The Winter Food Guide

Winter is almost here. And apart from the nice cold weather that makes us pull out our woollens, she brings her share of niggles. Colds, coughs and a whole host of winter-related illnesses try to enter our lives and if we neglect our diet and our health, we can fall ill.

During winter, our Serotonin levels also fall due to limited sun exposure. And low Seratonin levels are directly linked to depression and unreasonable food cravings.

The Warming Foods
There are certain foods that have a warming effect on the body. Including these foods in our everyday diet would help us stay healthy and active during the cold winter months. These foods include winter vegetables from the roots and cruciferous vegetables. Other foods, more familiar as warming foods, include hot peppers like black pepper and chilli pepper, ginger, parsley, honey, fennel, dill, cinnamon and nutmeg.

Immunity Boosters
Strengthening your immunity helps shorten the duration of infections. Vitamin C rich foods like gooseberry, guava, pepper, dark green leafy vegetables and lemon help do that.

Increasing the intake of fresh fruits and vegetables is essential to get favourable nutrients; most important among these are broccoli, cabbage, sweet potato, spinach and mustard greens. Oysters, fish, poultry, milk and the untreated cereals and grains are good sources of zinc which a well-known immunity booster.

Probiotics are important too. They help the intestine stay healthy and support gut health.

With the weather being cold, people tend to not feel thirsty and hence don’t drink enough water. This can lead to dehydration. Fresh mint tea, ginger tea or hot cider are excellent choices, but remember to keep drinking normal water too.

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