic to your body and your mind.

Today I will particularly focus on one ingredient that is Ginger .

Lets talk first about the benefits of Ginger

Ginger may have anti-inflammatory, antibacterial, antiviral, and other healthful properties. Below are some of the possible medicinal uses of ginger.

Relieving nausea
Easing a cold or the flu
Relieving pain
Reducing inflammation
Supporting cardiovascular health
Lowering cancer risk
Nutrition

From <https://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/265990#nutrition>

Animal studies have also indicated that ginger can influence serotonin levelsTrusted Source and may treat and reduce anxiety as successfully as benzodiazepine drugs.

From <https://www.healthline.com/health/food-nutrition/drinks-for-stress-anxiety#ginger>

A fun fact for men is that ginger is one of the top ten food that can help boosting level of testosterone ! The 8 best foods to boost low testosterone (medicalnewstoday.com)

There is another simple fact with ginger that it helps with feeling cold!

Now we know. Let s talk about the fun side of the subject , let make that yummy drink .

First if you can , ginger is very very easy to grow , there s nothing like fresh ginger but you can as well buy powder ginger or a rhizome, as it is not a root. The rhizome it self will give you a bit more preparation but of course it will tast much better, I would recommend to use a small pot that will still be big enough to prepare enough drink for maybe 4 cups. Cut a bit of ginger the size of a sugar cube and grate it, then bring it to a boil no more than 2 minutes. Get your cup ready, now it all depend how you like it , I personally use green tea , 2 spoon honey and I filter the ginger water while I poor a whiskey finger in my cup( remember that a finger is not vertical but horizontal , poor a bit more of hot water add a slice of lemon squeeze it and steer it all. NOW what is it that you want today ? A hot drink ? Or a cold drink as it can go either way, if you are feeling a bit sick , make it hot , if you re feeling hot make it cold . And enjoy your own home made brew. Then when finished seen that you already have cooked ginger water make another or keep it in the refrigerator for later.

The Golden Latte

Yes you have heard right today, we will talk about the Eldorado of the coffee drinkers , it looks awesome , it taste great, it s good for you and it feels right The Golden Latte !!!!!!!!

This is the following up on Healthy drink that you can make at home , but lets talk about coffee first as it has few miss understanding and bad reputation , as Jedis we must pass through the so called bad reputation and go to the heart of thing to find the truth. So coffee is not all bad .
“The overall evidence has been pretty convincing that coffee has been more healthful than harmful in terms of health outcomes,” said Frank Hu, chair of the Department of Nutrition at Harvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health, in an April 5, 2021, article in Discover. “For most people, moderate coffee consumption can be incorporated into a healthy diet.”
From <https://www.hsph.harvard.edu/news/hsph-in-the-news/is-coffee-good-or-bad-for-your-health/>
The caffeine from coffee has been shown in studies to be beneficial for increasing alertness and cognitive performance.
From <https://coffeeatticla.com/blog/the-unknown-benefits-of-coffee/>
So what is this Golden Latte ? Simple it is a coffee drink with a twist of turmeric! Turmeric is a spice that if you have a bit of a garden would be easy to grow.
The idea of adding turmeric to coffee is a fairly new trend. There is individual research on turmeric and coffee, but no data of its potential health benefits as a concoction. However, the combination of turmeric and coffee together could offer a potent drink. Here’s the scientific data so far on the golden spice.
May calm inflammation
May improve your mood
May help with blood sugar
May ease digestive woes
May lower heart disease risk From <https://www.thehealthy.com/nutrition/turmeric-coffee/>


Homemade turmeric coffee recipe
So lets look into a the recipe, I know it s not a ready drink but making your own will give you that much more satisfaction and lets remind everyone that filtered coffee might be more healthy as well than unfiltered.
Ingredients
1/2 cup dairy or plant-based milk
1 teaspoon ground turmeric
1/2 teaspoon ground cinnamon
1/4 teaspoon ground ginger
Pinch of black pepper
8 ounces brewed coffee
1 teaspoon pure maple syrup (optional)
Directions
In a small saucepan over medium heat, stir together milk, turmeric, cinnamon, ginger, pepper, and coffee. Briskly blend with an immersion blender or whisk. For sweetened coffee, add maple syrup. Pour into a coffee mug and enjoy.

