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Functional foods and healthy alternatives

Grains, flours, sweeteners, legumes, plant milks: telling them apart.

1. Source and degree of processing: what separates two foods with the same nameFoundations · 4 min · free
2. Antinutrients: phytates, lectins, oxalates and how preparation reduces themCounselling · 5 min
3. Coconut water and birch sap: what they offer and who needs careCounselling · 4 min
4. Green powders, algae and matcha: what they are and what they can't promiseCounselling · 5 min
5. Reading snack labels: added sugar, allergens, gluten and extra virgin oilCounselling · 5 min
6. Plant-based drinks: choosing by protein, sugar and fortificationFoundations · 4 min
7. Sweeteners and zero drinks: what the evidence saysCounselling · 5 min
8. Coffee: arabica or robusta, brewing method and drug interactionsCounselling · 5 min
9. Roasted chicory: the caffeine-free coffee substituteFoundations · 4 min
10. Acrylamide and frying: how to cook potatoes more safelyFoundations · 4 min
11. Sugar-free gum and polyols: teeth, gut and dogsCounselling · 4 min
12. Table salt: anti-caking agents, iodine and the amount that mattersFoundations · 4 min
13. What an organic food actually means in the EUFoundations · 3 min
14. Green tea: iron, caffeine and how it differs from the extractCounselling · 5 min
15. Cacao powder: flavanols, theobromine and what “raw” meansCounselling · 4 min
16. Herbs and spices instead of stock cubes and soup mixesFoundations · 4 min
17. Microwave ovens: myth versus real precautionsFoundations · 4 min
18. Dates and dried fruit as sweeteners: fibre, sugar and portionsCounselling · 4 min
19. Frequency makes the difference: the daily habit outweighs the exceptionFoundations · 3 min
20. Sea buckthorn berries: vitamin C, carotenoids and storageFoundations · 4 min
21. Pectin, agar and other gelling agents: origin, use, cholesterolFoundations · 4 min
22. Walnuts: plant n-3 fatty acids, the daily portion and the cautionsFoundations · 4 min
23. Dried, candied or freeze-dried fruit: processing and sulphitesFoundations · 4 min
24. Parsley: vitamin K, anticoagulants and pregnancyCounselling · 4 min
25. Leafy greens and the eyes: lutein, zeaxanthin and the maculaCounselling · 5 min
26. A gluten break: coeliac testing first, then the dietCounselling · 4 min
27. White flour and wholemeal flour: what refining removesFoundations · 4 min
28. Gluten-free: safe grains and the bulgur, couscous and oat trapsCounselling · 4 min
29. Mushroom coffee and 3-in-1 mixes: what to checkFoundations · 4 min
30. Granola and muesli: sugar, fat and portion sizeFoundations · 4 min
31. Grilling: heterocyclic amines, PAHs and how to cut exposureCounselling · 5 min
32. Home cooking: how to make it doable for a tired personFoundations · 4 min
33. Buckwheat, quinoa and millet: how to cook them and what to watchFoundations · 4 min
34. Flax, chia and sesame: the form that mattersCounselling · 5 min
35. Plant-based yoghurt alternatives: coconut, cashew, soy — what to readCounselling · 4 min
36. Homemade kombucha: fermentation hygiene and who should avoid itCounselling · 5 min
37. Properly cooked legumes: kidney bean lectins and bloatingFoundations · 5 min
38. Protein at every meal: satiety, plant sources and limitsFoundations · 4 min
39. Almonds and almond flour: portion size, energy density, childrenFoundations · 4 min
40. Nutrition myths: breakfast, “light” snacks and the nuancesCounselling · 4 min
41. Don't take something off the plate without putting something backFoundations · 4 min
42. Brown or white rice: when white is the right call, and what to do about arsenicCounselling · 5 min
43. Taste can be retrained: why healthy food tastes bland at firstFoundations · 4 min
44. Raw bee pollen and raw honey: what “raw” means and who needs cautionCounselling · 5 min
45. Fasting starts in the pantry: how to make it nourishingCounselling · 5 min
46. Two weeks without added sugar: the experiment and the patient with diabetesCounselling · 4 min
47. Do vegetarians live longer? Meat, lifestyle and the nutrients to watchCounselling · 5 min
48. Ceylon or cassia cinnamon: coumarin and daily useCounselling · 5 min
49. Hulled hemp seeds: protein, fats and THCFoundations · 4 min
50. Agave syrup and fructose: low glycaemic index, still sugarCounselling · 5 min
51. Soy every day: minerals, the thyroid and isoflavonesCounselling · 4 min
52. Spinach: ecdysteroids, oxalates and vitamin KCounselling · 5 min
53. Fruit juice, even 100%: free sugar and liquid caloriesFoundations · 4 min
54. Oatmeal: a complete meal or a dessert?Foundations · 4 min
55. Olive oil: extra virgin, acidity, filtered or unfilteredCounselling · 5 min
56. Plant-based cheese alternatives: oil, starch and what they don't replaceFoundations · 4 min
57. “Natural” food colours: curcumin, chlorophyll and carmineCounselling · 4 min
58. Coconut sugar and maple syrup: still sugar, with a different tasteFoundations · 4 min
59. Food order: vegetables first and the glucose that followsCounselling · 4 min
60. “I eat like my grandparents did”: what has actually changedCounselling · 4 min