Beary Strong

Strength Training For Women – Part 1

Scientific basics and clarifications.

In this part of my Strength Training For Women series, I will cover the scientific basics of muscle building for women, make some clarifications on the role of testosterone and discuss the main differences between men and women when it comes to strength improvements and muscle building. Why? Because I have enough of the image of weak, frail women. I want women to be healthy and strong!

Honey Curd Ice Cream

One ice cream to hit your macros and please your inner bear.

I get it, there are now pretty good low-cal/high protein ice cream at the supermarket but they are often expensive as hell and just a bunch of them are worth being called ice-cream, to be honest. In contrast, our recipe is a win-win: cheap AND delicious!

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.

Warming Beef Stew

Easy, comforting and delicious soulfood.

As the weather transitions from mild autumn to cold and rainy winter, I feel the need for something heart warming to eat. A bowl to hug. Where it is difficult to wait for it and you inevitably burn your tongue on the first spoonful. Thankfully this recipe is so simple and flexible, you can easily remember it, change it to your liking and make it your own.

The Holiday Survival Guide

How to make the best of the greatest season of the year.

Autumn is my favorite season: the days are getting cooler, the sun is gently spending warmth and good mood. The food is changing too, some of my most beloved foods are now in season. Quince, duck, pumpkin, game, chestnuts and grapes make autumn an especially tasty time. It is also the season where the big holidays all around the world are starting, making it hard to progress the weight loss journey. But it’s not impossible, let’s have a closer look.

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.

Red Cabbage With Apples And Chestnuts

A soulfood staple.

Autumn and winter may be gray and cold, but you can find very bright, warming vegetables in these seasons, like pumpkin or red cabbage. Their beautiful colour brightens up an otherwise mostly dull season and make me happy. This time, I want to share my favorite red cabbage recipe with you, that has been time tested and is loved by friends and family.

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.

Homemade Pate And Flatbread

Real superfood made easy.

Sometimes you just try something out in the kitchen and it turns out to be much, much better than you expected. That’s what I love about cooking and that’s what happend when I tried this recipe the first time! In this article you will get a delicious way to get in one of the most underrated foods on the planet and make good use of your sourdough starter that is (hopefully) bubbling away at your kitchen counter.