• Photography,  travel

    Vienna / Wien | Travel Photos

    Wien. Vienna. Austria. Österrike. Such an underestimated city that has so much to offer to a traveller. I have been here since last Friday and I love the vibe of the country. At this moment I’m sipping on the last moments of being in this town, since we’re going back in 2 days. I’ve got some pictures to share with you all that shows some of my best captures of this journey. 

    I’ve got no more travel plans set in stone currently although I have some ideas of the next visits. The US, California. Roadtrip in Europe. Rome. Berlin once again, since it’s been some years and I feel the need to breathe in some Berlin air quite soon. Long overdue. 

    Hope you have had a great Easter holiday and enjoy looking through the pictures below and be inspired to make a trip to Vienna yourself. 

    Peace and love,

    Kimmi Madeline 

    Picnic with Indian food 

    @ Cafe Neko – visiting some cats in this adorable cat café 

    @ Cafe Sacher 

    @ Jonas Reindl Coffee 

  • Cooking,  Photography

    India Trip 2016: Food Pictures

    I have gathered some pictures of different types of food we had in India throughout our trip. Everything, everywhere we went, was absolutely amazing and delicious. I don’t think I ate anything not worth it ever during the whole trip. Of course I have loads of more pictures of food, but I didn’t want it to take over the whole post so here’s a bunch of my favourites. Hope you enjoy and that you’ll be interested in making a food trip to India sometime soon!

    Peace and Love,
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  • Cooking,  Health

    Sugar isn’t the Answer

    I’m currently trying my hardest to sugar-fast in my diet. I didn’t eat all that much sugar before but it’s still good to be aware of what we’re putting into our bodies. I’ve never really liked candy and those kinds of sugar sources, but I love a piece of chocolate every now and then. Or a delicious piece of cake!
    I had to read up on what the daily recommendation of sugar really is and it’s shocking to know that you easily get that amount by the products we eat daily. These days it seems like all kinds of food products contain added sugar, to the extent that it’s not healthy for us. Bread, yogurt, light-products, granola and much more are not sugar-free anymore, unless you really look out and read on the labels.
    Most people I speak to about this would react in a way that if you’re not unhealthy and overweight, I shouldn’t have to worry about my sugar intake. I don’t agree. We all have a responsibility towards ourselves and our body to eat the best we can and to not put junk into our bodies. We want to grow old in grace and in a healthy manner, without any unnecessary sickness due to something we could have changed in our diet earlier in our lives.

    The recommended daily intake of sugar shouldn’t be more than 30 g for adults, and that is around 5-7 tsp of added sugar in all kinds of ways. Real fruit is not counted in that amount, since it contains fibers and it’s more filling because sugar (fructose) isn’t the sole ingredient.
    If you’re ever unsure of what is considered to be high sugar amount in products when reading on labels, you can go by these measures:

    • more than 22.5g of total sugars per 100g is high sugar amount
    • 5g of total sugars or less per 100g is low sugar amount

    To start the journey of cutting down on sugar is to identify what products in your cupboard are actually high or medium in sugar percentage, and replace them with healthier options. Also identify the products you normally buy where the sugar is hidden and are marketed as healthy but in reality contains  a lot of sugar. You will be surprised of how many products are looking healthy but they’re not.
    In the beginning it will be difficult, it is very hard to cut down on sugar, but you need to do it gradually. Replace one thing at a time. Try to eat as natural and sugar-free breakfast as possible, to not feel so tired and lethargic in the middle of the day when the blood sugar gets low.

     Let’s start the journey towards a more sugar free diet. 

    Peace and Love,
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  • Cooking,  Health,  Inspiration

    Why Should I Drink Dairy Products?

    When I was around 17-18 years old I got some blood tests done for my allergies, and I had a lot of new allergies that I didn’t have as a child. The tests came out positive on a lot of food substances, such as milk protein and wheat. I was in such a denial and I didn’t want to face it since I loved butter, cream and all kinds of dairy including products. At this time I went ahead and tried substituting milk with oat milk, and it wasn’t as popular in the stores so it was hard to get hold of.
    I didn’t like it, mainly because I compared it straight on with milk. Now I know that it’s impossible to compare one thing with a totally other, it’s not really meant for drinking as it is like we do with milk. I gave it a couple of tries in different recipes, and got more used to it.

    Many people in my surroundings have over the years gotten lactose intolerant, and many believe that it’s the same as milk protein allergy. They’re two totally different bodily reactions. I’m not going to get into that subject, if you’re still unsure of the difference, there are many articles on Google and Wikipedia to get a better understanding.

