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Avoid Toxic Fumes When Tinkering

If you want to craft with the family, you should avoid toxic fumes. These are often contained in special adhesives and can cause damage to health.

Be careful when using special glue

Crafting is a great activity for kids. But when tinkering, you may be working with special glue or plastic glue, which can develop toxic vapors due to their solvents and lead to health problems if inhaled intensively. Therefore, the following always applies: Only use special glue if there is no other option. This is the case, for example, with plastics. It is better to use craft glue that is also suitable for children.

Tips on avoiding toxic fumes

However, if you and your family have to tinker or work with special glue, you should take certain precautions. As a result, you can avoid health problems and the inhalation of toxic fumes. In addition, read how to remove glue and superglue.

1) Ventilate well and avoid toxic fumes

Particular caution with such handicrafts applies to open flames because the special glue is often highly flammable. To avoid burns and keep the glue away from fire. In addition, you should definitely open a window and ventilate well if you want to heat and glue plastics. Good ventilation ensures that the toxic vapors can escape quickly.

2) Crafting outdoors

If you must work with special glue, try doing it outdoors. Thus, the toxic haze in the air can quickly dissipate. Consequently, the risk of inhaling them is minimized and you protect your health. You can also make great ideas for advent calendars.

3) wear masks and avoid toxic fumes

Wearing masks is not a measure against corona, but also an effective way to protect yourself against toxic gases when doing handicrafts and DIY. These ensure that harmful vapors or particles do not enter your body through inhalation. This makes working and handicrafts with special glue safer.

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8 Savings Tips When Shopping in the Supermarket

Saving money when shopping in the supermarket is necessary for many people. For families, groceries are the second largest expense of the month. Consequently, there is great potential for savings here. We have the most important tips for cheap shopping and the best savings tips.

Saving money when shopping also needs to be learned in order to be able to lead a good life with a small wallet. The following savings tips refer to shopping in supermarkets, discounters, drugstores, and other grocery stores. So that you still have money left over for the nicer things in life.

1) Shop according to plan with shopping list and budget

Basically, before you go shopping, you should set a money limit and write a shopping list. Otherwise, food and other things that you don’t need will end up in the basket. You should therefore use the shopping list as a guide or use a shopping list app.

Consequently, before going shopping in the supermarket, it is worth thinking a little longer about what to buy. If you have 1 or 2 deviations when shopping, that’s not bad at all. But going shopping without a plan increases the risk of taking more products with you. Also, note our tips on protecting the environment in the household with other environmentally friendly shopping tips.

2) Go shopping when you’re full

You should also do the shopping list and do the shopping after eating. Because when you’re hungry, you’re weak-willed and receptive to all the appetizers that abound at the grocery store. And then suddenly the delicious frozen pizza, chips, or chocolate end up in the shopping trolley. In addition, this is one of many psychological tricks to lose weight healthier.

3) Cheap shopping with bulk packs

One of many money-saving tips is to buy bulk packs. Because these are actually cheaper and help you to shop cheaply in the supermarket. But be careful when shopping with special offers and double packs. Here you should compare the content with that of the normal packaging. Because it can happen that the quantity in the double packs is reduced so that you don’t have a big saving. You should also consider whether you will use up and need the pack within the shelf life.

4) Use discount campaigns and bonus programs

While it’s a waste of time when you’re frantically chasing coupons and magazine deals, you can shop for cheap if you keep your eyes open along the way. So browse through the catalogs in the mailbox during your morning coffee. The incidental collection of loyalty points can also be converted into cash after a certain amount of time. It really shouldn’t be any more work. Because time is money too. Some selected discount campaigns of various supermarket chains at a glance:

  • LIDL has heavily discounted items every week.
  • EDEKA has promotional products throughout Germany every week.
  • Regular REWE customers can save with loyalty points.

So far some examples of savings tips when shopping. You can find similar programs or apps in almost all supermarket chains that you should use if you regularly go shopping in a certain market. Also, note our ideas for bargain hunting on the Internet.

