diet – Beary Strong

Aggressive Dieting

All you need to know about fast fat loss phases.

Aggressive fat loss phases offer the upside of losing fat quickly, but are often believed to cause weight regain, predispose disordered eating, or have other side effects. Let’s have a look what science has to say about aggressive diets, evaluate disadvantages and advantages, and think critically about who should or shouldn’t embark on an aggressive dieting journey.

Watermelon And Feta Salad

Vegetarian, rich in protein and delicious.

What an incredible combination of ingredients. Originally, watermelon and feta (or similar salty, firm cheese) are popular in the Mediterranean area but I wanted to do something slightly different. Also, to be honest, I just felt to change things up and I had an open bottle of chili sauce, fresh coriander and juicy ginger at home. This is how this Asian variation was born and I am really happy with it. Give it a try!

Intermittent Fasting

The new magic pill for health and performance?

The 2016 Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine was awarded to Yoshinori Ohsumi for his research on autophagy. Since then intermittent fasting has received increased overall attention as it is related to autophagy with potential health benefits. If you have been in the fitness game for quite a long time, this is nothing new. Many people have succesfully lost weight with this strategy, but is intermittent fasting the ultimate panacea for health, fat loss and/or muscle growth?

Nutrition Myths That Are Sometimes True

Looking behind myths to find the truth.

Ahhh, nutritions myths, one of my favourite topics! The constant desire of people looking for a quick fix, biohack, or magic pill meets bad science, lacking evidence and superstition, giving birth to a never ending onslaught of diet myths. But occasionally there is something to be learnt from even the ugliest nutrition offspring. Let’s take a look!

The Problem Of Ultra-Processed Foods

An ode to real food.

There are so many different diets out there, all of them claiming to be the single best solution. This lead to significant public confusion about nutrition because some of the diets suggest principles that are contrary to each other. What do you have to follow? What to believe? But there is one thing all successful diets implement directly or indirectly and that is avoiding ultra-processed food. And now we have scientific support for this principle!

Alcohol in a Health Conscious Lifestyle

Alcohol throws an additional challenge to people aiming for fat loss or even “just” transitioning to a healthier lifestyle, because – as usual- there are lots of myths surrounding it. From “it completely impairs fat loss” to “you should drink red wine every day to live longer” you will find everything. Let’s have a closer look to it.

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.

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.

Why I Don’t Like Meal Plans

Implement lifetime strategies for diet success.

Good old meal plans … I’ve almost forgot about them, but whenever I browse a fitness magazine, they catch my attention. Out of curiosity I start reading them and I am always amused about them: if it is a meal plan in a men’s magazine, you feel taken back to the old bro science ages of chicken breast, white rice and steamed brokkoli. If it is a meal plan for women, I see plenty of smoothie bowls, porridge, pasta and woefully low amounts of protein. I mean I get it, meal plans seem to be an easy solution for weight loss, but I think you can do better!