Roses in Roosendaal

This morning we went to Roosendaal once again. Luda and my mom went to buy some more clothes at the Mexx sale, while Anne Sophie and me went to walk around the town. We had really good luck, and not only because the weather was good.

Today Roosendaal's main square was also the venue of a Roses Festival, with lots of flowers, music and cheerful people. By the way, the name of this town, located near the Belgian border, means Rose Valley, so I guess this was no coincidence.

Anne Sophie and I had a really good time. She was running around the square, danced to the music of the brass bands, played with other kids, and entertained the people around her with her smiles and dancing. In between, she ate strawberries (they are now at their best) and some rice cookies.

I managed to do all the important groceries at the market and at a nearby organic shop. While I was shopping, Anne Sophie fell asleep, just in time for us to go and pick up the ladies and go home!

Sample Sale Experience

Last night, at the invitation of Mexx (for whom I do a lot of work), we went to a Mexx Sample Sale event in Roosendaal to buy ourselves some brand clothing for little money. Well, that's what it's all about. You get into a huge warehouse with lots of clothes and other stuff hanging around, and you just go and grab what you like. You pay 3 to 10 times less than what you'd pay in a regular shop. That's a real bargain.

This event is organized once a year, and we almost always go there. I always go there with mixed feelings. On the one hand, it's a great opportunity to buy some good clothes for almost nothing (especially for Luda). On the other hand, I always sense something wrong hanging in the air. It must be a spirit of raw consumerism and greed, with people running around grabbing stuff, filling their plastic bags to the fullest. Suddenly it looks like everyone is loosing their reserve and their manners. What matters is that you get what you want.

I wonder how much money people spend on a sale like this. Judging by the size of their bags, it must definitely go into several hundreds. Yesterday I spent 50 Euro, buying myself a pair of shorts (my old one are completely worn out), two pairs of socks, and two sport jackets. Luda spent another 150 Euro, but she seems to have bought a lot of stuff (also some for my mother). The best piece she bought was a black leather jacket, downpriced from 299 to 50 Euro. That was a good deal!

It was funny to experience the raw consumerism at such a close range. It leaves a dead feeling inside of me, but it has its place in our society. The trick is not to get swept by it. Once a year should be enough. Happily, the sample sale only happens once a year!

Eat for Health

A few posts back I wrote about bicycling as a way to keep fit, be healthy and contribute to the environment. Well, from April 1st I started biking to and from work again, and has been doing this for 2 months now with great enjoyment, pleasure and enthusiasm. In these 2 months I biked 293 km / some 14 hours in April, and 262 km / also some 14 hours in May. In May I also walked a total of some 50 km with Anne Sophie in a stroller or in a baby carrier on my back (actually all of those walks were done during our holiday in Portugal).

Another important aspect of well-being is healthy food. In our affluent Western society, the biggest killers of people are cardio-vascular diseases and cancer. According to many, the principal cause of these ailments is our unhealthy nutrition.


I've been trying to improve my diet for years. I eat a lot of fruit and vegetables, etc. But still I was gaining weight. Recently, I came across the book called Eat for Health by the American nutritionist Joel Fuhrman. The biggest conclusion I made when reading this book was that I needed to review my whole diet: eat much more foods rich in nutrients, and much less nutrient-poor foods. Dr Fuhrman provides a lot of advice and lots of great recipes for gradual transition from SAD (Standard American Diet) to healthy diet.

Two weeks ago I started experimenting with his diet. And I must say - it's just great! I started by making healthy breakfast for all three of us (and now four with my mother visiting), which includes freshly pressed orange or mandarin juice, and some kind of oatmeal with berries and nuts or a fruit salad. Also I make a smoothie for myself and for them to eat at lunch. For lunch I also take a bunch of green leafy vegetables, tomatoes, cucumbers, crisp bread and humus (my colleagues find it very funny). In the evening I'd make a healthy desert, such as poached pears with raspberry souse or some blueberries and bananas mixed with nuts and seeds.

This past long weekend I cooked most of the meals myself. Today for dinner I made broiled fish (tilapia) with braised bak soy, and a delicious raisin/apple/cinnamon/nut desert. I must say that I really enjoy this healthy cooking, which I thought I never would. The downside is that it still costs me a lot of time to cook. I am not yet experienced in doing many things at the same time. But I am getting there!

So if you wish to improve your diet, try this book:
Eat For Health: Lose Weight, Keep It Off, Look Younger, Live Longer

Bon appetit!

Holiday in Algarve, Portugal

Have you ever been to Algarve, Portugal? In the first half of May we made our first visit there, and it was just fabulous! To many people, Algarve is just too touristic to be worth a visit. So I was a little apprehensive as to what we might find there. Well, this beautiful costal province in the south of Portugal exceeded all my expectations.



