Do you know that feeling? You want to eat something healthy for lunch, but you don't want to spend a lot of time in the kitchen. This soup is my to-go-to solution, you could make it in advance, take it to work in a thermos, freeze it or eat is straight away. Love it love it. All you need is:

• 1 pack of soup greens 'fijne soepgroenten'
• 1/2 liter of water
• 1 bouillon cube
• 1 onion
• some shredded ginger
• pack of soup of your choice

I'm not sure if I need to write instructions because it is sooooo simple. Just start with the onions, fry them until soft. Add the shredded ginger and fry for another minute. Add the soup greens and fry until soft, stirring in between. Add water and bouillon block and let it simmer for about 10 minutes with the lid on. You could eat it just like it is, or, ad a pack or can of soup of your choice. Stir, eat, enjoy, your body will love you for it!

It should have been done every year but you know, time flies by and before you know it three years have passed! This is how the test is done. A small amount of pressure is applied to the eye by a tiny device or by a warm puff of air. This is done without any drops. It's not painful, it is just annoying and for the over sensitive person like me, I blink my eyes too often, afraid of the puff of air to come, resulting in multiple shots of air onto my eyes. If the eye pressure is too high, you need to have your eyes checked more thoroughly. If the pressure is fine, you're good to go.

However, times have changed!, and nowadays we know that eye pressure measurement is not a 100% guarantee that you haven't developed glaucoma. Your eye doctor needs to have a close look at the inside of your eyes to determine if there is any damage of the eye nerves.

I had a test done yesterday. Again, this is not painful, just annoying. You get a few eye drops, they sting slightly, and they are not meant to numb your eyes but are meant to widen your pupils so the eye doctor can have a good look at the inside of your eyes. The results are in straigh away.

Next, you can have your eye pressure checked every year by your optometrist, or, you can have this more thorough test done by your eye doctor once every three years. Or, do both. As for my results, they are fine and this is a great feeling ofcourse. For those who do get diagnosed with glaucoma: the sooner the diagnosis, the better. This way eye pressure and inflammation can be kept under conrol so damage can be limited to a minimum.

​Foods and Glaucoma

Health Sense wouldn't be Health Sense if there wasn't some information on food related to this article. Great foods for eye health related to glaucoma:

1. Kale & collard greens: Harvard researchers followed participants in the Nurses' Health Study (63,893 women; 1984-2012) and the Health Professionals Follow-up Study (41,094 men; 1986-2012).  They found getting more nitrates and leafy greens in your diet was linked to a 20 percent to 30 percent lower glaucoma risk.  The link was even stronger for a type of glaucoma linked to poor blood flow.  In those cases nitrates cut risk by 40 to 50 percent.​
2. Oranges & peaches: Women in the NIH study who consumed more than two servings per week of fresh oranges or peaches cut their odds of getting glaucoma.  The women who ate oranges cut their risk by 82 percent while eating more peaches cut risk by 70 percent.
3. Green tea, cocoa and red wine: A new meta-analysis study showed that flavonoids have a promising role in improving vision in patients with glaucoma and high eye pressure.  They appear to play a part in improving and slowing the progression of visual field loss.

Sources: 

• Nurses'Health Study
• Health Professionals Follow-up Study
  
• Shaheen Patel, Joyce J Mathan, Ehsan Vaghefi, Andrea J Braakhuis. "The effect of flavonoids on visual function in patients with glaucoma or ocular hypertension: a systematic review and meta-analysis." Graefes Arch Clin Exp Ophthalmol. 2015 Sep 4. Epub 2015 Sep 4. PMID: 26340868.

Do you have spices in the house and you don't know what to do with them? Advice: be bold, just try things out! Every single day, every meal. Today I'm trying mushrooms with fenugreek. Fenugreek is very bitter. To balance it all out I'm using onion (sweet) and a bit of honey on the asparagus. I know it is very healthy and this is why I really want to add more fenugreek to my diet.

​The verdict: mushrooms with fenugreek are awesome (hubbies words, he did not know in advance I added fenugreek). And I agree. Don't mind the overcooked  asparagus on this photo... next time I will grill them instead. This is how I experiment with spices, there are no rules, just try them out.

The health benefits of fenugreek:
​
1. Improves Digestive Problems and Cholesterol Levels
2. Reduces Inflammation Inside the Body
3. Increases Libido in Men (not sure how it will effect women ;o)
4. Promotes Milk Flow in Breastfeeding
5. Lowers Inflammation from Outside the Body (wrapped in a cloth applied to the skin for wounds, dandruff, eczema etc.)
6. Helps with weight loss

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Other ways to try with fenugreek:

• Add a pinch of ground fenugreek to cookie recipes
• Add a pinch to mayonaise
• Add roasted and chopped seeds to salads, great for extra crunchiness
• Add ground fenugreek to dipping sauce

Often, people sign up as a member with an essential oils company, and next, they don't know what to do with them! Such a pity. Because chances are, they have gold in their hands and they are just not aware of it. Usually, a basic package of oils has lemon, lavender and lemon in it.  Lemon is great for focus and has an uplifting effect. Peppermint gives you a kick, like coffee does, it wakes you up and keeps you alert. Well, sounds perfect for the office, right?

What I like about lemon is the story behind it, where it comes from, the people involved. It's not just the oil, there is so much more behind it. Watch the video below if you are interested in lemon:

​Peppermint has great benefits, too. It's perfect for the office as it gives you a healthy and effective pick-me-up, like coffee, but better :o)

​How to get started with oils? Simply visit EssentialOilsAmsterdam or click here to find out more on oils, education, workshops, how to use etc.