healthy foods – Page 19 – Every Step Fitness

Ice creams / Lollies for 100 cals or less … 🍦

The weather has been extremely warm lately so Ice creams and lollies have certainly formed a large part of mine and my client’s diets! There’s a perception that ice creams / lollies are ‘bad’ and something that is a bit ‘naughty’ so if you’re trying to lose weight you might deny yourself these cooling treats believing them to be ‘bad’ (aka high calorie). However, there’s no reason you have to give up ice creams and ice lollies to lose weight as it ultimately comes down to whether you’re in a calorie deficit.

Obviously there are many frozen desserts out there which are high calorie and some can be 300 cals or more. So if they’re on top of your main meals then you might end up racking up unwanted calories. However in this weather everyone needs a cold snack or dessert right? So if you do fancy an ice cream or lolly, but want to stay within your calories then here are a selection of lower calorie options at 100 cals or less. This list is by no means exhaustive – but it’s just a range of the options out there.

Oppo Salted Caramel balls 22 cals each

Mini milk 32 cals

Rocket lolly 39 cals

Mini twister lolly 39 cals

Fruit pastille lolly 57 cals

Little moons mochi balls 70 cals each

Fab lolly 75 cals

Regular twister lolly 76 cals

Jude mini ice cream tubes 70

Jude mini ice creams 94 cals

Exotic Solero lolly 98 cals

Calipo Lolly 100 cals

So you can fill up on ice lollies to stay cool this summer without worrying it’s going to derail your progress!

Enjoy 🤗

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: Emotional Eating

June 17, 2025June 10, 2025 Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: Emotional Eating 🍫

You might think you just need more willpower to stop emotional eating or that once you lose the weight, everything will click into place. The truth is emotional eating isn’t about control. It’s about unmet needs and unaddressed feelings. Many of us est not out of hunger, but to cope with stress, boredom, loneliness, anger, fatigue. And it doesn’t always look like the classic ‘crying into a tub of ice cream’ scenario. Often it’s more subtle such as:
– Snacking when you’re overwhelmed
– Eating late at night to fill an emotional gap
– Reaching for food just because you’re tired

These patterns can become habits, and over time, they build up creating a pattern that feels hard to break.

Emotional eating is a spectrum. Whether it’s the occasional stress snack or something more persistent, the common thread is using food to soothe emotions.

So what can you do?

Instead of relying on willpower, focus on building awareness. Ask yourself – What am I really feeling right now? Learn to connect with your emotions before turning to food. Create strategies like journaling, walking, or talking to a friend etc that help you meet emotional needs without raiding the fridge.

Just like adjusting calories when weight loss plateaus, emotional eating requires us to check in, reassess, and get curious about our habits and pattern, not punish ourselves for them.

Awareness is the first step toward change.

Happy Tuesday 🤗

Nutrition and Calorie Tips

How to get bikini ready..

June 11, 2025June 3, 2025 Dr Nancy P

How to get bikini ready.. 👙

Summer holidays are on the horizon and already people are talking about wanting to get bikini body ready… so here’s my top tips for getting a bikini body! You probably assume you need to lose weight, cut out food groups and foods you enjoy, live on salads, do loads of workouts etc…

Nope – it’s a very simple 2 step process to getting your bikini body.
Step 1 – have a body ✅
Step 2 – put a bikini on it !

Ta da!

Now I realise it’s actually not that simple – and that wanting to look a certain way in your swimwear is totally valid. If you want to lose weight to feel more comfortable when you’re on the beach then that’s great – go for it! However whether you prefer a bikini, a swimsuit, a swim dress , a tankini, a sarong, T-shirt and shorts… whatever.. you’re entitled to wear whatever you like however you like. You deserve to enjoy the sunshine regardless of your shape or size. You don’t have to lose weight to do that! Find a style you like and rock it!

Happy summer!

Tuesday Tip

Tuesday Tip: Why weight loss plateaus

June 10, 2025June 2, 2025 Dr Nancy P

Tuesday Tip: Why weight loss plateaus 📈

Usually a few months into a new diet (or eating regime) we start to see plateaus – this is despite people claiming they are still eating the same amount (at a calorie deficit) and exercising the same. Why?

It could be that you’ve lost so much that your caloric requirements have dropped slightly and therefore you need to adjust your calorie goals, but there’s another more common reason.

A couple of recent studies found that as weight (fat) loss dropped participants subconsciously increased their calorie intake. For every 1kg of fat lost, they were consuming an extra 100 calories per day, without realising they were doing it. This is due to increased hunger in response to weight loss, and as the kgs drop, the extra calories sneak back in. So after losing 3-4kg that’s an extra 300-400 cals a day which puts you back at maintenance calories, stalling weight loss.

Another study also found that for every 1kg lost participants expended 20 – 30 cals less energy per day. This is a subconscious reduction in NEAT (non-exercise activity thermogenesis) such as standing less, walking less etc and a decrease in bodily functions e.g. blinking less, breathing slower etc

Over the course of several months, with a fat loss of say 4kg you could be unknowingly consuming an extra 400 cals, and burning 120 cals less, that means an extra 520 cals a day which wipes out your deficit, can stall any fat loss and even cause weight regain.

So what can you do?

Usually a few months in, with fat loss going well, people go back to eyeballing portion sizes and that’s where those extra calories will sneak in from slightly larger portions, an extra 5g here and there etc so I encourage my clients to go back to basics and measure portions. Also be mindful of extra mouthfuls of things you’re not tracking (grabbing the odd handful of cereal, crisp, etc).

Focus on more filling foods to help combat the hunger too – foods high in fibre, protein and good fats.

In terms of energy expenditure – try to be as active as possible – add a few more steps to your day for example, be mindful of standing more than sitting etc.

Happy Tuesday 🤗

Nutrition and Calorie Tips

‘High protein Babybel? Must be the best one…’

June 4, 2025June 2, 2025 Dr Nancy P

‘High protein Babybel? Must be the best one…’🧀

I often talk about marketing when it comes to the foods we eat and protein is often something that’s used to market products.

This is a great example – three types of Babybel. All small, all cheese, all decent snacks, but one is branded ‘High Protein’ with bold black packaging. So it must be the healthiest and best right?

Not necessarily!

‘Protein’ Babybel: 48 cals, 5.2g protein

Light Babybel: 42 cals, 5g protein

Original Babybel: 59 cals, 4.4g protein

So despite being marketed as a ‘protein’ has just 0.2g more protein than the light version and 6 more calories. It’s a minor difference, but branding it ‘high protein’ makes it feel like a superior option. In reality, they’re all pretty similar – and the light version is arguably better in terms of protein per calorie.

In this example it’s not really a major issue – they’re all pretty similar calorie wise but often you’ll find the ‘high protein’ options may be higher in calorie and not that high in protein really. Brands know that protein sells. Stick ‘protein’ on a label and it taps into everything we associate with health, fitness, and weight loss. But if you take two almost identical products and just call one ‘high protein’ most people will gravitate toward it, even if the numbers don’t back it up.

In this example all of these option are great snack choices but don’t let flashy packaging override common sense. Always flip the product over and read the label. Don’t pay more in calories or cash for an illusion of health. Don’t let marketing labels decide for you. Read. Compare. Choose based on facts, not hype.

Knowledge is power!

🤗Xx