Well, we went there in low season, so there were few tourists. That was definitely a plus. Secondly, we are not really beach goers, so instead we rented a car and went to explore the gorgeous countryside and breathtaking remote beaches. We did 4 walks of 10 to 12 km long, of which two were costal walks along the beautiful rocky beaches of Praia de Luz and Praia de Marina, and the other two were in the sweet scenting rolling hills of Silves and Alte. Anne Sophie enjoyed the walks, and would often fall asleep in her baby carrier, which I carried on my shoulders. We also went on a one-day trip to Seville in Spain.

Another thing we enjoyed immensely was the food. Everything tastes so great there: tomatoes, cucumbers, strawberries, oranges. It’s heaven and earth compared to the fruit and vegetables that we get in Holland. A simple meal of bread and cheese with fresh vegetables, some freshly pressed orange juice and strawberries – it is a veritable paradise!

The people of Algarve are friendly, pure, quiet and relaxed. It feels that they are not yet spoiled by the dubious fruits of modern civilization.

So if you ask me, I’d definitely recommend Algarve as a holiday destination. But be sure to go in low season, rent yourself a car, and go explore the beautiful landscapes and villages on foot!

Company Trip to Prague

This year our company celebrates its 10th anniversary. To mark this event, everybody (including partners) was invited to a weekend in Prague, Czech Republic. Unfortunately, Luda could not come along because we had nobody to look after Anne Sophie, and taking Anne Sophie on this trip (as much as I wanted) was out of the question with my employer.

(Photos: courtesy of Alex Vishnyakov)

Prague is a really beautiful city. It has a very large and well preserved old town, with several different architecture styles. It was once the third biggest city of Europe (I presume after Paris and London), which was due to the fact that the emperor Karl IV of the Holy Roman Empire made it its capital in the 14th century. Everything is named here after Karl: Karl University, Karl bridge, Karl street, etc. The Jewish quarter, just a couple of blocks north of the main square, is very well preserved (it was surprisingly spared by the Nazis, unlike its inhabitants). Prague is really worth a visit, and it is quite inexpensive to stay and eat here.

It was also interesting to roam the streets of the newer part of the city, which is a strange mixture of the modern western influences and the Soviet past. Many things reminded me of home (that is Minsk).

The Czech people seem to be pretty gloomy and unfriendly. From a guide I heard that it is a complaint he heard many times from the westerners. Even young people, not “spoiled” by the Communism, wear blank faces. This is especially feelable in restaurants, where waiters treat clients in a rather rough, unfriendly manner. Well, may be the Czechs are genetically unhappy people. I don’t know.

I had previously been to Prague once, in the summer of 2000 with a baha’i youth choir from Benelux. This time was different: everything was arranged and paid for by the company. We stayed in a hotel just a couple of blocks away from the headquarters of Radio Liberty (Radio Svoboda), my favorite radio station broadcasting in Russian (among other languages). The hotel reminded me, at least in some ways, of the communist times, but was quite good.

One of the highlights of the trip, was a bike tour of the old city. What a great way to explore a city!

All in all we had a great time! I will definitely go back to Prague with Luda and Anne Sophie one day!

Winter Blues

This blog has been silent throughout the winter. Why? Well, do you know what winter blues is? That’s what happened to me this winter. Basically that comes down to a lot of sleep, little energy, no desire to go anywhere or do anything. It turns out that as much as 10% of the population in the Netherlands suffers from this form of mood disorder. The winters here can be really depressing: no sun, no snow, gray sky, cold wind, drizzle.

So, how do you cope with that? Essentially, I just accepted the situation as it was. I was telling myself: just keep surviving the winter and hoping for the spring to come soon. I cut back on many commitments and projects, did virtually nothing outside work, read several books, watched lots of movies, and spent time with my daughter.

I also went to see my medical doctor, who recommended light therapy, which is about sitting 30 minutes in front of a special lamp every morning for one or two weeks. I had to wait a few weeks before I could sign up for that, so in the end I did my therapy in the end of March, when I already started to feel better. I still don’t know whether it really helped, or whether I was recovering anyway due to longer days and more sunshine. At least it had a disciplining effect on me: I had to get up early every morning to be in down town by 8:30, which was actually one of the biggest problems. But I emerged from those two weeks refreshed and again full of zest for life.

So if you ever get into a winter blues, try light therapy. They say it really helps!

7 Day Detoxification

In my previous post, I talked about how I gained weight and started to lose it again. Recently, my weight stabilized around 81kg, still 6kg short of my target of 75 kg.

So what is a good way to start getting rid of excessive weight again? I thought I'd start with detoxification, which is another, more difficult word for cleansing the body of all the rubbish that has accumulated there for the past days, months and years.

So on 31/10 I started following the free 7 days raw vegan detox program from http://www.therawdivas.com/7daydetox/index.php. Well, the site is actually for women and has quite a lot of ads and commercial stuff. But I thought, what the heck, I just follow the free program and buy nothing :)

The program is basically about eating only raw fruit and vegetables and drinking a lot of water. Inspired by Steve Pavlina of http://www.stevepavlina.com/, I decided to just do this experiment and see how it will work out for me!