From <https://www.thehealthy.com/nutrition/turmeric-coffee/>

Let s not forget that being a Jedi is to seek balance, coffee is healthy but it as well can create an addiction , most of everything is good with moderation .

This is my last post as Tobias is back from holidays , something simple


Mint


This Wednesday I will talk about my all time favorite drink!
One my friend slash mentor was a nurse, a really relaxed guy who lived in his camper van , he did not have many vice beside a little one and a passion for surfing, to quench his first he drank Mint tea only. So it became a "cool" drink in my head. And it is COOL! A perfect drink by hot weather sweeten with honey . Mint has few tricks in it "pocket" let see .

1. Rich in Nutrients

While not typically consumed in large quantities, mint does contain a fair amount of nutrients.
In fact, just under 1/3 cup or half an ounce (14 grams) of spearmint contains (1):
• Calories: 6
• Fiber: 1 gram
• Vitamin A: 12% of the RDI
• Iron: 9% of the RDI
• Manganese: 8% of the RDI
• Folate: 4% of the RDI

2. May Improve Irritable Bowel Syndrome


3. May Help Relieve Indigestion


4. Could Improve Brain Function


5. May Decrease Breastfeeding Pain


6. Subjectively Improves Cold Symptoms
<https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/mint-benefits#TOC_TITLE_HDR_2>

Not bad isnt it for a little leaf !
Best if you have a little green thumb grow mint at home , there's about 19 variety of mint so every time you want to make tea pluck some from your home grown mint, but mint leaf are commonly found in desserts and many dishes . There is nothing better than home grown food.

Try it and enjoy a COOL drink

Flaxseed Wednesday

Hello friends, I am back from my holiday and it is time to tell you some more of the amazing things flaxseeds can do to our body.

First thing: it is proven that flaxseed intake lowers bad cholesterol in our bloodstream, look here:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/25694068/

Now, concerning weight loss; there are a number of studies that show that simply adding ! flaxseeds to whatever diet you live on right now might significantly lower your body weight, if you suffer from overweight. A great meta – analysis has been done on this:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/28635182/

Now, you could think, well, people who eat flaxseeds regularly probably are overall more conscious about their habits of eating and living and therefore are less bothered with problems like overweight. But look here:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/27151322/

An additional effect of flaxseeds on lowering body weight has been proven, even if you already lead a healthy lifestyle.

There is also a positive effect of flaxseed consumption on the so called non alcoholic fatty liver disease.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/26983396/

So, again you see, there are now at least 3 more reasons to eat flaxseeds regularly. And if it is too much for you to consciously eat a tablespoon a day, do yourself a favor: whenever you come across the option to add flaxseeds to your food in any way, simply do so.

Greetings and may the Force be with you.

Tobias

Tobias wrote: Flaxseed Wednesday

Hello friends, I am back from my holiday and it is time to tell you some more of the amazing things flaxseeds can do to our body.

I use them in my home made dog food, and dog biscuits as well

Flaxseed Wednesday

Dear friends.

Yesterday I was at a restaurant, and as in the most cases, I ordered plant based food. But this time I got an extraordinary amount of vegetables, well, you know, usually if you order a „vegan“ dish you get things like fries or pasta with tomato sauce or things like that, so indeed very much processed food. But this time: at least 400 grams of freshly cooked spinach. So keep sure to keep an eye open for restaurants like that, I will definitely go back there and have a few meals there in a month.

Well, today let´s talk about hypertension and flax seeds flax seeds seem to have a similar benefitial effect on our blood pressure as some medications out there. Look at this study

Potent antihypertensive action of dietary flaxseed in hypertensive patients - PubMed (nih.gov)

They even managed to do a double blind study while administering flaxseeds to patients with hypertension by creating food that actually just looked like it contained flaxseeds as a placebo. And you see, flaxseed turns out to be the most effective agent amongst foods out there concerning high blood pressure.

In this study they experimented on feeding pigs flaxseeds to see, if the meat turns out to be more healthy after that.