5) Save money when shopping with weeklies

Another good money-saving tip when shopping is to keep an eye on the weekly offers and special offers. But be careful, not every special offer is cheap! It’s about comparing here. This is especially true for meat and sausage products. If you have found a suitable offer, you can buy the product in larger quantities and freeze it if necessary. Please note our tips and instructions for freezing food.

6) Buy specific promotional items

The savings tips when shopping also includes the targeted purchase of promotional goods. Because when shopping in the supermarket you will always find an area intended for promotional goods. Then these products can only be found there. If you consciously visit this area with every purchase, you will pay less for things that are on your shopping list anyway. Also, note our article on online auctions on the Internet.

7) Look at the bottom of the shelf and shop cheaply

In order to really save money when shopping in the supermarket, you often only have to bend down. This is one of the best money-saving tips when shopping. Because most of the cheap offers are on the lowest shelves. Meanwhile, there are always expensive products at eye level. Because the easygoing person does not like to bend down. And the market researchers know that too. That’s why the products are usually sorted like this. Also, note our tips for shopping on the Internet.

8) Buy fresh instead of ready-made meals

It is often cheaper to cook fresh meals yourself. Accordingly, make a list of all the finished products that you buy regularly and try to replace them with fresh food. However, one can say that exceptions prove the rule here as well. Because a good pasta sauce in a jar with a special price can be cheaper than all the fresh ingredients. But don’t worry, after you’ve been buying fresh groceries for a while, you’ll start to get a feel for the prices. Read our tips on storing food properly and preserving it.

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Planting Pole Beans: What You Have to Pay Attention to When Growing and Caring For Them

Planting runner beans is easy. The plants are undemanding and bring good yields. We explain to you what you have to pay attention to when growing.

Planting pole beans – you should know that

If you want to provide yourself with vegetables, runner beans should not be missing in your garden. They are easy to grow and produce good yields over a long period of time. The plants keep forming new pods and you can harvest regularly over a long period of time. Because they mainly grow tall, you can harvest a lot of vegetables from a relatively small area in your garden.

Planting runner beans – These points are important

If you want to grow runner beans, you have to consider several points:
Beans are weak eaters – meaning they only need a small amount of nutrients. Pole beans, however, have slightly higher requirements than other types of beans. Therefore, it makes sense if you prepare the bed with some compost.
Runner beans live up to their name: they need a pole to help them climb. Depending on the variety, they grow 1.5 to 4 meters in height.
A good climbing aid are long bamboo sticks. Plant four equally spaced in the ground and tie the top ends together. If you want to grow more beans, you can set up the poles in two rows using the same principle. Then tie two together at the top and connect them to each other with a crossbar at the top.
Pole beans only germinate above 12 degrees Celsius. Therefore, only plant them when the soil has warmed up and no more frosts are to be expected. From the “Ice Saints” in mid-May you are on the safe side.
The beans need a sunny, warm location if possible.

Prepare the bed for runner beans

Even if runner beans are quite undemanding, you should prepare the bed properly. In this case, this means that you have to loosen the soil well. Now you should set up the climbing aids. Make sure the trellises are long enough for your type of bean. Set up the poles at a distance of 50 to 70 centimeters from each other.

Then place five beans three centimeters deep in the soil at equal intervals around each pole. The warmer it is, the faster they germinate.

Maintain runner beans

Pole beans begin to germinate just a few days after sowing. Once they are about 6 inches tall, cover them with soil. This makes them more stable and forms additional roots. As a rule, the young shoots quickly find their way to the climbing aid. If that doesn’t work, you can easily tie them up with a piece of string.

Runner beans grow incredibly fast. You will be amazed. Once the beans have sprouted and found support on the trellis, your task is limited to regular, thorough watering. Pole beans need a lot of water.

Harvest runner beans

It won’t be long before your runner beans start producing flowers, which eventually become pods. Harvest time is from the end of July. The young beans are particularly tender. When ripening, the individual beans form a hard skin in the pod.

You should always use two hands to harvest beans. With one hand you hold the tendril just above the pod, with the other you pluck off the pod.

IMPORTANT: Raw beans are poisonous! They contain the protein phasin. The substance is only broken down by cooking.

Regular harvesting and thorough watering ensure you high and consistent yields. As the gardening season draws to a close, allow some pods to fully mature. When the husk is brown and dried up in late fall, you can harvest it and have your own seed for next year.

