FITNESS ARTICLES

We all know how easy it is to eat right during the summer when we have an abundance of fresh products available. But things change a little during the cold winter, when we don’t find so many fresh vegetables and those juicy rolls of corn are just a memory.

This doesn’t mean, however, that we should drop our healthy eating habits when the temperature drops.

We still need our daily ratio of fruits and vegetables, even if it a cold winter. Everyone should make an effort to include fruits and vegetables at every meal. Since the options are limited during the winter, now it would be a good time to get creative by trying new recipes.

During the winter you can choose from a large variety of root vegetables, such as turnips, rutabagas, brussels sprouts and more.

Apples and pumpkins are the foundation of a variety of comforting, home made desserts.

Compared with the other seasons of the year, winter is a time for being inside. And it is not just about staying inside; it is about staying around the savory flavors of a kitchen in full use.

Because it is colder outside, we may need extra calories to stay warm. There is only one reason for this and this reason is warming up.

Foods that make you feel warmer.
Nothing could sound more satisfying on a brisk winter day than a bowl of hot soup.

The idea of your oven compartments and stovetop burners being more active in the winter is an idea in keeping with this focus on inner warmth.

Winter can be seen as a season of celebrating the warmth of eating.

Of course, it is not only the heat of the oven that feels so good during the cold winter. There are also certain warming foods that are a great choice of this season. In some traditions, like that of Oriental medicine, warming foods include foods that take longer to grow. This category includes most root vegetables and most cruciferous vegetables.

Compared with leafy vegetables that tend to grow much faster, the root vegetables and cruciferous ones make perfect winter choices.

We all know about the warming properties of certain foods, such as hot peppers and many others.

More frequent uses of these seasonings can also make good sense during the colder winter months because of their properties.

Smaller, denser, and more compacted food
During the winter, we all tend to go inside, in a warm place and get more compacted in our movements. It is the same with food. The smaller, denser, and more compacted foods are a great choice for the cold season.

In the popular approaches, winter is the time to store up on heavier, high-calorie foods.

Whole grains that include the nutrient dense bran and germ are a perfect choice for your meals.

Seeds are another good example of compacted winter food, especially sunflower and sesame seeds, which are considered especially warming in some traditions.

Dried beans would also fit into this category of smaller, dense, and compacted foods.

During the winter, we shouldn’t forget about essential nutrients also.

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Essential nutrients are nutrients that our bodies cannot produce on their own.

The way in which these nutrients are introduced in our body may have a great impact on how well they are used.

Nutrients do not work alone, but synergistically with other nutrients. The benefit of deriving nutrients from eating fresh whole foods is that they provide not only an abundance of individual nutrients but also the variety necessary for their optimal function.

The essential nutriments include alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, biotin, calcium, carotenoids, chromium, coenzyme Q, copper, enzymes, fiber, glutamine, iodine, iron, lipoic acid, lutein and zeaxanthin, magnesium, manganese, omega 3 fatty acids, potassium, protein, selenium, vitamin A, vitamin B12, vitamin B6, zinc, and many others.

During the cold winter season, all these essential nutriments should be included in our everyday meals for our body to work at its full capacity.

Here are some tips of what you should do to stay warm in the winter from the nutritional point of view. First of all, you should have at least one hot meal a day.

Secondly, you mustn’t forget to have hot drinks during the day and especially a hot drink before going to bed.

You could also keep a flask with a hot drink in it by your bed in case you feel cold at night.

Another tip to stay warm during the cold winter would be to eat something from each of the five main groups of food every day.

The main five groups of food are as follows:

• Group one includes bread, cereal, potatoes, and pastas.
• Group two includes fresh fruit and vegetables.
• Group three includes milk and dairy products.
• Group four includes meat, fish, eggs, beans, etc.
• Group five includes foods containing fat and sugar.

Another advice you should take into consideration would be to keep a stock of food from each of these five groups in case you will not be able to get to the shops because of the bad weather.

Here are some very simple yet effective ideas:
You can keep a pint of milk and a loaf of bread in the freezer in case you cannot go out because of the cold or the snow.

You can also always keep fresh soup in the freezer and whenever you feel cold, just put it on the cooker and have a nice hot soup.

Also, home made soup is a good and tasty way to help you eat your vegetable portions every day.

Other good store cupboard foods that are useful to have at all times but especially during the winter:

• Dried milk
• Breakfast cereal or porridge
• Tins of sardines, pilchards, tuna or salmon
• Tinned fruit (in natural juice) and vegetables
• Tins of corned beef or ham
• Baked beans or spaghetti
• Instant mash, rice and pasta
• Crackers, crisp breads or oatcakes
• Malted drink, cocoa or Bovril
• Long life fruit juice
• Tinned or packet soup
• Gravy, honey, jam, pickles and sauces
• Nuts and dried fruit
• Peanut butter

You must remember that during the winter it is very important to eat well, because this is a vital part of staying warm and healthy during the cold season.

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