Tag: Breakfast

Recipes

Quick and easy Cinnamon Bagel French Toast

Dr Nancy P

This super simple, low calorie French toast is perfect for a weekend brekkie or brunch or a light lunch!

The mixture will do 2-3 bagels. If I’m just making one I keep the remaining mix in the fridge for a few days.

You can use whatever milk you like and any sweetener – I used almond and went for a granulated sweetener. The calories come in at appox 250 cals – obviously this will vary a little depending on sweetener/sugar or milk but it’s still a brilliant low calorie yet tasty option.

You will need:

1 Cinnamon and Raisin Bagel thin (Warburtons)

1 egg

50ml milk of choice (I used almond)

1 tsp sweetener of choice (I used a granulated sweetener)

Cinnamon to taste

Cinnamon and sugar/sweetener mix to top

Berries or fruit to serve

1 cal oil spray for cooking

Crack the egg into a bowl and beat with a fork until mixed. Add the milk, sweetener and cinnamon and mix well.

Soak the bagel halves in the mix for approx 30 secs for each half, turning to ensure it’s coated.

Heat up a pan with a little oil spray until hot and then add the bagels. Cook for a few minutes – turning to ensure both sides are nice and crispy.

Whilst warm drop into a bowl of cinnamon and sugar mix (or sprinkle over if you prefer)

Serve with your fruit of choice! Also works brilliantly with stewed fruit!

Enjoy! 🙂

Recipes

Biscoff Berry Porridge

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! 🙂

Xx

Nutrition and Calorie Tips

Cereal offenders…

Dr Nancy P

Cereal offenders… 🥣

We are often told that higher protein is a better option when it comes to healthy food choice. Recently brands have been capitalising on this by marketing their products and releasing new products as high in protein or as a ‘protein’ version.

There is evidence that higher protein can help with weight management – but only because it helps to make you feel fuller, which therefore makes you less likely to consume more calories later. The end result is hopefully that you stick to your calories and are able to maintain or lose weight. Total calories are however the most important factor.

Cereals are one of the latest foods to fall victim to this. There are several brands out there now producing ‘protein’ cereals – Special K, Weetabix, Shreddies etc. You’d be forgiven for assuming the protein enhanced cereals were better for your health and to help you achieve your fat loss goals.

In reality the ‘normal’ cereal contains only 145 calories and 4.4g of protein. The protein enhanced cereal contains more calories at 182 per portion and 6g protein. So yes you are getting more protein of course, but the marginal gain in protein really isn’t worth the added calories and cost. That 1.4g of protein is not going to make a significant difference. You’d be better off having the cereal you want, and if you’re keen to increase protein levels then either add some Greek yoghurt instead milk, or have a snack of something that’s higher in protein later on (e.g a light mini babybel for 42 cals with 5g protein). The bonus of having the babybel or adding Greek yoghurt is that you’ll also get more fat which helps to keep you fuller for longer when combined with protein.

So if you’re a cereal lover then I wouldn’t waste your money or calories on these protein enhanced cereals (unless you actually enjoy the taste of them more of course). Either way read the labels rather than being swayed by the ‘protein’ label and make an informed choice xx 🤗

Nutrition and Calorie Tips

Lower Calorie Ice Cream Option

Dr Nancy P

Saturday night – movie, sofa and some ice cream – perfect right? We all feel the need to work our way through an entire tub of ice cream now and then – it’s natural, it’s human and it’s also damn tasty! But how about making a simple swap. Rather than working your way through 1,200 calories of Ben and Jerry’s (or other standard ice cream equivalent) , you could instead have 320 calories of Halo top (or one of the any other equivalent low cal ice cream brands available). But isn’t low calorie stuff loaded with sugar? No – it’s not actually! And it tastes amazing! 🍦

We don’t need to deny ourselves treats and nice tasting stuff just because we’re watching our calories – try making some swaps instead. If you’re an ice cream fan check out the Halo Top range of tubs and sticks (there are also supermarket own brand versions and other companies doing the same – in fact even Ben and Jerry’s do their own low cal flavours now!).

So you really can have your cake (*ice cream) and eat it! 🤗 xx

Nutrition and Calorie Tips

‘About a teaspoon…..’ 🥄

Dr Nancy P

‘About a teaspoon…..’ 🥄

If you’re trying to lose fat and tracking your calories it’s really important to be as accurate as you can and this is why. You could easily record the peanut butter that you have on your toast as a teaspoon’s worth… but how much is a teaspoon? Is it a level teaspoon? Is it a slightly heaped one? Is it a very heaped one (I can get A LOT of peanut butter on a teaspoon I assure you! 😋), is it the small spoon you have for stirring your coffee? Is it a baking measure?….etc etc

The problem with volumetric measures is they’re not very accurate. Now if you’re having something low calorie it probably won’t matter too much but something calorie dense like peanut butter really does matter, especially if you’re trying to maintain a moderate calorie deficit. Two teaspoons of peanut butter could be 158 cals or as much as 474 cals! That’s nearly 296 cals difference… you only need a 200-300 calorie daily deficit to see fat loss so you could wipe it out in one small spoonful! 😬

This is why I encourage my clients to weigh, in grams, rather than using measures like teaspoon or tablespoons. So if you’re trying to lose fat and tracking your calories have a go at weighing some of the foods you’ve been logging by tsp/tbsp and see how accurate you’ve actually been with those calories? You may be surprised! 😬

Xx