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Eating Spinach Raw: When it’s Healthy and When It’s Dangerous

Many people know spinach primarily as a warm, creamy vegetable, but it is also delicious raw in a salad. Here you can find out when you can eat spinach raw and when you should be careful.

In addition to many healthy nutrients, spinach also contains oxalic acid. This binds calcium, iron and magnesium. Your body can therefore absorb less of the substances you eat if you have consumed oxalic acid. If you suffer from a deficiency of the substances mentioned or suffer from kidney stones, you should be careful with raw spinach.

Eat spinach raw to avoid oxalic acid

In particular, long-ripened, strong spinach leaves with a wavy structure contain a lot of oxalic acid. When cooking, some of the acid is released into the cooking water. If you drain the cooking water, the amount of acid will be reduced. However, nutrients also dissolve in the water, which are then also lost.

Young spinach leaves contain less oxalic acid. You can use them raw in salads or in smoothies. So no nutrients are lost. In addition, the consistency of the delicate, smooth leaves is more pleasant than that of the somewhat coarser, long-ripened leaves.

Nitrate in raw spinach

Spinach can be high in nitrates, especially during the darker months. This substance reacts in the body to form nitrite. Nitrite can turn into carcinogenic nitrosamines. In addition, nitrite inhibits oxygen uptake. The intake of nitrite can therefore be life-threatening, especially for children.

Nitrate is primarily contained in the stems and larger leaf veins as well as the outer leaves. When you remove these plant parts, you remove some of the nitrates. You should also eat spinach when it is still very fresh. This not only tastes better, but also ensures that microorganisms have less time to form nitrite.

Be sure to buy organic spinach, as organic farming doesn’t use nitrate fertilizer. Therefore, organic spinach usually contains less nitrate.

Healthy combinations with spinach

Since oxalic acid binds calcium, among other things, it is worth combining spinach with foods containing calcium. How about a delicious yoghurt dressing for the spinach salad? This not only tastes good, but also ensures that you don’t lose too much calcium.

To mitigate the risks of nitrate, for example, add lemon juice to the dressing and drink freshly squeezed orange juice. This is how you absorb vitamin C, which limits the formation of nitrosamines.

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Eating Chard Raw: Advantages and When You Shouldn’t Eat it

Can you eat chard raw so as not to destroy the heat-sensitive nutrients? Here’s why raw Swiss chard isn’t the healthiest choice for everyone.

Eating chard raw: these are the advantages

Swiss chard is a particularly nutritious vegetable, but many important nutrients are heat-sensitive. Although the minerals and vitamins are not completely destroyed during cooking or roasting, their proportion is lower than with raw vegetables. This applies to vitamin C, for example.

It is therefore advisable to also include raw food in your diet. The benefits of raw Swiss chard are:
The nutrients are largely retained.
You can prepare or refine delicious salads with chard.
You can use large chard leaves creatively, for example as wraps instead of classic wheat flour wraps.
Raw Swiss chard gives green smoothies an aromatic taste.

Eating chard raw: You should pay attention to this

However, raw chard is only suitable for consumption to a limited extent. In addition to all the health-promoting nutrients, the plant also contains oxalic acid.

Oxalic acid is a naturally occurring fruit acid that is not inherently harmful or toxic.
The body produces them itself and we ingest them daily through many plant-based foods such as rhubarb and spinach.
But too much oxalic acid can also be harmful: it promotes the formation of kidney stones and inhibits the absorption of iron.
In its raw state, Swiss chard contains the most oxalic acid – when it is boiled or roasted, the proportion is reduced. Raw chard should therefore only be eaten in moderation so as not to take in too much oxalic acid. People with kidney disease or iron deficiency should not eat chard raw at all.

It’s a good thing that chard also tastes great when cooked, is healthy and can be used in a variety of ways: leaf chard can be used like spinach, for example, while stem chard is a suitable alternative to asparagus.