Flaxseed fed pork: n-3 fatty acid enrichment and contribution to dietary recommendations - PubMed (nih.gov)

Well, I think, it is a better idea to eat the flaxseeds yourself and skip this process of feeding pigs flaxseeds and eating the pigs afterwards, come on…

Well, this study shows that adding flaxseeds to for example a beef patty, for those of you who don´t want to dispense with meat, doesn´t seem to dramatically change the perceived sensory quality of the product.

Response surface methodology for predicting quality characteristics of beef patties added with flaxseed and tomato paste - PubMed (nih.gov)

So, here we have another reason why it is a good idea to keep on eating flaxseeds everyday.

Well, there are more to come next week, so keep it up, have a good time.

May the Force be with you.

Tobias

Flaxseed Wednesday.

Hi friends. I want to keep it short this week, I am quite busy right now. All these studies speak for themselves, (see down below), they show that flaxseeds definitely has a benefitial effect on people with breast cancer, as you will see, flaxseeds are able to slow down the proliferation rate of the tumor cells and promote the death of tumor cells, it even makes them less aggressive.

So for all of you out there who suffer from that disease or have suffered from it, flaxseeds might not be as effective as chemotherapy but you don´t risk anything by putting them into your diet.

Here are the studies:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15897583/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20033482/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22094938/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/20463043/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/22037685/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/21984941/

May the Force be with you!

Tobias

Flaxseed Wednesday

Today I am going to show you that flaxseeds not only have a benefitial effect on people with breast cancer, no it seems to have a comparable effect also on people with prostate cancer.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/15134976/

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/11445478/

These pilot studies show that patients with prostate cancer who ate a fat restricted diet with flaxseeds in it experienced a significant decrease of PSA in their blood which is a biomarker for prostate cancer.

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/19064574/

Here it is proven in a randomized trial.



So, here we are, this is all I have to say about flaxseeds.

I think we have found several reasons why it is a good idea to eat flaxseeds everyday.

Now, while it is probably a good idea to eat as much as possible of these seeds, I still think, it is a good idea to eat at least one tablespoon a day.

I would be happy if some of you try this, maybe you observe effects on your health for yourself, if so, feel free to share those experiences here.

So, Flaxseed Wednesday ends today, next week we are coming back to other foods that are good for us, there is still much to discover: Turmeric, Nuts and much more.

May the Force be with you!

Tobias

Wellness Wednesday on Thursday this time.

Oops, I forgot to post yesterday, please apologize.

Here we go:
Hello friends.

In the next few episodes of Wellness Wednesday I want to talk to you about nuts and seeds. Well, all of us have probably heard that eating nuts is a good choice if you are trying to live on a healthy diet.

But this week I want to show you only one study:

https://www.researchgate.net/publication/248385213_A_Single_Consumption_of_High_Amounts_of_the_Brazil_Nuts_Improves_Lipid_Profile_of_Healthy_Volunteers

So, what did they do here? Well, this is not a randomized trial, and the number of volunteers was very low, only 10 people, so we are not sure if these amazing results are in the end just too good to be true:

They gave those people nothing more than a single serving ! of 4 brazil nuts a MONTH to achieve the result that their ldl-cholesterol – Level decreased significantly and STAYED DOWN! There is no known drug that can do that, that is unbelievable!

So, even if these results still have to be verified in a larger study, I strongly recommend to all of you who might have trouble with high cholsesterol levels: please eat 4 brazil nuts once a month, it is cheap, it is healthy anyway, it doesn´t bring any danger, just do it.

I recommend this to all of my patients, before starting statins, and I recommend this to you.

By the way, brazil nuts are the most tasty and delicious nuts anyway, so it is not a hard thing to do hehe.

May the Force be with You!

Tobias

Hello friends.

Look, what I have found for you, this is a very interesting study:

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/29897866/

To sum it up, the study has some weaknesses in the end, but what becomes clear is that obviously eating half an ounze of nuts a day makes strokes significantly less probable, so it would probably be a good idea to do so.

I want to give you a short list of possible nuts and seeds we can eat just to raise your appetite a little:

Almonds
Brazil nuts
Cashews
Chia seeds
Hazelnuts
Hemp seeds
Macadamia nuts
Pecans
Pistachios
Pumpkin seeds
Sesame seeds
Sunflower seeds
Walnuts

May the Force be with you.