    I have also since I got my allergy tests done many years ago, started eating more and more vegetarian food and trying to educate myself more about the industry. I’ve never eaten eggs since I’ve always been severly allergic to them, so in a way I’m basically vegan. But in most other ways, I’m not. The important thing about the diet is not what we call ourselves, it really doesn’t matter. I don’t call myself anything in particular, I find it unnecessary to put labels on people and for others to put you in boxes just because of a diet choice.
    However, I have started questioning the reason why we’re told from a very young age (at least in Sweden and in Nordic countries), that milk is important for us and our bodies. Why?
    It seems to be pretty clear that a major part of the population has trouble digesting milk when they become older and adults. What does that tell you? It might not be something we truly require to survive.
    We might need the different types of nutrition found in milk, but milk is not the only food that contains calcium, vitamin D and protein; it can easily be found in other alternative products or fortified milk substitutes which we’re not sensitive towards.
    I do believe we need milk when we’re babies and growing up when we’re infants, and that milk is called breast milk. Either with a bottle or breastfeeding, I’m neither for or against either of those choices. Bottom line is that the breast milk is actually made for us humans, which cow milk isn’t. The cow is producing the milk for their baby calves, and when I truly thought about that, I felt sad. We’re really taking away the milk that is made for their babies and drink it ourselves, how selfish isn’t that? It was mind boggling when I started questioning how much we truly NEED milk in our lives.

    I eat milk products every now and then, but I try to keep it at a minimum since I started thinking about these things. I have also noticed that the more milk I have digested in my body, the more hormonal acne I tend to get. Ask around, experiment, especially women; is milk the reason behind your breakouts? Do we truly need milk in our diets?

    Just some food for thought, what are your ideas and thoughts about this subject?

    Peace and Love,
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  • Cooking,  Health,  Personal,  Thoughts

    Allergic to everything

    I’ve never really written about something that consumes all my daily life, and it has for the past 20 years. I’m 25 and I’ve always had allergies for as long as I can remember. I’ve always cheated with what I can allow myself to eat because I thought I could get away with it, by telling myself – it’s not that bad, the reactions could be worse. The result of that has always been endless nights of constant itching attacks and not being able to hinder myself even in public, and it just gets worse if I eat more of the food I’m allergic to. The scratching turns into the skin bleeding and then it becomes rashes and it’s out of control already…

    Recent months I’ve become more interested in becoming more fit and training at the gym properly to gain muscles and weight. To be able to accomplish that I needed to exceed my intake of protein, which had never earlier crossed my mind. I actually ate way too little protein before so I needed to take extra by drinking some protein shakes after the exercises. Then I realised that the most popular protein shake is usually made out of milk protein, which is also one of those ingredients I’ve been neglecting that the doctors told me that I’m allergic to (or at least according to the tests)

    These realisations made me more aware of what I put into my body so I decided to make a clean start when I moved to Stockholm. I contacted the doctor to start a new investigation so they’re able to take new allergy tests. I’ve started the process but I’m far from getting the tests done or getting the results of those. But what counts is that I’ve taken the steps that are necessary to understand my body a bit more.
    This realisation also made me more determined to avoid everything that came up in the tests back in 2007. I started writing a list,  a list that was long overdue, a list I’ve been avoiding to make for the longest time, because I thought I could cheat and still feel okay. It’s not okay, it’s my body and I want to feel good and be healthy. If that means I need to cut down on some of the good stuff, then I need to find other good stuff. I love cooking food, especially with all ingredients I’m allergic to. I can still do that, but to feed others. When it comes to me, things have got to change.

    I’m happy to hear some of your stories if you have anything similar to share. Do you have many allergies and how do you cope in your daily life? Please share your story with me in the comments below.

    Peace and Love,
    Kimmi

  • beauty,  Inspiration,  Photography

    Weekly Photo Challenge: My 2012 in Pictures

    I’ve been sitting here for the past hour or two to pick out nice pictures from the year that has gone by – 2012. These below are my favourite ones that show some high points from my 2012 and illustrates what I’ve been up to during the year. Next year I will buy a new camera to take more amazing photos in much better quality. Need to capture the moments! 😉

    / Kimmi

  • Health

    Healthy mornings

    From now on I will have breakfast every morning and it’s going to be handmade by myself. I just got really inspired to start drinking fruit smoothies that I blend myself with a mixer. Together with some protein powder it will be a boost of energy, exactly what I’ve been craving lately. I think that this will inspire me to continue the search for a bit more healthy food.
    I really don’t mind fast food, I love fast food from time to time, but it still doesn’t always make me feel good afterwards. I feel tired, exhausted or just lack energy after such a meal. It might have to do with my body metabolism is not made for that type of food, and since I’m skinny it might take all the energy I have to digest all the fat in fast food. It’s just a theory, but it might be true. As long as healthy food can make me feel more energized I will be happy.
    I don’t mind eating more vegetarian food either, but it also lacks a lot of protein which my body especially needs because of my low blood pressure. So it’s going to be a challenge, but this time I will do something about it. Cook more often and eat a healthy breakfast. I believe that it’s a good start.
    My first step would be to find a good blender, I will buy it this week. Already making a shopping list of all the fruits and stuff I will use.