Chard: Healthy and aromatic leafy greens

Only recently has chard been found more frequently at the weekly markets and on our plates. For a long time it was overtaken by spinach. Both vegetables can be used in a similar way, but the spinach won out with its milder taste. Botanically speaking, Swiss chard is more closely related to beetroot and sugar beets, but we don’t eat the tubers, but the leaves and stalks. Depending on the characteristics of these parts of the plant, a distinction is made between leaf and stem chard.

Some appreciate the chard because of its strong, slightly tart and aromatic taste, others because it has a considerable repertoire of nutrients. These include, for example:
Vitamins: Swiss chard is a real vitamin bomb and contains vitamins C, E and K, among other things. 100 grams of Swiss chard contain 39 milligrams of vitamin C, which is one of the antioxidants and is essential for protecting cells from free radicals.
Iron: Green leafy vegetables are the most important plant source of iron and sometimes even beat meat in terms of iron content. Swiss chard, for example, has 2.7 milligrams of iron per 100 grams, while the iron content of meat is 1 to 2.5 milligrams of iron per 100 grams. Iron is responsible for oxygen transport and energy metabolism in the body. The trace element ensures that we remain efficient and active.
Beta carotene: is a secondary plant substance from the carotenoid family and a precursor of vitamin A. Beta carotene takes on important functions in cell metabolism and cell protection and we need it for healthy skin, eyes and hair.
Chlorophyll: the plant pigment allows plants to photosynthesize and helps us stay healthy. Because the leafy green helps with oxygen transport, the formation of new blood cells and the purification of the blood.

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Vitamin C: What it Does, When It’s Missing, Where It’s in

The water-soluble vitamin C, also known as ascorbic acid, is known to everyone and experiences a revival every year when the weather is bad. But why vitamin C at all? “It helps against a cold,” is the popular opinion. Unfortunately, it’s not that simple.

Vitamin C strengthens the immune system. However, it has not been scientifically proven that it really has a preventive or healing effect on colds. And if the cold is already there, it comes, stays and goes (as a rule of thumb) for three days each – with or without the administration of ascorbic acid.

Vitamin C: effect

However, vitamin C not only helps the immune system, it can do much more:
As a radical scavenger and antioxidant, it protects cells from premature aging processes
necessary for the formation of collagen (component of connective tissue, teeth, skin, hair and nails)
important for cholesterol metabolism
important for fat metabolism
important for optimal absorption of iron
can increase sperm count
inhibits the formation of carcinogenic nitrosamines during digestion
it helps in the formation of messenger substances and hormones

Vitamin C: deficiency

We humans cannot produce ascorbic acid ourselves and therefore have to get it from food. If our body doesn’t get enough of it, it can even lead to a disease: This is how scurvy occurs due to a vitamin C deficiency. Scurvy used to be the leading cause of death among seafarers who lacked access to fresh food at sea. Even today, scurvy still occurs wherever people eat too little C-containing food. If infants are affected, the disease is called “Möller-Barlow syndrome”, but the cause is the same.

Vitamin C deficiency manifests itself as follows:
bleeding gums
susceptibility to infection
poor wound healing
Joint and bone pain due to bleeding under the periosteum
Bleeding of the skin and mucous membranes, organs, muscles
tooth loss
Fatigue, dizziness and exhaustion
muscular dystrophy
joint inflammation
severe diarrhea
cardiac insufficiency
depressions
However, these symptoms can also have other causes.

Vitamin C: overdose

If you take too much vitamin C, you will get digestive problems such as diarrhea from about three to four grams per day. However, such a high intake can only occur through incorrect dosing of food supplements and cannot be achieved with natural foods. To clarify the amount: a heaped teaspoon of powder corresponds to about one gram.

People who are prone to kidney stones or have damaged kidneys should be particularly careful not to overdo it with ascorbic acid-containing remedies. After all, even a dose of one gram per day can lead to side effects.

Vitamin C: the daily requirement

The German Society for Nutrition (DGE) revised the reference values ​​in 2015, so that other information can be found in older literature. The DGE differentiates between the requirements for men and women, since the daily requirement also depends on body weight. According to the new guidelines, women should take in 95 mg and men 110 mg of vitamin C with food per day. The requirement increases to 105 mg for pregnant women and 125 mg of vitamin C per day for breastfeeding women. Smokers and also passive smokers have a significantly higher daily requirement of 135 mg (women) or 155 mg (men) per day.