Yours, Tobias

Hello friends. Sorry, I forgot to post yesterday, so here we go on Thursday this time. Today I want to show you one of the videos where I get my information from that I present to you. Today I want to not tell you what I learned by watching the video, I want to show the video directly to you, because I don´t think I can summarize it any further. I am also thinking about doing this more often because I think that M. Greger can explain some things much better to you than I can. Anyway: Enjoy this video about nuts and their amazing ability to burn calories while you eat them:

https://nutritionfacts.org/video/nuts-and-obesity-the-weight-of-evidence/

Have a good time, may the Force be with you.

Tobias

Hallo friends.

To conclude our conversation about nuts and seeds: how much nuts or seeds should we eat in one day? Well, it seems that the best option would be to eat at least 30 g of nuts or seeds out of the list I posted 2 weeks ago OR 2 tablespoons of unsweetened nut butter.

Next week we are going to talk about the last of the nutrients I want to tell you about: whole grains. If we truly stick to a plant based diet, this is the stuff that delivers our calories for the day, that make as full and satisfied.

But Wellness Wednesday is not going to end after this chapter, we are still gonna talk about how much water we should drink in a day and how much exercise we are supposed to do.

And after all this I am going to keep you up to date with the newest results of research concerning nutrition.

So, until next week,

May the Force be with you.

Tobias

Hello friends.

So far we have talked about a lot of healthy stuff to eat, but finally we need something that makes us really full and satisfied. I don´t know what you think, but I can eat a lot of vegetables and fruit, but that doesn´t make me full for more than a few hours. But – whole grains – are on the one hand healthy and on the other hand they make us full for several hours and satisfy very well. In this series I want to first start about what whole grains are and how much we should ideally eat of them each day, and next week I am going to show you why it is a good idea to eat them.

So what are whole grains? Here we go:

Barley,
Buckwheat,
Millet,
Oats,
Popcorn,
Quinoa,
Rye,
Teff,
Whole-wheat pasta.

We are looking for the “whole grain”, so no refined wheat or anything!

How much should we eat ideally each day:

3 serving sizes

What is ONE serving size:

100 g hot cereal or cooked grains, pasta, or corn kernels
50 g cold cereal
1 tortilla or slice of bread
½ a bagel or English muffin
30 g popped popcorn

Yes, even popcorn is a very good idea! Great to hear isn´t it?

So, until next week!

May the Force be with yall.

Tobias

Hi.

I have decided to from now on show you Michael Greger´s videos directly, because I think no one can describe it better than him.

Today I have picked a video about whole grains and what effects they have on our microbiome and what that means for our health.

So have fun with the video.

Yours Tobias, may the Force be with you.

https://nutritionfacts.org/video/gut-microbiome-strike-it-rich-with-whole-grains/

Hi friends.

Do you want to know, why it is a better choice to eat oatmeal than cereals?

Here you go, may the Force be with you all.

https://nutritionfacts.org/video/which-is-a-better-breakfast-cereal-or-oatmeal/

Hello friends.

Look at this video and eat like a gladiator! Yes! May the Force be with you.

Tobias

https://nutritionfacts.org/video/the-gladiator-diet-how-vegetarian-athletes-stack-up/

Hello friends.

Let´s talk about something we haven´t talked about so far namely beverages. First of all what kind of beverages should we drink to stay healthy. Well, you should stay away from any beverage that contains alcohol. Yes, there is evidence that regular intake of small amounts of alcohol may improve your cholesterol and lower your risk of suffering from cardiovascular diseases. BUT. There is also evidence that alcohol intake does NOT do any of this. Only, you will perhaps not know about this kind of evidence because it is not that popular. Also alcohol consumption goes along with a high risk of developing cancer. You might get cancer in your mouth or esophagus or larynx. I can´t show you all the evidence here but believe me, seen from an honest perspective as a whole: you get off best if you avoid alcohol completely in your life. You might however decide that you don´t want to restrain from alcohol completely, well that is okay, but try to be honest about it and be aware of the risks, don´t make this mistake that most people make by claiming it might in the end be good for your health. Evidence shows that this is not true.

