Winter Weight how to keep it off
The dreaded Winter weight, how easily it can pile on during the colder months, on average about 4kgs! But why is it so?
Naturally, we move less during Winter. Motivation to exercise is greatly diminished & the daylight hours are much shorter so we tend to feel more fatigued & have less get-up-and-go than we do during warmer weather. This means that less energy is burned.
Read the full blog from our resident nutritionists Flora Nutritional Therapy
Cold weather also brings cravings for rich, heavy foods as our body requires more energy to help keep us warm. It naturally wants to pile on some extra pounds to insulate internal organs
& ward of hypothermia.The benefits are that a few extra pounds will help keep your body’s core warm & in turn you will feel warmer, but there are better options to maintaining body
heat.
Another reason we tend to pile on weight is because our vitamin D levels are far lower in Winter due to the lack of sunlight. We are cooped up indoors on cloudy, drizzly days so the opportunity for a vitamin D boost is far less likely. Getting less vitamin D than your body requires has been linked to weight gain.
While upping your vitamin D levels will not help you lose weight, it may keep you from piling on the extra kilos.
So how can we keep the weight off?
Firstly, you must keep moving. Move more, get your blood circulating, burn the extra energy you’re consuming & push yourself to do it. You’ll feel warmer, lighter & it’ll also help you ward off Winter blues. Build muscle, which will keep your body warm, instead of relying on the extra body fat.
Secondly, be mindful of how much you are eating. A lot of people eat far more than their body actually needs.
Food becomes a means to escape boredom or low mood, rather than a source of sustenance. Eat when you are hungry & your stomach grumbles, not just because it’s time to eat.
When you do eat, eat less & eat seasonally. Serve meals on a smaller dinner plate & your brain will think that you’ve eaten more than you actually have. The bigger the plate, the more you’ll naturally pile onto it & the more you’ll unnecessarily eat.
Being mindful of how much you are eating also means understanding that making chocolate mousse out of avocados & chocolate brownies out of sweet potatoes may be the healthier dessert option, but it is still a volume of food that you are eating. So it is still just a ‘sometimes food’.
Look at the volume of food you are eating, not just nutrient level.
Finally, increase your vitamin D intake. Natural sources of vitamin D include fatty fish such as tuna & salmon, beef liver, grass fed butter & egg yolks.
You can also learn the secret to harvesting your very own vitamin D in ‘Almanac of Health’, available for purchase from floranutritionaltherapy.com.au.
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