Vitamin C: in which foods?

When it comes to vitamin C, everyone immediately thinks of citrus fruits. But even before lemons, oranges and tangerines ended up in our fruit basket, it was possible to have enough of them all year round. There are many locally grown fruits and vegetables that we can use to meet our daily needs.

The star among the local vitamin C bombs is the sea buckthorn. It originally comes from Central Asia, such as Mongolia. To this day, he ensures that people in barren, hostile regions are always well supplied with it. With 450 mg of vitamin C per 100 g, sea buckthorn is a local superfood that is only surpassed by the almost twice as high C content (1250 mg/100 g) of fresh rose hips and makes acerola superfluous.

Citrus fruits come a long way behind with only around 50 mg/100 g. Far better performers: blackcurrants (189 mg/100 g), peppers (139 mg/100 g), kale and Brussels sprouts (105-110 mg/100 g) or strawberries (63 mg/100 mg).

Unfortunately, much of the vitamin content of food is lost during preparation and storage. So make sure you buy food as fresh as possible – preferably directly from the producer – only store it for a short time and wash it undivided. Only cut fruit and vegetables just before eating to get the largest possible portion. Because ascorbic acid is heat sensitive, make sure you keep cooking times as short as possible.

By the way: It is also added to food as a preservative under the E numbers E300 to E304, E315 and E316. Manufacturers use this to protect, for example, apple juice from oxidation and browning; Cooked sausages can be made appetizingly reddish with it. It is also sometimes added to flour to improve its baking properties.

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8 Tips for Losing Weight in Restaurants and When Eating Out

Even when you’re on a diet, you don’t always want to eat at home. Losing weight in a restaurant is sometimes quite difficult. Go out to eat with friends despite being on a diet! Even if you are on a diet, you should not forego social contacts.

Many people do not dare to go to a restaurant while on a diet because they fear they could be tempted to diet. All you need is a clever head and a little self-discipline and you can spend a nice evening with your friends.

4 tips on how to behave in the restaurant when losing weight

  1. Just think about which foods fit best into your diet plan and consistently leave out everything else.
  2. In the restaurant, one tends to eat the plate completely empty, although one is already full. You should therefore be aware before ordering that you should not necessarily eat all the side dishes.
  3. If you let friends around the table in on your diet plans, it’s probably even easier to skip dessert.
  4. Spending the evening with friends in a nice atmosphere should make regretting the cream sauce easier.

1) Have sauces served separately

You have an appointment with friends or business partners in a restaurant while you are on a diet and therefore cannot cook according to your diet plan. If you follow a few rules, calorie traps can easily be avoided in restaurants. One of these traps is e.g. salad or meat sauces, which are usually very high in calories. With lots of salad dressing, a healthy, low-calorie salad quickly becomes a calorie bomb. That’s why you should always order sauces separately in the restaurant to lose weight and then only pour a small amount over the salad or other food.

2) Share with friends

Can’t stick to your diet program because of an invitation to a restaurant? Try to omit parts of the menu. It doesn’t always have to be a starter, main course, and dessert. If you want to try everything, share a starter or main course with a friend. When ordering, ask the waiter to serve the dish on two plates.

3) Not too much from the breadbasket

In most restaurants, bread and butter are placed on the table before the starter is served. Caution is advised here. If you treat yourself to a few slices of bread with butter, you will quickly consume as many calories as the starter or the main course contains. When eating in a restaurant, you should either limit yourself to one slice of bread from the outset or ask when ordering not to have a bread basket placed on the table.

4) Walk home

Have you ever thought about walking extra to the restaurant? Ways to exercise in everyday life are important when losing weight. For example, use the stairs instead of the elevator or escalators. By bike to the subway or to go shopping before going out to eat. This is a natural way to keep fit while burning more calories to make up for eating out.

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Eat Intuitively: How to Become More Mindful When Eating

Do you want to get away from annoying diets and nutritional dictatorships? Then you should eat intuitively and pay attention to the needs of your body. We’ll explain what’s behind it and how you can do it.

