be snack aware – Page 96 – Every Step Fitness

A healthy snack of dried fruit… 🍇

Fruit makes a great healthy snack and we’re encouraged to swap chocolate and biscuits for fruit instead… but be careful about the fruit you’re actually having.

Many people will happily snack on dried fruit thinking it’s a great way to lose weight. Now whilst there’s nothing wrong with dried fruit at all, as it’s full of fibre and vitamins, it’s also much higher in calories (mostly from sugar) than fresh fruit. And you’re far more likely to over eat it. It’s easy to eat a whole packet of raisins for example but you’re a lot less likely to eat an entire bunch of grapes (and in fact you could eat 4 bunches and still be consuming fewer calories.

The reason the raisins are so much higher in calories is because they’ve lost 95 percent of their water content leaving mostly sugar and fibre, in a much smaller package. This ramps up the sugar and calorie content, so 100g of dried fruit can be more than 4 times more calories than fresh fruit, and less filling.

So if fat loss is your goal consider the type of fruit you’re snacking on, and be mindful of how much dried fruit you’re consuming and don’t be afraid of fresh fruit.

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Recipes

Cinnamon Oat Baked Apples

November 27, 2020November 27, 2020 Dr Nancy P

This is a really easy option for a warming winter dessert. Delicious as it is or even better with a scoop of Greek yoghurt or ice cream! I make a batch and then I can reheat them for pudding or even have one for a snack or brekkie! Bramley apples work best but you can actually use any apple you like.

This recipe makes 4 portions (half an apple) at approx 77 cals per portion (this will vary with apple size).

You will need:

2 Apples

50g Oats

10g sugar (I use half spoon – as it gives sweetness with fewer calories)

20g light spread (I just used a normal anchor light spread)

1/2 tsp cinnamon (or more to taste)

Preheat the oven to 180 C

Mix the oats, cinnamon and sugar in a small bowl.

Add the spread and use a fork or your hands to mix it into the oat mix. Leaving clumps.

Cut the apples on half and use a spoon to remove the core and create a little hollow.

Pop the apples on a baking dish and pack the oat mix into the hollow and across the top of each apple half.

Add a tbsp of water to the dish, cover lightly with foil and bake for 25 mins. Then remove the foil and bake for a further 10 mins.

Serve as is or with ice cream/ yoghurt

Enjoy! 🙂 Xx

Nutrition and Calorie Tips

Swaps to save calories….

November 25, 2020November 16, 2020 Dr Nancy P

Swaps to save calories…. 🥤🍟 🍫

When I’m working with clients for sustainable fat and weight loss one of the big things I try to encourage is making some ‘easy’ swaps that they can incorporate into their diet. to save calories. It’s not about replacing something you love with something you hate (that will never work and will make you feel like you’re deprived) but there are some swaps you can make which you may not even really notice. Or they may be compromises which you’re willing to make.

This is a selection of some of the common ones and although individually some of the calorie savings may seem small it’s amazing how they all add up. Some involve similar tasting but lower calorie products, others are a portion size thing too. Obviously there are loads more – but I have tried to present a few of the main ones that my clients have used and enjoyed. Let me know about your own swaps too!

Here’s the list:

⁃ Oven chips (100g) 157cals vs 100g potatoes and oil spray (ten sprays) 83 cals

⁃ Lean beef mince (250g) 313 cals vs meat free mince (250g) 225 cals

⁃ 15ml olive oil 125 cals vs fry light olive oil spray 1 cal per spray (so even using 25 sprays is still a massive saving)

⁃ Bacon rashers (3) 180 cals vs Turkey Rashers (3) 72 cals

⁃ Cheddar cheese (20g) 85 cals vs babybel light (20g) 42 cals

⁃ Kettle Chips Small bag 205 cals vs pop chips 94 cals

⁃ Ben and Jerrys tub 1125 cals vs halo top tub 320 cals

⁃ Mars bar 228 cals vs curly wurly 118 cals

⁃ Grab bag Haribo 649 cals vs 3 mini bags 162 cals

⁃ Medium whole milk latte 237 cals vs skinny Americano 25 cals

⁃ Gin and tonic (single) 93 cals vs Gin and slimline tonic 64 cals

⁃ San pellegrino Lemonade drink 71 cals vs 7up zero lemonade drink 0 cals

⁃ Pint of London Pride Ale 199 cals vs Michelob Ultra 95 cals

Remember as part of a balanced diet it’s not a problem including some lower calorie options, especially if they mean you actually stick to it! If you want any help with making swaps just shout!

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Recipes

Biscoff Berry Porridge

November 12, 2020November 13, 2020 Dr Nancy P

As it gets colder I am drawn to warm, comforting food and porridge ticks the bill for me!

This combo of biscoff and berries works really well! It comes in at around 350 cals (using water not milk) for a portion so a good hearty brekkie or even a lunch option.

You will need:

50g porridge oats

1/4 to 1/2 tsp cinnamon (to taste)

Water (or milk if you prefer to use that for porridge)

Handful of berries (I used blackberries, raspberries and blueberries)

20g Biscoff spread

20g Berry jam (optional – I used the low calorie skinny jam – available here)

Mix the cinnamon with the oats and then prepare your porridge using water (or milk) as you normally would. I often use boiling water from the kettle for speed but you can use a saucepan of course.

Once at a consistency you like transfer to a bowl and add the blackberries (or whatever berries you have), mix them up a little to release the juices.

Then add the other berries and biscoff spread. If using the jam add that too.

Pop in the microwave for 1 min (optional – this just helps to melt the biscoff and release the fruit juices – you could also do all this in a pan on the hob)

Enjoy! 🙂

Nutrition and Calorie Tips

Healthy alternative.. or what you actually wanted?

November 11, 2020 Dr Nancy P

Healthy alternative.. or what you actually wanted? 🍫 🥜

When trying to lose weight people will often go out of their way to force themselves to choose a “healthy” alternative. If you really fancy a snickers bar you may think you’re better off choosing chocolate covered peanuts instead (nuts are healthy right)? There are nutritional differences between the two options – the chocolate peanuts have higher protein and lower sugar levels, but also higher fat and overall calories.

Both these snacks contain relatively high levels of sugar and significant amounts of fat. The peanuts may have more “good” fats but when it comes down to it the source of that fat makes very little difference to how your body processes it – especially in the context of this example. Both taste good, but if you are really craving a snickers and instead force yourself to have the chocolate peanuts you’re taking in more calories. Now that’s fine if that’s where it ends, but often that craving will still be there. Also the peanuts come in a larger bag so you may not stop at the 50g portion, and end up with the whole bag which is 578 calories! The snickers on the other hand may also give you an emotional boost, as well as an energy one.

So if you’re choosing the chocolate nuts in an effort to lose weight, then think again. If you’re choosing them because you like them then brilliant – keep having them. If you fancy a snickers then have it!

There are no good or bad foods – all foods can be accommodated within a balanced diet. Being aware of the calories in different foods empowers you to make that choice.

🤗