Tag: healthy foods

Recipes

Delicious, healthy pud

Dr Nancy P

This is one of my favourite puds. It’s creamy and sweet and perfect for combatting sugar cravings – especially after dinner. It’s also really quick and easy to prepare. If you have any stewed fruit this is also a great addition too!

Calories vary depending on what fruit you use but you’re looking at roughly 250 – 300 cals.

You will need:

Half a bowlful of mixed fruit – I like strawberries, raspberries and pineapple

A large dollop of greek yoghurt (or non dairy yoghurt) (approx 150g)

1 tsp peanut butter (15g)

Sprinkling of Rice Krispies or some seeds and nuts

Drizzle of maple syrup (or sweetener of choice) – if more sweetness required

Stewed fruit (optional)

Chop the fruit and pop in the bowl.

Add the dollop of greek yoghurt and drizzle the peanut butter over. If you’ve got any stewed fruit then add a dollop – I cooked up a batch of apple, red currant and blackberries which is great to add to desserts and porridge etc.

Sprinkle the rice krispies or nuts/seeds and if using then add the sweetener (I don’t think it really needs it to be honest!).

Enjoy!

🙂 xx

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: Put your positive pants on

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: Put your positive pants on 🤗

Do you ever wake up feeling stressed about the day ahead. Stressing about the day before it’s even happened is very common but a a recent study has shown that starting your day this way can actually impact on your brain function and performance for the rest of the day

So waking up on the wrong side of bed isn’t just a saying. The study in the Journal of Gerontology found that the more participants anticipated a stressful day, the worse their brain function and memory was later in the day – whether the actual day turned out to be stressful or not. Our ability to anticipate and prepare for things – a critical survival feature humans have developed, can be great to help prepare for and even prevent certain events. But it can also be harmful to your brain function, memory, decision making and performance. This can in turn make you even more stressed. Not to mention the increased levels of stress hormones released as you anticipate the stress you expect to encounter that day. It has also been linked to increased calorie consumption and fat deposition around the belly (due to increased cortisol).

So what can you do about it? Well it’s time to put your positive pants on! The study also showed that taking some time out in the morning to focus on more positive thoughts, or 5 – 10 mins of meditation/mindfulness practices can dramatically reduce the anticipate stress of the day ahead.

So if you wake up expecting the day to be stressful that’s the time to try something simple like some deep breathing exercises before you start your day, or try to list 3 positive things about the day to come (no matter how small). Try setting an alarm on your phone to remind you to do these things so you don’t even have to remember to do it.

Put those positive pants on and improve your day!

Happy Tuesday 🤗

xx

Recipes

Roasted butternut and apple soup

Dr Nancy P

It’s getting to that time of year when we want to curl up on our sofas under a blanket and fill up on warming foods.

This soup will definitely hit the spot when you are feeling a bit autumnal. Roasting the butternut squash and the apples adds a lovely rich flavour and the sweetness of them both compliment each other brilliantly!

This soup is dressed with the seeds from the butternut so you don’t waste anything either!

You can substitute any sort of pumpkin for the squash too if you prefer.

This will serve 3 – 4 people.

You will need:

1 Butternut squash (approx 1.5kg in size before peeling etc)

2 Apples (Braeburn work best)

2 large white Onions

2 sticks of Celery

1/2 tbsp dried Thyme

1 tsp ground Cumin

1/4 tsp ground Allspice

1 litre Vegetable stock

500ml Water

Salt and Pepper to taste

For the topping:

Seeds from the Butternut squash

1 tsp Olive oil

1/2 tsp Cumin seeds

1/4 tsp ground Paprika

Preheat the oven to 200 C.

Cut the butternut in half and scoop out the seeds (keep the seeds for the topping). Peel and cut into chunks. Peel, core and chop the apples into wedges. Place on a baking tray and drizzle with olive oil and season. Place in the oven  and roast for 20 – 25 mins or until tender and golden.

Slice the onion and celery finely and pop in to a large pan with a little olive oil. Saute gently for about 10 minutes until soft. Add all the spices and saute for another minute. Add the butternut and apple and stir gently for a minute or 2. Then add the vegetable stock and water and bring to the boil. Allow to simmer for 20 minutes.

