The Joy of Fasting

Seriously? JOY? Doesn’t fasting involve hunger, ergo suffering? Nope. It doesn’t. Or at least, it doesn’t have to – if you do it right. If you are tempted to joke that the only joy in that is the moment you break your fast, go ahead, have your fun. I’ll join you in just a minute. Rest assured, I am far from subjecting myself to any kind of suffering. I am a strong believer in a motto “No pain? Good!”

So, how can fasting be enjoyable? In quite a few ways.

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Fermented Cranberry

This is very festive recipe, fitting for the season; it’s also the best time for it, as fresh cranberries from this fall’s crop are still in the stores. As it’s often the case with fermentation, the final product is not at all what you would expect from cranberries. They lose their usual tartness and become mellow, slightly spicy and slightly alcoholic.

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How to Lose Weight through Lowering Insulin Levels

Last week we discussed one of the major reasons for the weight gain. That would be a waste if we didn’t follow up with a post discussing to lose that weight, wouldn’t it?

As a quick recap, it’s elevated insulin levels that command our body to store fat. They trigger a vicious cycle where elevated insulin causes rise of insulin resistance, which causes even higher insulin level. Initial increase of insulin originates from a double-trouble combo: eating the wrong things (added sugar and refined carbs) in a wrong pattern (eating too frequently, thus being in a permanent fed state with no fasted state, thus not letting insulin level drop).

Summarized in such brief form, it makes the way to stop and reverse this cycle clear. It consists of two steps.

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Hawaiian Pulled Pork in a Slow Cooker

Pulled pork. Is there any carnivore whose heart wouldn’t skip a beat? And, Hawaii? In the dead of the winter? Can it get any better? Yes, it can. You can make it right at home, in your run-of-the-mill slow cooker.

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How We Get Fat

When two great forces fiercely battle each other, what happens to the battlefield upon which they fight?

Right. It gets destroyed.

You are a battlefield. You probably don’t think of yourself this way but that’s what you are nonetheless.

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The Best App for Walking

Have you ever found yourself trying many apps, each promising to do what you want them to, only to find that they do no such thing?

It can be frustrating. Luckily, it’s easy to install and uninstall them, but it gets old quickly when you do it time and time again.

Walking is an important part of our routine. We try to include 3 to 10 km (~ 2 to 6 miles) a day as a permanent part of our physical activity.

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The Best Non-Wheat Seafood Pasta in the World

Say, which would you like first, the recipe or the story of how it came to be?

…thought so. Recipe it is.

No, sorry. Health stuff first. If you like pasta as much as I do, its nutritional data may give you a bit of pause – and rightly so. Let’s look at what comes with 100 g of its, shall we?

330 calories, 65g carbohydrates, 7g fiber and 13g protein. And that’s whole wheat pasta, which is not even the worst of the possible offenders.

Here is the nutritional comparison of my replacement: 

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Food as the Best Medicine

Pop quiz: which of the following do you agree with?

  1. You can lose weight while eating delicious foods
  2. You can improve your health by eating well
  3. To lose weight and stay healthy you must deprive yourself of tasty foods

If you agree with the first two statements, you’ve come to the right place. Let’s exchange ideas, findings, news, and recipes.

If you agree with the third statement, you’ve come to the right place. Give me a chance to change your mind about that notion.

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