Eat intuitively: That’s what it’s all about

Behind food, groceries and nutrition is a powerful lobby that influences politics, science and the media. A flood of information about healthy nutrition, unhealthy foods and fattening foods reach us every day. No wonder your head is spinning. Eating intuitively could be a way out of this vicious cycle.

Eating intuitively – or mindfully – means eating consciously. Away from the decoupling of nutrition and your own instinct, back to full body control in the sense of body awareness: When are you really full? What are you in the mood for right now? what does your body need These are probably the sticking points of the nutritional method of intuitive eating.

Intuitive eating is also traded with mental health and self-awareness. This type of diet promises a feel-good weight without dieting.

This is how you eat intuitively

Stress, commercials, frustration, depression and just the sheer overabundance of food can easily overwhelm your senses. It often doesn’t seem so easy to “simply” listen to your body and your inner voice.

To eat intuitively, you should:
build new positive patterns and discard old habits.
Observe and follow natural hunger and satiety signals.
Questioning habits/self-reflection: Ask yourself what is really good for your body.
Are you hungry or do you want to eat for other reasons (distraction, habit, environment, emotional state)?
Signals: Your stomach should not be tense, but give you a pleasant feeling of fullness.
Tips from science: switch off technical devices, collect your thoughts and focus on the meal, use your senses and taste, smell, feel. Eat slowly.
The basis for intuitive nutrition is body awareness. You can train your mindfulness in a targeted manner.

Possible difficulties and limitations of the diet

Intuitive eating initially requires discipline. In order to follow your inner voice, you must direct your attention from the outside in. Self-confidence plays a major role here – on the one hand as a prerequisite and on the other hand as a consequence of intuitive eating. This is where the limits of intuitive eating come into their own:

What about the people who suffer from eating disorders?
What about those people who suffer from other mental disorders and find it difficult to act intuitively?
How do you escape social constraints that regulate eating habits (e.g. everyday family life, work life, stress) without turning away from society?
Science, books (e.g. “Intuitive Essen” by Uwe Knop) and mental training courses deal with these questions, which want to show how you can break patterns and listen to yourself better in today’s consumer society.

Eating is a highly social and sensitive matter. In the course of individualization, everyone has to know for themselves what they like and want to eat. However, this only works in social classes that are not in precarious and starving conditions. In a way, eating intuitively is a luxury that not everyone has access to.

Intuitive eating as a recognized method?

Science also shows that eating intuitively has its limits. Studies such as “Self-compassion and intuitive eating in college women” show a direct connection between emotional or psychological state and eating habits. The above points are supported by the study. Ultimately, a stable personality and a high level of mindfulness are prerequisites for successful intuitive eating.

Nevertheless, you should not give up trying, but work on noticing your own body condition in order to feel good. At the same time, the study shows that intuitive eating made it easier for the subjects to accept themselves.

Scientifically, however, the intuitive form of nutrition has not yet been sufficiently researched. So don’t get discouraged and try it yourself. You have nothing to lose, right?

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Coffee Types at a Glance: What You Should Pay Attention to When Buying

Whether cappuccino, espresso or americano – coffee is more popular than ever. We give you an overview of the most important types of coffee and show you what is important when buying one.

For many, coffee is the pick-me-up in the morning or the obligatory conclusion to a delicious meal. Coffee is very popular: around 0.4 l of coffee is consumed per person per day. The selection on the coffee shelves in supermarkets is correspondingly large.

We explain to you:
what types of coffee there are and how different types of coffee are made from them
how coffee is grown
what problems there are in the conventional coffee trade and
what you as a consumer should pay attention to when buying coffee.

Overview of the types of coffee: Coffea Arabica at the top

There are over 100 different types of coffee worldwide, which differ in their biological basis.
With a share of around 70% in the global coffee trade, Coffea Arabica is by far the dominant type of coffee. It is characterized by a comparatively low caffeine content and its characteristic aroma. In areas with a tropical climate, Arabica is mostly grown at high altitudes. The largest growing areas are in Brazil, Colombia and Central America.
Compared to Arabica coffee, Robusta coffee (Coffea canephora) is significantly more resistant and faster-growing. With a market share of almost 30%, this gives it second place among the most traded types of coffee worldwide. However, it has higher acidity and tastes less aromatic, which is why it is often used for the production of cheap coffee.
Other types of coffee such as Liberica and Maragogype only have a very small market share. The Maragogype bean is particularly low in acid and has a low caffeine content. The Liberica bean, on the other hand, has a tart aroma and a comparatively large amount of caffeine.
Within the different types of coffee, there are a large number of subtypes that differ in their characteristic taste and contribute to coffee diversity.

