Roll up your sleeves and get sweaty!
Foraging since the beginning of humankind - collecting fruits and berries, identifying edible plants - we developed the extraordinary vision, refined motor skills, and eye for detail needed to successfully grow our own food. No wonder women are considered the inventors of agriculture, while across cultures, deities of harvest and fertility have been female, from Isis in ancient Egypt to Roman goddess Ceres (now you know why grains are called 'cereal'). The following centuries, thanks to something called patriarchy, women would be barred from becoming professional gardeners, but that didn't stop them from performing essential gardening tasks such as pest control, picking fruit and weeding.
Even now, when we enjoy the glories of gardening - hands in the dirt, head in the sun, sweating away - we seem to revive the instincts we share with our hard-working ancestors. We feel wonderfully alive. As avid gardener and actress Louise Erickson once said: "Gardening requires lots of water - most of it in the form of perspiration." Yes, we sweat in order to reap our rewards one day, but often, the greatest reward is the sweating itself!
MD Friends
Building bridges
From the Erasmus Bridge and the Mercedes-Benz Museum to Qatar’s metro network; Ben van Berkel’s iconic landmarks bring people together in rapturous beauty, again and again. I talked with the Dutch architect and educator about sensuality, ‘healthy’ buildings and the remarkable parallels between our designs.
MD Friends
More than a feeling
Don’t ignore your emotions; they are much more powerful than you can imagine. By linking the magical world of emotions with hard science, Dutch scientist Pierre Capel, professor emeritus in experimental immunology, shows us the consequences of our feelings and the power of our minds. The message: we can do much more than we think. “Meditate. It’s the single best thing you can do for your health.”
Marlies Says
Keto curious?
The fact that I feel bikini-confident all year round is, of course, a nice bonus. But for me, the biggest payoff of following the keto diet is the way it optimizes my health and gives me tons of energy.
Marlies Says
Super (skin) food
‘If you can’t eat it, why put it on your skin?’. I pretty much live by this beauty adage. After all, with your skin being one of your body’s largest organs, anything – and I mean anything! – you put onto your skin will end up in your bloodstream.