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Chestnut Shortbread

Crumbly goodness and a bonus version.

Inspired by the Japanese love for chestnut, I am proud to present our chestnut shortbread cookies. There is nothing wrong having one of those in an overall healthy and balanced diet. They are crumbly, buttery and delicious. They make you happy. Probably, one of my favorite cookies of all time.

About Exercise Variety

Why exercise variation isn’t always optimal.

During our long flight from Vienna to Tokyo I’ve got a bunch of downloadable magazines for free. Of course I’ve taken some of the fitness related ones even if they are often full of bro-science, but they are a good inspiration for writing blog posts though. One of them was looking really nice: it had a really strong looking woman on the cover, instead of just one of the pretty & skinny girls. I started reading the training and coaching philosophy of this apparently “evidence-based” lady and my jaw dropped as the words “muscle confusion” (=constantly changing the exercises in your training plan) as driver for muscle growth were used. Well -spoiler alert- the opposite of muscle confusion is rather a driver for hypertrophy. Let’s see why and where variation may or may not make sense.

About diet variety

Why less variety in your food can help you lose fat.

What? Isn’t variety good for your health? Dieticians and health guidelines tell you that if you are going to eat a large variety of different foods you are going to meet your nutritional needs. Well, that sounds reasonable but has also a dark side: the more variety we have in one meal, the more calories we are going to eat. Before explaining why this is the case and what can we do against it, let’s define some terms.

Pumpkin Pie Two Ways

I love pumpkin pie because my mum used to bake it in the early 90s for Halloween even if no one was celebrating it in Milan those times. It was an original American recipe which she brought back from Philadelphia where she lived in the 70s together with my dad and older brother. Of course she shared the recipe with me as I moved to Vienna but I had gut issues and was not tolerating grains, eggs and dairy products well. Therefore Stefan and I developed our own version: it is not cut-friendly if you are very low on calories (check the macros) but it is gluten-free and suitable for the vegan folk too. But if you would like to try the real stuff, I’ve included my mum’s recipe too.

Artificial Sweeteners: The Not So Bitter Truth

Sweeteners have an overall bad reputation probably because of the word “artificial” in it, which makes them “unnatural” and therefore somehow intrinsically bad. Bad researched articles in mainstream media makes the whole story even more complicated: sweeteners cause cancer, are the cause of obesity, neurotoxicity and increase cravings, they say. But is it true? Let’s have a closer look at what the current research says.

Insulin Sensitivity and Diet Patterns

Has the endless discussion about low-carb vs. low-fat come to an end?

On my way to horse-riding I’ve been listening to a great podcast by Danny Lennon with Prof. Christopher Gardner on a recently published paper with the title “Effect of Low-Fat vs Low-Carbohydrate Diet on 12-Month Weight Loss in Overweight Adults and the Association With Genotype Pattern or Insulin Secretion” . I would like to give you some insights in the research findings as well as write down some of the thoughts Prof. Gardner expressed in the podcast.

Six Good Reasons Why You Should Do Bodybuilding

…and why you are actually a bodybuilder without knowing it.

My first approach to a gym was as a couple of years after moving to Vienna in 2005: I wanted to do something for my physique and since the only sport I was doing was horse-riding, I decided to subscribe to a commercial gym. In those days I would never have admitted I was doing bodybuilding. To be honest I’ve been laughing at the -in my eyes- over confident bros posing in front of the mirror, sipping protein shakes and grunting and screaming during their sets. Well, life happens, and now I am a broette doing exactly the same stuff. But if you think about the definition of “bodybuilding” I was already doing it ten years ago: I did exercise to lose fat and gain muscles. And if you are training to lose weight, get in shape, tone up (whatever you want to call it) and not for performance in a specific sport you are a bodybuilder too. Don’t like it? I’ll try to convince you of the opposite 😉 .

Bear-pleasing Quick Choc Pot

Your easy chocolate fix.

Originally the choc-pot was the filling of a Jamie Oliver no-bake chocolate tart: a very rich but quite calorie-friendly dessert which we’ll share with you soon. What if you do not want to/need to/can make a whole tart but you want to indulge in a chocolatey dessert? This recipe is the answer!

Ground Beef Mapo Tofu Style

Szechuan inspired umami bomb.

I love Szechuan cuisine! There is a nice Szechuan restaurant in Vienna (Meister Xiao – go for it if you are in Vienna!) a couple of minutes away from us and they are serving gorgeous dishes. One of my favourites is mapo tofu: ground beef or pork, silky tofu, black beans and abundant spicy oil made from chili, szechuan pepper and broad bean paste. It’s served with fluffy, delicious, steamed rice. As we had similar ingredients at home, we developed the following cut-friendly recipe adding also some more veggies. Give it a try, if you love spicy flavours as we do!

Airplane Friendly Foods

Flying Fitfoodies Take Their Own Food On Board

Did you already read our blog post about how to nail your nutrition in vacation? One of my favourite tips is to bring your own food on the airplane because most of the time the food you get on board isn’t worth the calories. Sounds complicated but it’s much easier than you think. We compiled a small choice of groceries that are easy to handle and that you can carry unchilled for a while.