Type of coffee is not the same type of coffee

But how is it that we basically only have two different types of coffee, but can’t decide on the coffee shelves because of all the different types of coffee? The type of coffee is only the basis of the different types of coffee, the variety of varieties results from different cultivation conditions and manufacturing processes:
The soil and the climate influence the ripening process and thus the taste
After harvesting, there are various methods of separating the coffee beans from the pulp and drying them
Roasting time: espresso beans are roasted much longer than coffee beans
Often certain types of coffee are so-called blends, i.e. a mixture of different types of coffee. The mixture creates new flavors or ensures that certain types of coffee always taste exactly the same.

Is expensive coffee good coffee?

We can answer this question with a conditional “No”, because unfortunately it is not that simple. While high-quality coffee tends to be more expensive than lower-quality coffee, price is not a guarantee of high quality or environmental friendliness.

The coffee variety Kopi Luwak, for example, is relatively expensive, but highly questionable from an environmental point of view. These coffee beans travel through the digestive tract of civets, giving them their characteristic aroma. However, the civets are kept in cages in questionable circumstances and are often fed only coffee beans, leading to severe nutritional deficiencies.

Pure coffees that come from a specific growing area and are not mixed with other beans often have a higher price. As a consumer, you know where your coffee comes from and you usually get high-quality coffee beans.

Risks and problems in conventional coffee cultivation

The cultivation, harvesting and processing of coffee is very labor intensive and expensive. The conventional trade in coffee has some problems:
80% of coffee is produced by small farmers who own less than 10 hectares of land. The small farming families have low harvest yields
About half of the coffee market is dominated by international roasting and trading companies. These determine the price, in which the coffee farmers have no say.
Increasing costs for cultivation and pests, which are increasingly occurring as a result of climate change, pose major problems for coffee farmers.
In addition, coffee is often grown in monocultures, which are treated with pesticides

Less is more – why coffee should be a (rare) luxury food

In view of the high level of coffee consumption, we would like to point out at this point that coffee production uses a lot of water. For the production of 1 cup of coffee 140 liters of water are used (the so-called virtual water). Very large quantities of coffee are traded worldwide, so that 6% of the virtual water traded globally is just coffee. Although coffee is grown in rainy tropical regions, climate change can increasingly lead to droughts, which means that the lack of water has to be compensated for by artificial irrigation. Coffee production is therefore very resource-intensive.

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Pay Attention to These 8 Points When Buying Mattresses

You should definitely pay attention to these important points and criteria when buying mattresses. Think about which type of mattress suits your sleeping habits best, ideally sleep for several nights to see if the mattress really suits you. Instead of being dazzled by bogus discounts, elaborate shift constellations, and zones, take a look at the volumetric weight you are being offered: quality over quantity.

The problem with a new mattress

Rarely do you feel so let down as when you buy a mattress? There are countless models and all with adventurous names and features. Every specialist mattress shop tries to make buying a mattress a philosophy that only experts can understand. One is led to believe that there is only one suitable mattress for every person. Because how else can you justify over €1,000 for a mattress? And purely “by coincidence” mattress shops always have short-term special offers that discount their mattresses from €2,000 to just €1,000. An industry that cashes in on the ignorance of its customers. A good mattress can ensure a healthy sleep and combat annoying sleep problems.

1) Know the bargain trap

Unlike most products, when buying a mattress, a customer usually does not know what a good mattress really costs and what to look out for. Mattress dealers can therefore make it easy for themselves and advertise their products with bogus discounts. Specialist dealers boast discounts of 50% – 70% and online dealers usually have discounts of 50 to 100€ up their sleeves. But how do you know if these discounts weren’t priced in from the start? Unlike fashion or perishable goods, there is no reason why a mattress should be discounted. It doesn’t go bad, it doesn’t go out of style, and there’s no new model every year. So always only compare the final price, not the alleged “original price”.

