Eating Healthy over Winter

Eating in a healthy way over winter and the cooler months is sometimes easier said than done. As the days and nights start to cool, our appetites can often start to crave larger meal sizes and comfort food which might not always be the healthiest option.

Here are our best tips for staying healthy over Autumn and Winter:

Maintain your 30 minutes of exercise each day:

This 30 minutes doesn’t have to be a hardcore workout. But incorporating a gentle 30 minutes of exercise into each day is important for our health and wellbeing.  This can be indoors if need be, or outside in the fresh air. A gentle walk, stretching, or a light workout as guided by a physio, doctor or personal trainer are all great ways to get that heart rate elevated and keeping healthy over winter.

Manage your Portion Sizes

Over winter, it can be easy to increase the size of your meal portions without even realising. Choose a healthy amount of all the food groups or look at using portion controlled meals such as our pre-cooked meals.

Try not to overfill your plate and if you do want to have seconds, wait approximately 20 minutes before going back. This gives your stomach time to report back to your brain and let it know if it is full or not.

Winter Warmers

Good for the body. Good for the soul. Over winter, keep your body warm with yummy winter meals like casseroles and soups. Nourishing and flavoursome, a good soup will be packed with veggies to keep our immunity up over winter but also warm us up. We recommend adding in some mushrooms to a soup or casserole. They are a great addition to any winter diet, because of the antiviral and antibacterial properties they possess, which fight infection. (We have a delicious range of soups on our menu that are perfect for Winter).

By filling up on traditional healthy, winter warmers, the temptation to stock up on chocolate and snacks later in the afternoon/evening is less likely.

Make Seasonal Choices

Over winter, our fruits and vegetable season changes. To keep costs down and maximise flavours, choose seasonal fruits and vegetables. Kiwifruit, mandarins, grapefruit and oranges are all seasonal, tasty and in season over winter. If you are purchasing out of season produce, it will not only not taste as good, but more likely to be significantly more expensive than what is in season.

Rug Up & Get Outside when you can

Keep an eye on the weather forecast and if it’s not raining, get outside. Rug up and head outside for some fresh air and Vitamin D. Once you get moving you’ll warm up. When you’re out and about, try to find ways to get incidental exercise into your day. Walk or cycle to the local shops rather than driving the car and always park the car further away from where you are going so you have to walk a little bit further.

Drink Enough Water

Try to drink at least two litres of water a day. Air conditioning and heaters can be very dehydrating and it is important to drink plenty of water all year round for good health. Often you think you’re hungry when really you’re just thirsty!