Health
How many calories you burn in a sauna, and why the scale lies afterwards
The only study with minute-by-minute sauna expenditure found 73–131 kcal for every 10 minutes, about 400 kcal over four rounds.
What the research shows
How to tell the tested from the sold, and what «studies show» is actually worth.
Weight loss
The Kovalkov diet: stages, a day's menu and how many calories it has
The method of Russian dietitian Alexei Kovalkov has three stages: preparation, weight loss and consolidation.
Weight loss
The Dukan diet: four phases, allowed foods and how much protein an Attack day has
The Dukan diet has four phases: a few days of almost pure protein, then alternating protein days with protein-and-vegetable days until the target weight, then consolidation lasting five days for every pound lost, and lifelong stabilization.
Health
How many calories you burn while sleeping: per hour, in 8 hours and per night
An adult burns roughly 50–75 kcal an hour asleep, about 400–600 kcal over eight hours.
Weight loss
The Kremlin diet: points table and how many calories a 40-point day really has
A point on the Kremlin diet is one gram of digestible carbohydrate per 100 g of food.
Weight loss
Constipation on a diet: fibre, water, keto and GLP-1 medicines
Constipation on a diet is common, and the causes are usually clear: you are eating less and differently, there is less fibre and fluid in your diet, or you have started a medicine for which constipation is a known side effect.
Nutrition
What to eat with a cold: broth, honey, vitamin C and appetite
There is no special diet for a cold.
Health
Why you want to eat more in winter: what studies have found
The seasonal difference in eating is real, but smaller than it feels.
Nutrition
What to eat before bed: cottage cheese, banana, fruit and tomatoes
You can eat any of these foods in the evening: your weight depends on the total for the day, not on the hour of the last bite.
Weight loss
Not losing weight on semaglutide or tirzepatide: what to check in your eating and records
If your weight is not coming down on semaglutide or tirzepatide, first check how much you actually eat and drink: the medicine reduces appetite, but calories from drinks, snacks and weekends do not go away.
Weight loss
Losing weight from your legs, thighs or face: what research says about spot reduction
You cannot lose fat from just your legs, thighs or face: in studies, training one part of the body did not remove fat from that part.
Weight loss
How to lose 10 kg: what it means in calories and time
By linear arithmetic, 10 kg is about 77,000 kcal: around five months at a deficit of 500 kcal a day, or around two and a half months at 1,000 kcal.
Nutrition
How to eat less without starving: what the research supports and what it does not
People eat more when they are served a bigger portion, when they eat fast, after a short night and alongside alcohol.
Weight loss
How the keto calculator works, where it goes wrong, and how to read the result
The keto calculator estimates calories with the Mifflin–St Jeor equation, takes about 85% of that figure for weight loss, and splits it into carbs (5–10%), protein (30–35%) and fat (55–60%).
Health
Waist-to-height, waist circumference and waist-to-hip: how the three measures differ
The waist and hip calculator gives three numbers: waist-to-height ratio, waist circumference and, if you enter hips, waist-to-hip ratio.
Health
Body fat from tape measurements: how the US Navy formula works and how far to trust it
The body fat calculator uses the Hodgdon and Beckett formula (US Navy, 1984): height plus neck and waist measurements and, for women, hips.
Health
The ideal weight calculator: where the formulas come from and what they cannot see
There is no such thing as an ideal weight: the name is given to the output of formulas derived from insurance height and weight tables, and the Devine formula was published to calculate drug doses.
Health
The FoodGPT BMI calculator: how it works and what to do with the result
The BMI calculator divides weight in kilograms by height in meters squared and names a category from the WHO scale.
Health
TDEE: how the calculator works out daily expenditure and how to check your number
TDEE (total daily energy expenditure) is everything the body burns in a day: basal metabolism, digesting food and all movement.
Calorie counting
The FoodGPT calorie calculator: how it works and where it goes wrong
The calorie calculator works out basal metabolism with the Mifflin–St Jeor equation, multiplies it by an activity factor from 1.
Nutrition
Beef tallow instead of vegetable oil: what the trend claims and what the data show
As of 5 October 2026, beef tallow remains one of the visible food trends: Whole Foods put the “tallow takeover” first in its 2026 forecast, and the new US Dietary Guidelines list it as an option for cooking.
Nutrition
Two cups of beans a day: what BeanTok promises and what the research shows
As of 5 October 2026, “BeanTok” is still running on TikTok and Instagram: creators eat two cups of beans a day and link it to gut health, weight loss and fewer sugar cravings.
Weight loss
Weight loss rate: where the 0.5–1 kg per week guideline came from and what research says
The '0.
Nutrition
DASH diet: foods, servings, and a week-long menu
DASH is an eating plan designed to lower blood pressure: plenty of vegetables, fruits, and whole grains; low-fat dairy; and limited salt and sweets.
Weight loss
Calories per volume: why salad fills you up more than cookies
Salad fills you up more than cookies because it contains fewer calories per gram: 100 kcal equals about 670 g of cucumber or about 20 g of cookies.
Ingredients and additives
How to identify an ultra-processed product by its ingredients: five signs and the debate around NOVA
A product falls into NOVA group four if its ingredients include at least one component not found in a home kitchen: protein hydrolysate or isolate, maltodextrin, glucose-fructose syrup, flavoring, or emulsifier.
Weight loss
Walking for weight loss: how much it burns and what it does on the scale
Eight thousand steps is about 5.
Weight loss
Ozempic, Mounjaro and their Russian versions: how they differ
Behind Ozempic, Mounjaro and the Russian-made drugs there are only two active substances: semaglutide and tirzepatide.
Weight loss
Can you lose weight with strength training and no cardio?
Yes.
Weight loss
How breasts may change with weight loss: size, shape, and comfort
Breasts may become smaller or change shape as weight falls, but there is no way to calculate that change from pounds or kilograms lost.
Weight loss
Why women often lose weight more slowly than men on the same diet
The same diet does not create the same calorie deficit.
Weight loss
Cellulite and weight loss: what may change and what remains
Weight loss sometimes makes cellulite less visible, but it cannot guarantee that the dimples will disappear.
Health
Japanese interval walking: what the 3-by-3 studies found
Japanese interval walking alternates three minutes of fast walking with three minutes at an easy pace.
Shopping
PFAS in the kitchen: pans, cups, and fast food boxes
The main pathway of PFAS into the body is not packaging, but fish and eggs, according to estimates by the European food safety agency.
Ingredients and additives
E numbers on Russian shelves: an analysis of 48,000 ingredient lists
We analysed 48,230 ingredient lists from the product pages of six Russian retail chains.
Ingredients and additives
Microplastics in food: what is known and what is not
Microplastics are discussed in two ways: 'we eat a credit card a week' and 'there is no evidence of harm.
Nutrition
Red and processed meat: what "group 1" means
In October 2015, processed meat was placed in the same classification group as tobacco, and the headlines wrote themselves.
Nutrition
Seed oils: are sunflower, rapeseed, and soybean oils harmful?
For the past couple of years, sunflower, rapeseed, and soybean oils have been labeled as sources of inflammation and the primary cause of everything.
Shopping
Nitrates in vegetables: how much and what to do about it
Nitrates are always present in vegetables: they are a form of nitrogen from which the plant builds protein.
Nutrition
Clean eating: what it is and what lies behind it
PP is a Russian abbreviation for "proper nutrition" (clean eating).
Nutrition
Nuts: why they have fewer calories than stated
The calorie content of nuts in reference books is calculated, not measured, and for nuts, the calculation is systematically overstated.
Nutrition
Gout and purines: where they are actually found
Lists of "foods to avoid with gout" are usually based on purine content tables.
Weight loss
Energy density: why the same calorie count can mean different amounts of food
Energy density is calories per gram, and it is already printed on every package: that very line "per 100 g" that people usually overlook while searching for the per-serving figure.
Shopping
Where there is more sugar than in cola: an analysis of 34,000 products on Russian shelves
We took an open dataset from Open Food Facts—four and a half million products—and calculated how much sugar is in what is sold in Russia.
Weight loss
How to lose weight without counting calories
Counting calories is a tool, not a requirement.
Weight loss
Can you lose weight in a week: what actually changes in seven days
In a week, the scale will almost certainly show a lower number—and almost certainly not because of fat.
Weight loss
What happens after weight loss and how to maintain the results
Weight loss and weight maintenance are two different tasks, and the latter is more difficult.
Calorie counting
Why the body gets fewer calories than the label says
No one actually measured the number on the package: it was calculated by multiplying proteins, fats, and carbohydrates by factors over a century old.
Nutrition
How to read a nutrition study
Headlines claiming that "scientists have proven product X reduces the risk of Y" almost always describe a study that does not support such a conclusion.
Nutrition
Multivitamins: what large trials have shown
Multivitamins have been tested in randomized trials involving tens of thousands of people—a rare case in nutrition where we have experiments with placebos rather than just observations.
Nutrition
Creatine in women: what research has shown
Creatine is the most studied supplement on the shelf, but trials involving women make up a smaller portion of this research.
Nutrition
Pre-workout supplements: what works in the jar
A pre-workout supplement is a blend of five to fifteen substances, only one of which is reliably effective.
Nutrition
Fruit and blood sugar: how an apple differs from juice
Fruit is the only food that is simultaneously called a source of sugar and recommended for daily consumption.
Nutrition
Diet for type 2 diabetes: what diet comparisons have shown
Debates about diet for type 2 diabetes often focus on choosing the right diet.
Calorie counting
Calorie calculator: what formulas are inside and why numbers differ
Two calculators using the same height, weight, age, and gender can provide numbers that differ by two or three hundred kilocalories.
Calorie counting
Calorie counter: what it actually counts
A calorie counter does not measure calories.
Biohacking
Sauna and the heart: what the Finnish cohorts showed and where the link ends and the conjecture begins
The sauna often appears in biohacking not because there are robust trials on it, but because it has a compelling curve from Finnish cohorts: the more often people visited the sauna, the lower their cardiovascular mortality.
Biohacking
Breathing practices: what has been measured in the Wim Hof method, hyperventilation, box breathing, and slow rhythm techniques
The term "breathing practices" usually refers to four different things: slow rhythm, equal phases of inhalation and exhalation, conscious hyperventilation, and the Wim Hof protocol, where breathing is combined with cold exposure and meditation.
Biohacking
The "optimization" lab panel: what happens when you test for everything
The logic of "measure first, intervene later" seems flawless and is therefore rarely questioned.
Biohacking
Mitochondria: what lies behind the term "cellular energy" in supplement marketing
Mitochondria are organelles where oxygen and nutrients are converted into ATP.
Biohacking
Autophagy: why the Nobel Prize was awarded and what is being sold based on it
Autophagy is a mechanism by which a cell breaks down its own damaged parts and recycles the material.
Biohacking
Red light and photobiomodulation: where the trials are, and where it's just a lamp
Photobiomodulation is the application of red and near-infrared light.
Biohacking
Biological age: how epigenetic clocks are calculated
A "biological age" test returns a number that can be compared to your chronological age.
Biohacking
Heart rate variability: what the number in your app means
HRV is the variation in the time intervals between heartbeats.
Biohacking
Zone 2: where the trend for slow cardio came from and what comparisons have shown
Zone 2 is an intensity at which you can speak in full sentences and blood lactate levels barely rise.
Biohacking
VO2max: the indicator with the strongest link to mortality
VO2max is the maximum volume of oxygen the body can consume per minute during maximal exertion.
Biohacking
Nootropics: what meta-analyses showed in healthy people
The word "nootropic" unites things that have nothing in common except a promise: prescription drugs, plant extracts, amino acids, and B vitamins.
Biohacking
Sleep hygiene: which rules from the list have actually been tested
The list of “sleep hygiene rules” travels from article to article almost unchanged: a dark room, coolness, no coffee after lunch, phone an hour before bed.
Biohacking
Testing it on yourself: telling an effect apart from noise
Trying something on yourself is the only available way to find out whether it works for you specifically.
Biohacking
Adaptogens: ashwagandha, rhodiola and studies with sixty participants
The word adaptogen was coined in the mid-twentieth century for substances said to raise resistance to stress in general, without specifying to what.
Biohacking
Cold exposure and brown fat: how many calories an ice bath actually costs
Brown fat is one of the rare cases where the elegant mechanism turns out to be real: the tissue genuinely converts fat into heat, bypassing the usual route.
Biohacking
Biohacking: separating what has been tested from what is being sold
There is no definition of biohacking that two people would both sign.
Nutrition
Chromium picolinate: what the tests showed and why the conclusions are cautious
A meta-analysis of randomized trials showed a difference from placebo of about 1.
Nutrition
Berberine: what research has shown and why it is called a "natural supplement"
Berberine is a plant alkaloid that shows an effect on carbohydrate and lipid metabolism markers in meta-analyses.
Ingredients and additives
Sudan dyes: industrial paint found in spices
Sudan I, II, III, and IV are synthetic dyes for industrial use: they are used to color waxes, oils, solvents, and polishes.
Ingredients and additives
Preservatives: why they are needed and what questions arise about them
The word "preservative" on an ingredient label is often seen as a negative, and products "without preservatives" sell better.
Ingredients and additives
Titanium dioxide E171: an additive allowed for decades and then banned
Titanium dioxide has been used as a food coloring for decades and was considered one of the most inert additives: it does not dissolve, is not absorbed to any significant degree, and is chemically extremely stable.
Ingredients and additives
One additive, different rules: why lists do not match
The argument that "this additive is banned in Europe" sounds convincing and almost always requires clarification.
Ingredients and additives
Cyclamate and saccharin: sweeteners that were banned and brought back
The history of these two sweeteners is a prime example of how a scientific conclusion can be retracted.