2) Cold foam, spring core, memory foam, or latex?

There are a variety of materials used to make mattresses. When you buy a new mattress, you finally have a choice: Cold foam has been the most popular and proven material for decades. It lets the body sink in at certain points, but at the same time has a firmness that gives the body stability. In addition, cold foam is particularly breathable. Sweat can leave the mattress so quickly. Also, note tips for cleaning the mattress.

With innerspring or pocket spring mattresses, you lie on a large number of springs. Unfortunately, you start to feel the individual springs as soon as the mattress sags a bit. Innerspring mattresses are usually recommended for people who sweat a lot at night, as they are slightly more breathable than latex mattresses, for example.

Memory foam reacts to heat. The body quickly sinks into a memory foam mattress. What on the one hand often feels soft and comfortable at first quickly leads to the problem that it is much harder to turn on this foam in your sleep after sinking into it. Many people, therefore, sleep restlessly on a memory foam mattress. A shortcoming of memory foam and also latex mattresses is that more body surface is surrounded by the mattress due to a strong sinking of the body. As a result, you sweat faster.

Since latex is less breathable, bacteria and mold grow faster here than with other materials. One positive aspect of latex is its soft and springy properties. Therefore, people who sleep very softly like to sleep on latex mattresses.

3) How many zones should a good mattress have?

Zones should help the body, e.g. to give more stability to the torso and to put less pressure on the shoulders. Depending on the foam, this can make sense, but it is by no means a must. Ultimately, it is important whether you feel comfortable on your mattress and whether you can fall asleep well. You have to decide for yourself how much pressure is too much and when a mattress is too soft for you. One should beware of mattresses that are much too soft because if the mattress does not provide the body with sufficient stability, the spine suffers. Anyone who sells more than 3 zones usually tries to fool the customer. Because rarely is a 1.50m woman on the same 7 zones as a 2.00m man. Conversely, this means that the number of zones should by no means be seen as a quality indicator.

4) How many layers make sense

There are no studies that show that more layers make a mattress better. On the contrary: more layers usually mean more glue, and this reduces the breathability of the mattress. There is no rule of thumb as to how many layers really make sense. With more than 2 layers, however, one should start pondering at the latest how many of the lower layers really do not really only have a marketing function.

5) How thick should a mattress be?

Most mattress experts agree that a mattress should be at least 16cm thick to ensure durability and breathability. From about 20cm, the additional added value of the mattress thickness begins to disappear. This means that there is nothing per se against a 24cm thick mattress, you are just paying for something that actually does not provide any real added value.

6) What is the best quality indicator of a mattress?

The quality of a mattress can ultimately best be determined by its density. The density indicates how many kg of foam was used per cubic meter. The higher the heavier and the higher the quality of the mattress. The density has no influence on the mattress hardness. You can only speak of a quality mattress with a density of 40 kg/sqm. Really high-quality mattresses usually have a density of up to 50 kg/sqm.

Discounters, on the other hand, usually only have mattresses with a density of up to 35 kg/sqm. When we were looking for mattresses that value this quality criterion, we were particularly impressed by the Snooze Project mattress. Instead of advertising with empty marketing promises, high-quality materials were used here with the aim of being able to offer a high-quality mattress at the best possible price.

7) Double bed mattress or two single mattresses?

If you as a couple need two very different mattresses, two 80cm or 90cm mattresses can make sense. However, a good-quality mattress usually has such a high point elasticity that twisting movements on one side of the mattress should not affect the other side. You can therefore choose a mattress with a continuous core without hesitation and often be a whole lot closer to your partner.

8) Definitely try it out

Test lying is a must when buying a mattress. In a few minutes, you won’t know if the mattress really suits you. Buying a mattress with a right of return is usually better than a stressed testbed at a specialist retailer. This gives you the opportunity to find out over several nights whether the mattress is ideal for you. You can also enjoy a variety of mattress toppers that are designed to protect the mattress from dirt.

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