Let it cool for a while and then pop in a blender and blitz it (do this very carefully if still warm – it may be worth doing it in 2 batches).

Take the seeds that were removed from the squash and toss in the olive oil and topping spices. Spread on to some baking parchment and place in the oven at 200 C for 5 – 10 minutes until they are starting to turn brown.

Pop a serving of soup in a bowl, sprinkle with the seeds and enjoy with some toast.

(This post was originally published on pureformfitnesskitchen.com)

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: How to curb sugar cravings

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: How to curb sugar cravings 🍬

Although as I said last week, sugar isn’t the devil, and won’t make you fat (excess cals do), those sugar cravings can still lead you to over eat. Sugar cravings can hit even when you’ve had a satisfying meal, so here are some foods to help curb those cravings.

#1 Fruit

Fresh fruit – specifically strawberries, raspberries, pineapples etc are a great option. They’re low cal, and contain fibre (unlike fruit juice) which slows the absorption of the fruit sugars. Have them with greek yoghurt after dinner for a creamy snack, or blend with a frozen banana for an ice cream like dessert!

# Almonds

Full of protein and fats, they not only fill you up but help to control blood sugar so can reduce cravings. They keep you fuller for longer meaning you’re less likely to have an energy slump and reach for the junk.

# Pumpkin seeds

Rich in magnesium, as well as protein, fibre and fats, these are a great option if you’re craving chocolate. Often chocolate cravings can be linked to lower magnesium levels. Toast them with cinnamon for a tasty snack.

# Greek yoghurt

Rich in protein and good fats – again this will keep you fuller. It can help to support your gut’s natural bacteria, as recent studies have shown some sugar cravings are linked to imbalanced gut microbiomes. Plus it feels like a treat as it’s creamy and decadent. Mix with berries for the win!

# Apples or celery with peanut butter

A combo of fibre in the celery or apple, and the protein and fat in the peanut butter make this a great option to help beat cravings. The apple sweetness will help too. Particularly good as a mid afternoon snack or before an evening workout.

So the perfect way to help those cravings is probably my current favourite dessert – a big bowl of berries and pineapple, a dollop of greek yoghurt, tsp of peanut butter and then a sprinkle of seeds and nuts (not too many mind!) – smooth, creamy, sweet and a little crunch from the nuts – perfect!

Try it and see what you think!

Happy Tuesday 🤗

xx

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: Sugar doesn’t make you fat

Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: Sugar doesn’t make you fat 🍪

Sugar has been vilified as the main cause of obesity, with people claiming it results in more fat storage than any other nutrient and that it alters your metabolism. This is simply not true. Sugar is a carbohydrate and on it’s own it contains 4 cals per gram, and no other nutrients or fibre etc that help keep you full. So it’s true that sugar won’t fill you up, and that of course could lead to excessive consumption of more sugar or other foods, but the same applies to any food. You may not feel full but you’re still making a conscious choice to eat more.

100g of sugar alone is 400 calories. However if you consumed 100g worth of sugar inside other foods (e.g. chocolate, fruit, bread, ice cream etc) then you’d be eating well over 1200 cals. Only 400 of those calories are sugar, the other 800 are non-sugar calories within food. Many high sugar foods are high in overall calories anyway – a cookie isn’t bad just because it’s “full of sugar”, it’s also the large amount of fat calories too.

A calorie surplus is what causes you to gain weight. It’s not the sugar in the food, it’s the total calories. The ratio of sugar to other nutrients does impact on food choice (you choose things because they taste good) and because those foods often leave you feeling less full you’re then likely to eat more too. But it isn’t the sugar causing you to gain weight. Eat too much of anything and you will put on fat. In fact a recent study of people who were assumed to be “naturally skinny” actually found that despite some of the participants living off sugary foods they were still lean – why? because they weren’t at a calorie surplus.

So yes, eating or drinking sugar can contribute to weight gain, and it can certainly make it harder to stick to a daily calorie goal, but this is in conjunction with a whole host of nutritional, behaviour and psychological variables that all affect how many TOTAL calories you consume. Sugar itself is not the devil it’s made out to be!

Happy Tuesday 🤗

Xx