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Heating costs go up and up. A curious cooling trick can ensure that the heating does not have to be turned up high in the first place.

Become cold hardy with these tips

Anyone who thinks here is a tip on how to set the heating particularly efficiently or where to get cheap gas is wrong. In order to save on heating costs, we bridle the horse from behind. In the cold season, we like to dress warmly, make ourselves a grain pillow, curl up under the blanket with a cup of hot tea. It’s lousy outside, so we’d rather watch Netflix than take a walk in the park. All this leads to: We hardly move. And if you don’t move much, you freeze faster.

It sounds banal, but the best trick to save on heating costs is to “freeze less”. To do that, we need to expose our bodies to the cold more often. Sensitivity to cold can be trained. Anyone who hasn’t had hot shower water on a trip abroad knows that, after a while you get used to it. When you expose yourself to cold, your blood vessels constrict. If you warm up again, the blood vessels dilate. If this process is repeated regularly, it can permanently create more blood vessels.

There are a few methods to train cold tolerance. Let’s start with the beginner tricks first. When showering, dare to let the water get colder from time to time. This is not only good for strengthening you against the cold, but also stimulates circulation. Don’t be afraid to get some fresh air, even when the temperature is low. Walks, but also jogging and hiking can help. Another option is going to the sauna, during which you go outside again and again. All of these methods stimulate blood circulation and ensure that you no longer freeze so quickly. Anyone who has taken a walk along the lake or river during the cool seasons may have seen courageous people taking an ice bath. This method is becoming increasingly popular to boost the immune system. However, ice bathing also involves risks and is therefore recommended for advanced swimmers.

Lose weight without much effort? – That’s fine. Because the key to every success in losing weight is not in meager diets: A fitness expert explains why it can theoretically also work with chips and cola to let those annoying pounds tumble.

In theory, you can also lose weight with chips and cola

The calorie requirement is the index of energy that the body needs to function. However, this is not the same for every person, but individual. Nutrients are divided into three so-called “macronutrients” or “macros”. These are carbohydrates, proteins and fats.
one gram of carbohydrates is over four calories
a gram of protein is over four calories
a gram of fat over nine calories
Fitness trainer Yannick Reinlein is certain that you can fill your calorie balance with unhealthy foods. For example, you can very well lose or maintain your weight with a diet that consists only of chips. However, Reinlein emphasizes that from his point of view this is not recommended. “You can definitely lose weight with the motto calories equal calories, but whether that’s healthy is a completely different question,” he says.

According to Reinlein, there are two main reasons why you shouldn’t do this: satiety and the feeling of hunger. “50 grams of carbohydrates from potatoes or gummy bears make no difference in terms of the calorie balance, but potatoes have a significantly higher satiety effect. So you don’t have to go hungry,” says Reinlein.

After all, unhealthy foods don’t have this name from just anywhere. Logically, it’s ultimately about the calorie balance that keeps the body functioning, but similar to an internal combustion engine, it’s always important to have the right fuel for the engine in question. “It’s exactly the same as cream and salmon. Both have fat, but the percentage of unsaturated fatty acids in salmon is much higher than that in cream, making it a much healthier source of fat,” explains the fitness expert.

You can lose weight by eating unhealthy foods

Especially with a diet that focuses on losing weight, it is important to change your diet and use healthy foods. True to the motto “you are what you eat”, nutrition is the lynchpin for physical well-being.

“A healthy body loses weight better than a sick one. Digestion is negatively affected by an unhealthy diet, and it can also promote the formation of inflammation in the body. Only when the body is healthy can it fully perform the function of burning fat,” says Reinlein.

Nevertheless, everyday movement should not be underestimated. Every step and every extra effort ensures that the calorie turnover increases. Consequently, if you burn a lot, you also need a higher calorie intake. Conversely, this means that you increase your calorie turnover through an increased amount of exercise and the combustion is boosted. If you then also save on calorie intake here, you will quickly lose weight. A good example of this is Bernd Stelter. According to him, he has only changed small habits, such as taking the stairs instead of the elevator or simply walking more every day. With success: Stelter has become a whole 25 kilos lighter!

Additional movement increases combustion

Ultimately, it is even true: Calories equal calories. But even if the body functions equally well on a diet of chips and cola as on a diet of vegetables and meat, you can’t compare it. This confirms that you can lose weight through an unhealthy diet, but that there is no guarantee that you will be healthier afterwards than before. If you also want to go one step further and lose weight as quickly as possible, you will still not be able to do with additional exercise. Nevertheless, the old rule applies here too: Patience makes perfect.

Some say potatoes should be peeled, others advise against it. We reveal what’s really true and show a trick you can use to peel potatoes in a flash.

You can conjure up many delicious dishes from potatoes: baked potatoes, potato gratin or simple boiled potatoes. The tuber is versatile, tasty and healthy. When preparing the potatoes, many people ask themselves: should I rather peel the potatoes or can I eat them with the skin on?