Ingredients and additives
Brominated vegetable oil: the additive that lasted the longest
Brominated vegetable oil served a specific technical purpose: to keep citrus flavorings in suspension so they would not float to the neck of the bottle.
Ingredients and additives
Potassium bromate: a flour improver that is no longer permitted
Potassium bromate was used for decades as a flour improver: it made dough more elastic and bread more voluminous with an even crumb.
Health
Body mass index: how to calculate it and where it goes wrong
Body mass index takes ten seconds to calculate and is therefore used where it shouldn't be: for an individual.
Nutrition
What to eat for breakfast and is it necessary at all
Breakfast is called the most important meal of the day, and the justification is usually linked to weight: those who skip breakfast overeat in the evening.
Nutrition
Fractional nutrition: is it really necessary to eat five times a day
The advice to eat often and in small portions sounds so familiar that it is rarely questioned.
Weight loss
Cheat meal and refeed: do breaks in a calorie deficit help?
Three terms describe three different things, and the confusion between them costs more than it seems.
Weight loss
Keto diet: what happens in the body and what comparisons have shown
The keto diet promises a non-standard mechanism: not counting calories, but switching metabolism to a different fuel.
Calorie counting
How many calories are in a kilogram of fat and why the "7700" rule does not work
The rule is simple and therefore persistent: there are approximately 7700 kilocalories in a kilogram of fat, which means a deficit of 500 kcal per day results in half a kilogram per week and twenty-six kilograms per year.
Technology
AI nutritionist and nutrition chatbots: what can you trust
Asking a chatbot about your diet has become easier than making an appointment with a specialist, and the answer comes detailed, polite, and structured.
Technology
Pocket food scanners: what a beam of light can detect
A device the size of a keychain is held up to an apple, and sugar, protein, and calorie content appear on the screen.
Technology
DNA test "tailored to your genome": what is known about nutrition based on genes
The promise sounds convincing: a saliva sample, two weeks of waiting, and a diet tailored to your heredity.
Technology
Smart scales: what bioimpedance actually measures
Smart scales display body fat percentage, water percentage, muscle mass, bone mass, and "metabolic age.
Technology
Why AI confidently states incorrect figures
The unpleasant feature of machine responses is not that they can be incorrect—reference books and labels can be wrong too.
Health
Ultra-processed food: what lies behind the NOVA classification
There is a lot of writing about ultra-processed food right now as if the matter is settled: there is bad industrial food and good homemade food.
Nutrition
Monosodium glutamate: why E621 is feared more than other additives
Food additives have a general background of suspicion, but E621 stands apart: it is feared specifically, with symptoms and stories.
Weight loss
Metabolism: is it true that it can be "boosted" and that it can "break"
One person is promised a metabolism boost through spices and frequent small meals, another explains weight plateaus by claiming their metabolism is broken from dieting.
Calorie counting
Negative calorie foods: is celery really more expensive to digest than it is worth?
Celery is the food people name when they want an example of negative calories: eat it and you end the day lower than you started, because digesting it supposedly costs more than it delivers.
Nutrition
Activated charcoal for “detox”: what it actually binds
Activated charcoal is cheap, sold without a prescription, and taken for almost anything: the morning after, a weekend cleanse, sometimes a course of capsules for weight loss.
Health
Excess weight and health: what risks are confirmed
This topic is usually presented in a way meant to induce fear.
Calorie counting
Daily calorie intake
There is no universal norm: it depends on weight, height, age, sex, and activity level.
Weight loss
Hypnosis for weight loss
Reviews for this method are more polarized than for any other: some say their life has changed, while others say they wasted their money.
Weight loss
Types of diets
When comparing diets in studies, an inconvenient result emerges: the difference between them is smaller than the difference between the people who follow them and those who do not.
Nutrition
Artificial sweeteners: are they harmful, and do they help you lose weight?
Arguments about sweeteners are conducted as though the choice were between them and plain water.
Nutrition
Eating habits: what works and what doesn't
Almost all nutrition plans fail not because of a lack of knowledge, but because of execution.
Nutrition
Myths about food additives and GMOs
Two things on packaging cause the most fear: codes with the letter E and the acronym "GMO.
From reading to doing. All of it starts in one place — knowing what is on the plate. Photograph it and the calories and macros appear on their own.
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This article is for general information. It is not medical advice, a diagnosis, or a prescription for treatment or a diet, and it does not replace a consultation with your doctor. If you have a health condition, are pregnant, take medication, or follow a diet prescribed to you, decisions about food belong with your doctor.
Figures from regulations, guidelines and studies are given as they stood when this article was prepared and may since have changed; check them against the primary sources. This article is not advertising, an offer, or individual advice, and neither the author nor the site owner is responsible for decisions taken on the basis of it.