In this post I am going to update you on my experiences during these 7 days:

Day 1 (31/10): Weight 81.5 kg. The detox started with a day of fasting: from Thursday evening to Friday evening. I am quite used to fasting, because I observe the Baha’i 19-day-long fast every March, but this fast turned out a lot easier because you can drink as much as you want! I finished the day with a whole melon and a pineapple. Indeed, after a day of fasting, the food is not just delicious, I felt I could taste it with every fiber of my body :)

Day 2 (1/11): Weight 80 kg. The idea is that you don’t eat early in the morning, but wait until you get really hungry. And so I did, helped by the fact that I had to feed Anne Sophie and that she and I went to the market in Leiden to get the fruit and the green stuff :). After coming home I ate some fruit and went to fix the lamps in our hall (something I had been postponing for months), and got really hungry by the end of the afternoon. Luda made a huge green salad, and we ate it for dinner, except that she ate it with bread and cheese and ham, while I just had some olives. By the end of the evening I got an enormous craving for some substance, and I confess I eventually got myself some bread with cheese and ham :)

Day 3 (2/11): Weight 79.2 kg. I got up at 6:00 in the morning and drank a lot of water and ate some fruit. At about 11:00, Anne Sophie and I went for a 15-km walk, whereby I carried her in a baby-carrier. It was a beautiful cold sunny day, and I used my Nordic walking poles for the first time! We went to the De Horsten estate, and the autumn colors were amazing. I drank water and some freshly pressed orange juice and ate a banana, while Anne Sophie was devouring her rice cookies. My calorie meter showed that I spent 900 kcal in 3,5 hours, which was quite good. At home, there was again a feast of fruit and green staff, but still I craved for some solid food, so eventually I ate a couple of spoons of Anne Sophie’s potatos. So, again I failed a little, but I was still quite satisfied with my progress!

Day 4 (3/11): Weight 79.3 kg. It is a Monday, and I biked to work as usual. I brought with me lots of veggies (paprikas, carrots, tomato and half a cucumber) and fruit (apple, mandarins, kiwi, two pears and even a melon). Well, I ate the vegetables, but I only ate half the fruit. So, I had to carry the melon back home, on my back :) By the end of the workday, I developed some headache, but it surprisingly disappeared as I was biking back home! At home there was a usual combination of salad and fruit and raisins to still my craving for sugar. It seems that evenings are a lot more difficult to endure than the mornings and the afternoons. Also I get much more tired in the evening, and fall asleep early, even earlier than Anne Sophie!

Day 5 (4/11): Weight 78.3 kg. Today is my 35th birthday! What a great thing to be able to spend your birthday without cakes and sweets and overeating, just feeding on natural green and fruit staff! I took a day off to spend my birthday with my family. The three of us went for a bike ride, and in the evening we went to Roberta to celebrate the Baha'i 19-Day Feast! This day went surprisingly well! I didn't have any cravings for solid food and was even able to withstand the delicious cake at Roberta's! Today I also did my first experiment with green smoothies. The first one (apple, cucumber, coriander, ginger, and lemon juice), which I made for lunch, was really great! Luda enjoyed it too! The second one (cucumber, dill, parsley, paprika, lettuce) was disappointing, I guess because it was vegetagle-only and I still need to get used to it. Because we gave up our TV-subscription, I didn't have to hear or watch any news on the US presidential elections! All in all, it was a great day!

Day 6 (5/11): Weight 78.2 kg. I woke up at about 6am and felt really great, light and clear! Am I past the withdrawal syndrome stage? Let's hope so. My weight seems to be going down steadily, which is great! The important thing is not to kick back to overeating after the detox ends tomorrow. I didn't eat much during the day, just two paprika's and three banana's, which was a mistake. Even though I ate two delicious salads at home in the evening, lovingly prepared by Luda, I still felt quite feeble and low energy. Also I couldn't resist the temptation of eating a couple of spoons of Anne Sophie's mushrooms with potatos.

Day 7 (6/11): Weight 78.1 kg. I had some wild dreams tonight that people started giving baha'i Ruhi courses about environment and healthy way of life in large numbers :) I woke up at quarter to 6, but didn't feel quite well. The shower and the bike ride through the mist and drizzle to work, however, made me feel a lot better! I gave a fruit party at work in the morning to celebrate my birthday of 2 days ago. It was mostly fruit, but also carrots, and some fresh organic juices. This was quite different from the usual birthday cakes in our office. Today is the last day of this detox. I am really happy about this experience, even though I did make a couple of minor slips here and there. I lost quite a lot of weight (between 2 and 3 kg), and it feels like my taste and other senses and even feelings have sharpened. The big question now is how to proceed further tomorrow, when I can eat whatever I want. I still need to think about it, and I'll keep you posted about that!

This is my weight chart from the Hacker's Diet website for these 7 days: