Author: Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday tip: Merry Christmas!

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday tip: Merry Christmas! 🎄

It’s Christmas Day! So my only tip today – is to enjoy your day! However you are spending the day – have a lie in, spend time with friends, family, (or animals) that you love, maybe take a gentle walk, enjoy yummy food, watch Christmas tv etc.

If you’re working then take some time out this evening to do something that you enjoy. Don’t stress about what you’ve eaten, or how little exercise you’ve done, just enjoy the tastes and yummy food, a day or two won’t kill you! Get back to your normal eating and training pattern tomorrow and you’ll be back on track in no time.

Hope you have a lovely Christmas 🎅🏼🎄xx

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: Coping with Xmas Stress

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: Coping with Xmas Stress 🎄

Stress levels can soar at Xmas, with the pressure of expectations, exchange and excess. Here are some tips to help!

#1 Limit spending

Gift buying and entertainment costs can spiral quickly, so make a budget and limit spending by only taking cash on shopping trips. Make 1 financial decision at a time to avoid losing willpower and overspending. Remember your relationships with friends and family are more important than material objects!

#2 Manage expectations

Wanting things to be perfect can lead to more stress. Dinner being late or a less than perfect xmas tree won’t ruin your day – it may even give you fond memories to laugh about in future! Be realistic with children: they don’t need everything on their list! Xmas is about being together, so plan lots of fun family activities to do.

#3 Take time out

Factor in some time out for yourself – a bath, watching a movie, reading or a walk. You will feel better and be less likely to take your stress out on the rest of the family too.

#4 Don’t fall totally off the wagon

Plan, eat well outside events, stay active  – check out my article (here) for more. If you do find yourself overindulging just remember 1 day of indulgence won’t make you fat, just get back on track the next day and don’t make it a month!

#5 Go for a walk

Studies show physical activity reduces the brain’s response to stress, even more so with other people (by 26%). So try to fit a walk in to your day even if it means walking to work, or school pick up, or just around the block.

#6 Have fun

Laughter is a fab stress reliever. It releases endorphins, boosts circulation, helps muscles relax and reduces physical symptoms of stress. Make sure you have some fun; whether it’s your favourite movie, jokes with relatives, or a fun activity with friends or family.

At the end of the day remember, its just one day, it doesn’t define you or your life. Your friends and family are there all year round and if things don’t go as planned you can always get together in January or Feb instead 🙂

Happy Tuesday 🤗

xx

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: Avoid the Protein Hype

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: Avoid the Protein Hype 🍞

Protein enhanced products are everywhere now – protein chocolate, protein porridge, protein crisps…. but is there really any benefit? Or is it just a marketing ploy?

Protein is important for muscle repair and growth so it’s vital for those wishing to build lean muscle. It also helps to keep you fuller for longer, so can aid in weight loss as it means you’re less hungry, and less likely to overeat. This has lead to widespread hype and a proliferation of protein-enhanced versions of existing products. These obviously appeal to people interested in weight loss and fitness but are they really worth the calories?

Well in most cases, no they’re not, and you’d be better off making different choices for those calories. Just because the word “protein” is on the side doesn’t instantly make it healthy, or low calorie (in fact in most cases they’re higher in calories) and often not even a great choice for protein content either!

For example in a special K Protein bar you would get 4g protein, 123 cals and 6 g of sugar… great … but a slice of bread will give you 5g protein for only 95 cals and 2g sugar (and at 5% of the price!). If you wanted to get a typical serving of 25g protein you’d have to have 6.25 bars, nearly 770 cals and 37.5g sugar!! Other examples – branded protein smoothies provide about 8g protein, 220 cals and 33g sugar, Snack packs (e.g graze) give about 7g protein, 130 cals and 1g sugar whereas a glass of semi-skimmed milk is 13g protein, 180 cals and 17 g sugar, and a packet of salted peanuts is 8g protein, 171 cals and 1g sugar etc

So if you enjoy these products – then go for it! But if you’re consuming them because you think they’re healthier or better for you due to the protein content then you’d be far better off saving your pennies and calories and just having a piece of toast instead!

