With the advent of winter, its nights become long and cold, and many people try to pass the time by eating excessively, far from proper healthy means.
Dr. Mukhtar Fatih Bey Deli, a pediatrician at Medical Park Hospital in the Turkish state of Izmir, provides a set of medical tips for a healthy, healthy nutrition during the long winter nights.
“During the long winter nights, most people eat more, and as temperatures drop, the incidence of flu, sore throats and other diseases increases,” says B Daily.
"Therefore, it is necessary to eat healthy foods that strengthen the immune system in the body to resist winter diseases, and to warm the body and provide it with energy without resorting to foods rich in fat," he added.
He points out that "usually, intimate, warm family sessions in front of the TV are pleasant on winter nights. Therefore, it is necessary to eat special foods to obtain energy and make us feel warm to overcome the cold weather."
Be Daily explains that because of the long evening hours in winter, you have room to eat more food throughout the day, and thus a person is prone to obesity and fat accumulation significantly.
Here are the tips given by the doctor:
Eat foods rich in fiber that require more energy, to be broken down by the body.
This energy helps to warm the body, increases its metabolic processes, and prevents constipation due to lack of movement.
Eat whole foods in all their forms, such as fresh vegetables and fruits rich in vitamin C, and eat lean meats.
Moderation in eating and drinking in all its forms, especially at night, eating slowly and chewing it well, and not eating a lot of small and quick snacks.
Weight must be monitored permanently, to avoid weight gain due to lack of sweating and lack of movement in winter, and thus not to burn any calories compared to summer.
Eating foods rich in vitamin D to compensate for the lack of exposure to sunlight, because its deficiency in the body leads to storing larger amounts of fat, drinking sufficient amounts of water daily and not waiting to feel thirsty, people rarely feel thirsty during the winter.
Eat small amounts of vegetable oil during cooking, instead of ghee or butter, and eat hot soup at the beginning of the meal to give warmth to the body and a feeling of satiety, and make it ready to receive less food.
Eat 3 main meals, make sure to eat breakfast and two snacks to avoid feeling hungry and cold, maintain blood sugar level, and eat complex carbohydrates such as whole grains, white beans, oats, quinoa and others.
Focus on exercise because it helps burn calories, as not exercising and staying in front of TV screens because of the cold weather leads to eating more food.
Also, in the winter, the secretion of the hormone melatonin increases, which causes a feeling of drowsiness, which leads to an increase in appetite.
Adequate comfortable sleep during the night that a person needs between 7 and 9 hours at night, and controlling psychological and physical pressures that predict future weight gain.
To avoid wrong eating habits associated with the winter season, you should avoid eating light and entertaining meals shortly after the main meals, avoid increasing the amount of meals eaten, avoid sweets rich in sugar, avoid eating shortly before bedtime, and avoid lack of movement and excessive sleep.
The Turkish doctor concluded by saying, "Studies have shown that the body's susceptibility to obesity increases with the onset of winter by two kilograms due to the increase in the quantities of food eaten compared to the rest of the seasons, and weight gain has nothing to do with the winter itself, but with our different behaviors and daily habits in it."