Toxins in the potato peel

In addition to nutrients and roughage, the potato peel also contains toxic glycoalkaloids: a-solanine and a-chaconine. These toxins occur naturally in the potato. They are mainly concentrated in the skin and in the germ. Inside the potato, on the other hand, there are significantly fewer toxins.

Glycoalkaloids are heat stable but water soluble. This means: High temperatures do not affect the toxins. If, on the other hand, you cook the potatoes in boiling water, the substances are removed from the skin.

Our commercially available potato varieties naturally do not contain any concentrations of these toxic substances that are harmful to health. The actual content of these substances is additionally influenced by several factors:
Unripe potatoes contain more toxins than ripe potatoes
Damage (e.g. during transport) and light favor the formation of toxins
If potatoes are stored too warm or too cold, more toxins are also formed
So if your potatoes are ripe, undamaged and stored properly, you don’t have to worry about the glycoalkaloids.

Potato peel protects the nutrients and flavors

Potatoes contain a lot of vitamins B and C. However, some of these vitamins are lost during cooking. The potato skin acts as a barrier when cooking: If you cook your potatoes with the skin, fewer flavors and nutrients are released into the water. This means that more of these valuable substances remain in the potato.

To peel or not to peel potatoes?

Although there is a significant amount of glycoalkaloids in the skin, you don’t necessarily have to peel potatoes. The Bavarian State Ministry for the Environment and Consumer Protection confirms that potatoes can be eaten with their skins without hesitation as long as they are of “normal quality”.

If you still want to peel the potatoes, we recommend that you only peel them after cooking. In this way, the potatoes retain as many nutrients and flavors as possible. Make sure, however, that you use the potatoes soon after cooking so that you don’t lose any more flavor and nutrients unnecessarily.

Green spots are an indication of increased levels of toxins. Therefore, cut out the green areas generously. Very green potatoes should be discarded entirely.

Trick: peeling potatoes made easy

You can easily peel potatoes with the following instructions:
Wash the potatoes and score the skin all over with a sharp knife.
Boil the potatoes until they are done. Make sure that the potatoes are not overcooked, otherwise they may fall apart when you peel them.
Place the cooked potatoes in ice water and chill for at least 10 seconds.
You can then simply peel off the peel either with your fingers or with a knife.
You can actually peel potatoes quite easily using this method. However, this isn’t magic either, and the peel won’t always come off “in one go”. Especially if the potato is a bit misshapen or has small “spots”, you will definitely have to touch up some areas.

Peeling tomatoes is not that easy. Unless you try this method—then the tomato skin will almost come off by itself!

Simply peel tomatoes in 4 steps

Tomatoes are among the most popular vegetables. They are delicious raw, but also cooked in a delicious tomato sauce or soup. To make them particularly velvety, many recipes recommend peeling the tomatoes. It works like this:

1. Score the tomato

Take a sharp kitchen knife and score the bottom of the tomato with a cross. This will make it easier to peel later. Meanwhile, bring water to a boil in a saucepan. There should be enough water to completely submerge the tomato.
Tip: You can then use the water for the pasta.

2. Blanch the tomato

Add the tomato to the pot of boiling water and let it blanch for about 30 seconds. Then lift them out of the pot with a slotted spoon.

3. Deter the tomato

Immediately place the tomato in a bowl of cold water. You will notice that the skin of the tomato is already starting to peel off.

4. Peel the tomato

Now you can peel the tomato. To do this, take them out of the water, let them drain a little, and use a small knife to peel off the skin from where you cut them.

For example, you can use the peeled tomatoes to prepare a delicious tomato sauce. To do this, sauté a piece of onion and garlic in olive oil, add the tomatoes and herbs of your choice and let the sauce simmer. Season with salt and pepper and possibly a little sugar. If you fill the hot sauce into clean jars or bottles and seal them tightly, the tomato sauce will keep for several months.

Would you like to peel almonds but don’t know how to do it? It’s easy. We explain how it works and what you should know about almonds.

Peel almonds – what do you mean by that?

Almonds are delicious and contain valuable oils and proteins. You can get them in stores mainly as almond kernels, where the hard shell has already been removed. If you want to process them, you may want to peel the almonds even further for certain recipes. What is meant by this is the thin brown skin that surrounds the amygdala. This skin is often a bit bitter. But it can be easily removed with a simple trick.

How to peel almonds

To peel almonds, you have to blanch them briefly. When dry, you will hardly be able to remove the skin. How to do it right:
Put as many almonds in a saucepan as you need.
Cover the almonds with water and let the almonds boil.
Let the almonds cook for 2-5 minutes.
Pour them into a colander and shock them with cold water.
The skin can now be removed very easily: You can practically push the almond out of the skin. The best way to do this is to press your fingers together at the rounded end of the almond.
If you want to peel a lot of almonds, the above method can be a bit tedious. In that case, try this trick:
Blanch the almonds as described above.
Put the quenched almonds on a kitchen towel and fold it shut.
You rub this packet through a bit and then collect the skinned cores.
You may need several passes until all the almonds are shelled.