So, let's talk about what you need to eat in the extreme cold.
In winter, the body often "asks" for meat and rich soups. Do not deny yourself such desires, looking at different diets: make an amendment to the fact that most of them are developed by representatives of warm countries. And in the cold, a lot of energy is expended by the body to warm itself, and energy reserves need to be restored - increasing the amount of fats and proteins of animal origin in the menu. They not only help to accumulate heat, but also contain fatty acids - natural antidepressants, which are indispensable in regulating the work of the gastrointestinal tract and useful for the cardiovascular system. The meat broth also contains the amino acid cysteine, which is involved in strengthening immunity. And for chill chicken broth will have a therapeutic effect.
However, not only meat gives us the desired heat. Followers of eastern medicine - adherents of vegetarianism - do not tire of repeating about the diversity of products of vegetable origin, warming us in the cold. So, Ayurveda recommends warming spices more often in cold: black and red pepper, cinnamon, ginger. The latter, apart from heat, will give the body and a perceptible charge of energy, especially not superfluous at the end of winter. Heat will give the body and various nuts - especially almonds and cashews, as well as pistachios and walnuts, necessarily in toasted form.
To warm the body from the inside are capable dishes from potatoes, tomatoes, carrots, pumpkins, greens, peas, and undeservedly forgotten turnips. And for breakfast on a frosty day, cereal - wheaten, buckwheat or gerbil. Oatmeal is as close as possible to the nutritional value and content of vitamins A, E, B1, B2, B6 and amino acids to breast milk, and the biotin contained in it eliminates dryness and peeling of the skin and keeps the hair. So oatmeal flakes can be used externally - as face masks.
You can add nuts and sweet dried fruits to the porridge: raisins, figs, dates, dried apricots, and the same spices: ginger, cinnamon, cardamom.
Ironically, dairy products and citrus in winter it is better not to get involved, because the acids contained in them in abundance, act on the body cooling. So it turns out that our habit of wintering on tangerines with oranges only takes away the already needed heat from the body. In strong colds it is better to give preference to more sweet fruits: pears and bananas, not sour apples, grapes. Perhaps, there is one exception in this list - a garnet, which improves the thermoregulation of the body, despite its sour taste. The companion of winter is the deficiency of the "hormone of happiness" of serotonin, for the production of which light is needed. Chocolate and bananas help to cope with the winter depressions.
Do you want to protect yourself in addition to frost? Take in the morning one tablespoon of honey with a pinch of black pepper - unless, of course, you do not have allergies to these ingredients. If you have increased acidity of gastric juice, honey is recommended to take dissolved in warm water.
Tea in frosts is better to drink black - in comparison with green it has more expressed warming properties. Herbal teas are also useful, because almost all herbs, except for various types of mint, contribute to warming the body. Again, when brewing tea, do not neglect spices to taste: cinnamon, cloves, ginger or cardamom.
To the organism in the cold normally functioned, it needs both vegetable and animal fats - energy suppliers. Their daily norm is 30 g, and they can be distributed approximately like this: fats of animal origin - grams 10 (butter, dairy products, if desired - a pair of slices of fat), vegetable origin - 20 g (sunflower, olive, corn or linseed oil) .
About sour-milk products in the winter do not forget: it is milk fats that are easily absorbed, and milk products also support the intestinal microflora and have a general strengthening effect on the body.
Proteins of animal and plant origin - a building material for muscles and protecting the body from infections - need to alternate. A lot of vegetable protein is found in corn, beans and peas, animals - in meat, fish, eggs, cottage cheese and cheese. Just do not abuse: excess proteins, like carbohydrates and fats, are stored in fat. Depending on sex, age and activity, you need to consume 70-100 g of protein.
In winter, it is recommended to eat five different fruits and vegetables a day, preferring those that are colored yellow or orange. It can be fresh and frozen fruits, vegetables and berries. Berries with a high content of vitamin C - currants, cranberries, sea buckthorn, rosehips, cloudberries or kalina - can be for the winter and wipe with sugar, but not cook, and then store in a cool place. Dried fruits also contain a lot of vitamins and trace elements, are useful in the prevention of constipation and are simply tasty. From berries you can prepare the sea, fill them with boiling water and let it brew for 6 hours. It is better to add honey instead of sugar, it is necessary after cooling - boiling water destroys the valuable substances contained in honey.
In winter, the body requires a lot of vitamin C, which can supply and ordinary sauerkraut - 150 grams of it contains a daily dose of vitamin C, and vitamins B6, K, folic acid and lactic acid.
Skin in winter suffers from frost and wind, it needs vitamins A and E. The first is contained in carrots - to better assimilate it into dishes add something fat - sour cream or vegetable oil, which also contains vitamin E. On the day, it is recommended to use two tablespoons of oil - your figure does not hurt.
To replenish the deficiency of vitamin D, necessary for bones and produced by the body under the influence of sunlight (and in winter it is extremely small) will help eggs and dairy products, but mainly cod liver.
Magnesium and calcium, iron and copper, as well as zinc and selenium (it also refers to natural antidepressants) are involved in strengthening immunity and maintaining beauty. Remember that you should eat beef, seafood, avocado, legumes, sesame seeds, sunflower and pumpkin seeds, figs, olives, dried fruits, leafy greens and broccoli - sources of these minerals and trace elements.
All this allows you to keep a high-grade diet even in the winter and will help you to endure severe colds, preserving health and activity.