Happy Tuesday – Enjoy your toast 🤗

xx

Recipes

Amazing Protein Packed Flapjacks

Dr Nancy P

I get hungry, especially after a workout and I love a good flapjack or energy bar but I hate the fact that so many of the store bought ones are just full of sugar. Many of the ‘healthier’ versions I’ve bought are tasteless and unappetising so I thought I’d create some homemade protein flapjacks – full of good things!

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These don’t take long to put together and you can always substitute things if you don’t have them in the cupboard or don’t like them.

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You will need:

300g rolled porridge oats (gluten-free or spelt if you want)

100g desiccated coconut

100g flaked almonds

100g Pumpkin seeds

215g dried, soft Prunes

315g dried dates

175g Almond butter (or your nut butter of choice)

100g Liquid sweetener (I used rice malt syrup but you can use agave, maple syrup, honey etc)

2 tbsp Coconut oil (measured when solid)

4 tbsp Vanilla protein powder (any brand you like – you can also omit this is you want)

4 tbsp Water

2 generous tsp Cinnamon

1/2 tsp Salt

Preheat the oven to 170 C.

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Line a baking tin (I used a 20 x 20cm one) with baking paper. Mix the oats, almonds, pumpkin seeds and coconut together and pour into the baking tin. Place in the oven for 20 mins or until starting to brown. Make sure you turn regularly with a wooden spoon so the whole mixture gets toasted.

While that’s in the oven pop the dates and prunes into a blender or food processor and blitz to a paste. You may need to keep stopping to scrape the mixture back down in to the bowl. It doesn’t need to be completely smooth – a few lumpy bits are good!

Remove the oats from the oven and stir the protein powder through the mixture. Allow to cool.

Put the date mixture, nut butter, liquid sweetener, coconut oil, water, cinnamon and salt in to a large saucepan and heat very gently. Stir and allow the mixture to come together. Remove from the heat and pour the oats into the liquid mixture and mix really well.

Using a spatula scrape the mixture back into the lined baking tin and press down firmly. Then allow to cool and pop in the fridge. Do make sure you lick the saucepan (once it’s cool enough!!!) because the mixture is divine when warm! 🙂

Once it’s chilled you can cut in to slices. It makes the perfect post workout snack on the go and is great to pop in to lunchboxes too!

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Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: Walk the Walk

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: Walk the Walk 🚶🏻‍♂️

As things get busy in the festive period it may get harder to get to the gym. But we can always walk right? 30 minutes of walking a day has been shown to help reduce stress, improve mood, increase bone density. Walking is a great way to maintain some activity when things get busy (think of all the waking you’ll do xmas shopping!). But how can you get the most from those walks to boost the calories burnt?

#1 Pace

Studies have found walkers who vary their pace burn 20% more calories than those who maintain a constant speed. So add some intervals – 1 min fast walking pace, 30 secs slower etc.

#2 Terrain

Walking on uneven or sloped terrain has been shown to raise calorie expenditure by 30% or more. Hills require more glute, hamstring and quad engagement – big muscles which increase calorie burn and uneven surfaces use more core muscles. So try to include hills or stairs, or even different surfaces like gravel, sand, grass etc.

#3 Arms

Yes you’re mostly using your legs but by using your arms too you can boost heart rate (and cal burn) by 10-15 %. Pump your arms as you walk, or try carrying things (doesn’t need to be actual weights – water bottles work well or maybe xmas shopping if not!).

#4 No phone

Get your nose out of your phone. Walking pace decreases significantly when you’re also on your phone. So put your phone away and don’t dawdle. It will also prevent you looking like an idiot when you walk in to something or someone!

#5 Don’t just walk

It doesn’t just have to be a walk – see if you can incorporate some other moves – lunges, squats, jump jacks, or if you don’t want to do that in public, why not get a bit of an extra workout in by going up stairs two at a time instead of one, or add a little jog, larger strides or walk along low walls (like we used to as a child) – maybe even a little hop-scotch – just have some fun!

Happy Tuesday 🤗

xx