What to eat for healthy nutrition in the winter months
In winter days, when the cold truly makes itself felt, it is necessary to create a balanced eating pattern to protect our health and pay attention to the weight gain caused by the slowing metabolism during these months.
In the winter months, the body and metabolism go into self-protection mode and begin to function more slowly. The need to eat increases in winter, and a person feels the need to eat more carbohydrate-rich foods. Since sweating is also minimal, metabolic rate is at its lowest. For this reason, if care is not taken during this period, weight gain becomes inevitable.
Against the cold weather, the immune system inhibits fat burning in order to protect itself from illnesses (such as flu, colds, and bronchitis). In this case, it is necessary to strengthen the immune system a bit more in order to get through the winter season healthily. At the foundation of a strong defense mechanism lies sufficient and balanced nutrition.
A GOOD BREAKFAST IN THE MORNING IS IMPORTANT!
To protect against illness in winter days, it is necessary to start the day with a hearty breakfast. A solid breakfast also gets the metabolism working well.
Starting the day with a good breakfast will both preserve your resistance in cold weather, help you with weight control, and prevent your metabolic rate from slowing down.
STRENGTHEN YOUR IMMUNE SYSTEM
To protect against winter illnesses and strengthen our defense mechanism, sufficient intake of vitamin A and C is necessary. Winter vegetables and fruits will provide us with an adequate amount of vitamins A and C. Citrus fruits (orange, tangerine, grapefruit), carrots, kiwi, cruciferous vegetables (cauliflower, cabbage, broccoli, Brussels sprouts), and green leafy vegetables (parsley, cress, spinach) are foods rich in vitamins A and C. Grapefruit, cabbage, and parsley protect you from winter illnesses.
With both the shortening of days and the cooling of weather, physical activity decreases. As a result of decreased consumption of fibrous foods, constipation problems also appear. For this reason, emphasis should be placed on consuming dried legumes, whole grains (brown bread, bulgur, natural rice, natural noodles, whole wheat flour) — indispensable foods of the winter season — and particularly vegetables and fruits rich in vitamin C.
Another reason constipation is seen is insufficient water consumption. In the winter months, since sweating is minimal, thirst is not felt. Yet 40 ml of water per kilogram of body weight must absolutely be consumed. It should also not be forgotten that the tea and coffee we drink do not substitute for water.
EAT A BALANCED AND VARIED DIET
Healthy eating means consuming every food group that should be part of your diet on a rotating basis. In other words, it means staying away from a one-sided diet.
IF YOU DON'T LIKE IT, DON'T EAT IT
If you truly do not like a food, do not consume it. Because if we know how to listen to our body, it actually knows what is beneficial and what is harmful to it.
STAY AWAY FROM REFINED FOODS
Our digestive system cannot easily digest refined foods. When we say refined food, we mean processed foods. That is, we are talking about sugar beets being processed into white granulated/cube sugar; wheat ears being processed into snow-white flour; or overlooked alcohol and its derivatives.
Protein, vitamins, minerals, and fiber are found in the husk of grains. These substances are very important for healthy nutrition. The fiber in the husk of grain products traps the starch inside that converts into sugar, preventing blood sugar from rising rapidly and, consequently, preventing excessive insulin secretion. This way, the hunger pangs seen when consuming white flour products are eliminated.
AVOID SATURATED FATS AND CHOOSE THE RIGHT FATS
You should consume fat only to the extent you can digest. Unfortunately, many foods contain intense amounts of saturated fat. Red meat in particular is rich in saturated fat, so we should reduce our consumption of red meat. We should also pay attention to dishes with intense fat content. For example, one serving of French fries meets half of our daily fat requirement.