Everyone knows that in winter we often recover much more than in the summer. The blame for this is the scanty diet (there are not enough fruits, berries and fresh vegetables), a less mobile way of life (try moving here when you have five layers of warm clothing), and the New Year holidays leave their imprint on our figure. How to become slimmer in the cold season? For this specially designed winter diet!
The winter diet was developed by Russian nutritionists in 2011. Experts have noticed that the vast majority of diets, popular among our compatriots, are completely inappropriate for our climate, and especially for the winter season. After all, the diet that was widely spread today was mainly developed by American, Japanese and Israeli scientists. And the climate in these countries differs significantly from Russia. So our ladies are forced to sit on diets, based on a set of products that are quite difficult to find in our regions during the cold season.
For example, in most diets it is proposed to consume a lot of fresh fruits and vegetables. But on supermarket shelves in winter we have only "rubber" cucumbers, "plastic" tomatoes and a completely tasteless strawberry. And there is nothing useful in them: no taste, no flavor, no vitamins. Therefore, such products can not be taken as a basis for a diet, if you live in Russia and are going to lose weight in the winter.
In addition, in the harsh Russian winters, eating only scanty lettuce leaves is simply dangerous for health. Not for nothing in our climate so popular are the rich meat soups. But they, of course, will not lose weight, but the caloric content of the diet in winter should still be above the miserable 1200 kcal, as recommended by fashionable diets today.
The basis of the winter diet
The main principle of a diet in the cold season is to include hot dishes in the diet. And this means that the food, based on some apples and salads leave for the summer. And now it's time for hot dishes.
Also, the basis of the diet is a balanced combination of products that will strengthen the protective properties of the body and prevent the accumulation of excess fatty deposits.
An important role in the winter diet is played by a psychological attitude. After all, we often become fat in the winter, because we believe that in the cold season you need to eat more to keep warm. But the state of the organism depends to a large extent not on the volume of food eaten, but on its quality. Therefore, you need to convince your body that a healthy and balanced diet will contribute to both heat retention in the body and weight loss.
It must be remembered that the winter diet is not designed for express weight loss. It involves slow and systematic dropping of weight, about 2-3 kg per month. Specialists-nutritionists consider this reduction in body volume ideal. After all, in this case, the body is not under stress from extremely low intake of nutrients, which means that the weight lost will not return quickly after the diet is canceled.
The big plus of the winter diet is that it does not have very strict food restrictions (under the ban only alcohol and sugar in its pure form), the food is quite varied and balanced. It is best to eat in small fractions: in small portions, but often, 5-6 times a day. In this case, the excess fat layer will not form and you will not feel hungry.
Products for the winter diet
When choosing products for the winter diet, consider first of all seasonality and the balance of proteins, fats and carbohydrates in them.
Proteins
In winter we often stay in a pre-depressive state, feel depressed, the mood is often not joyful. This is largely due to low solar activity and cold temperatures outside the window. To raise the mood and improve your well-being will help the substances phenylin and tryptophin, which are contained in protein foods. These substances contribute to the accelerated production of endorphins ("happiness hormones"), which increase mood, relieve feelings of depression and control our appetite. Where is the protein containing the most useful components? In the meat of chicken, turkey, fish and seafood, mushrooms, beans (beans and peas), soy, buckwheat, milk, cheese, cottage cheese and eggs.
Carbohydrates
In winter, our body lacks a substance called serotonin catastrophically. It is synthesized in sunlight, which is very small in the cold season. We replenish the shortage of this substance by consuming various cakes, pastries, chocolates and sweets. But the sugar contained in all these delicacies provokes not only the production of seratonin, but also the excessive accumulation of fat in the body. What to do? Replace harmful simple carbohydrates with useful complex ones! Such necessary carbohydrates are found in greens, vegetables, bread from whole-grain flour, oat flakes. Instead of harmful cakes and chocolates, it is better to include dried apricots, prunes and raisins in your diet.
Fats
The best source of fats in the winter is vegetable oils. For our region, sunflower, linen and cedar oil are ideal. Also many useful fats are found in pumpkin and sunflower seeds, walnuts and pine nuts, hazelnuts and almonds.
Beverages
In winter, the ideal drinks will be hot herbal teas, compotes of dried fruits and frozen berries (black mountain ash, cranberries), cranberry fruit.
Approximate diet of a winter diet
- Breakfast: boiled egg, toast of wholemeal flour, oatmeal and millet porridge, green tea.
- Second breakfast: 200 g cottage cheese (not skim, but not too fat, ideally 2-3%) or natural yogurt.
- Lunch: meat broth on lean beef with vegetables (carrots, onions, cabbage, beets), 250 grams of boiled buckwheat, 50 grams of sauerkraut.
- Snack: 2 apples, compote of dried fruits.
- Supper: boiled cauliflower, 200 g of chicken breast (boiled or baked), 200 ml of kefir.