Coffee is a good option if you are looking for a good beverage. Coffee is addictive, yes, we will talk about this later, but coffee is also good for your health in many ways, I will tell you more about coffee next week.

Tea is an excellent idea also. We might talk about that as well later on.

In the end any beverage that does not contain sugar and / or alcohol and / or fat is a good option, something like… water for example.

Stay away from milk if you want to stay healthy.

Hibiscus tea is something very special and deserves its own Wellness Wednesday.

Now: HOW MUCH should we drink each day? That is a difficult question, or is it not perhaps? You might perhaps have heard very often that it is a good idea to drink very much water every day, that is good to drink “at least” 2 litres every day. Let me put it in a nutshell: This is NOT true. Evidence even shows that drinking too much water may actually damage your health in the end. Drinking not enough isn´t good either? Well then how much? One litre? Two litres? Thress litres?

I have a surprise for you: it is very easy.

Drink, when you´re thirsty. That´s it.

As long as you don´t suffer from any kind of condition, especially an illness of your kidneys, you can rely on your body completely! Your body knows exactly how much water you have already taken in by eating food, how much you lose through your skin and your lungs and so on. It shows you that you need water when you feel thirsty. Drink water or tea or coffee (yes, coffee, if you like it – which is important as you will see next week) when you feel thirsty until you´re not thirsty any more. It IS that easy! Wonder why? Well, our body hasn´t changed much in the last 10000 years. If it was complicated, who knows where we would be today? Haha.

Well, I am leaving you with the good news that is not difficult to stay healthy in the end. Have a nice week and may the Force be with you.

Tobias

Hello friends.

I have promised you to talk more about coffee this week, so here we go.

Coffee is a good beverage for your health, because evidence shows that drinking coffee has a lot of benefitial effects such as improving your cholesterol levels and your cardiovascular health IF you like coffee.

Isn´t that great? Nature has arranged that people who are so called slow metabolizers of coffee, who will NOT have any benefitital effects from drinking coffee, usually don´t like coffee because it feels agitating and uncomfortable for them to drink coffee. If you are a fast metabolizer for caffeine, which is most common, you will like coffee and drink it often, because coffee is addictive. Yes, it is addictive, nearly as addictive as nicotine. Restraining from caffeine after regular use leads to headaches, craving, being tired and having difficulties concentrating. So, if you like coffee, go ahead and enjoy because you will benefit from it.

Now, one last thing I have to tell you about coffee is, that coffee is the more healthy the less particles it contains. That means: the least healthy is coffee cooked on a stove like it is done in Turkey and Greece, next comes the French press, and then espresso from an espresso machine. The best coffee with only benefitial effects is coffee handbrewed; filtered coffee as ist contains nearly no particles at all.

So, go ahead and enjoy your coffee, if you like it, if you don´t, stay away from it.

May the Force be with you.

Yours, Tobias

Hallo friends.

I have to apologize, I have been very sick during the last weeks and because of that I completely forgot about posting here. This week I want to show you a video about tea, and about one tea in particular: hibiscus tea. After this video, I suppose, we have said everything about fluids and drinking that I think there is to say. In the next post I will briefly talk to you about exercise and then I will have said everything that I know about nutrition so far. After that I think I will just give you some interesting facts here and there that I stumble upon. So, well, here is the video, enjoy:
https://nutritionfacts.org/video/hibiscus-tea-vs-plant-based-diets-for-hypertension/

Wellness Wednesday

Have you ever asked yourself, how much exercise would be best for your health? Well, I want to keep it really short today, I am still very occupied, but evidence shows that 90 minutes of moderate exercise like walking or instead 45 minutes of vigorous exercise are optimal every day.

Welt, now you could say that this is probably not applicable for most of us. Indeed it is not. But evidence also shows that already 3 times moderate exercise a week for only 20 minutes makes a big difference for your health.

For my part I have decided to go on an approximately one hour walk every day, it the weather isn't too bad.

Most of you probably do more exercise than that. If not, you should give it a try, you will definitely feel the effects very soon.

May the Force be with you all.

Tobias