It’s common to experience carb cravings during winter and pick up weight, but with a few smart food swaps you can beat the bulge.
Obviously, any overindulgence in delicious and satisfying carb-laden meals and sugary snacks can result in winter weight gain. To reverse this trend, you have three solutions:
- Take a suitable vitamin D3 supplement. It is a fat-soluble vitamin, which means you can improve absorption by taking it with healthy fats.
- Get outdoors and expose more of your skin to the sun’s ultraviolet rays for at least 10 minutes a day to boost vitamin D production and regulate your hormones.
- Make intelligent winter food swaps. You don’t need to avoid carbs, but making better choices will reduce cravings and will limit the impact on your weight and waistline.
Food swap idea #1
- Out: Breakfast cereal
- In: Quinoa breakfast bowl
Quinoa is a great whole-grain replacement for the refined and processed grains used in commercial breakfast cereal products, which often also contain added sugars and flavourants. And quinoa contains protein, delivering 14g of this muscle-building macronutrient in every 100g serving. Plus, it’s a great source of dietary fibre, as well as a range of vitamins and minerals.
Food swap idea #2
- Out: Flapjacks
- In: Protein pancakes
Few foods taste better on a Sunday morning than sweet, scrumptious flapjacks. But these tray-baked treats contain sugar, butter and syrup, which aren’t ideal ingredients when you’re looking out for your waistline. Protein pancakes offer a similar taste but with better-for-you ingredients, including a generous serving of protein to fill you up and aid muscle repair and growth. Most protein pancake recipes also get their sweetness from natural ingredients like bananas or puréed apple instead of refined sugar.
Food swap idea #3
- Out: Stew
- In: Bone broth
While warm and filling, stodgy stews can leave you feeling sluggish, bloated and uncomfortable from all the fat and carbs. A hearty bone broth ticks all the winter comfort food boxes with added health benefits. Broths are packed with minerals and nutrients, including phosphorus and calcium for stronger bones, gelatine, which can improve gut health, and collagen, which helps to build stronger connective tissues, as well as skin, hair and nails. Broths also contain magnesium, silicon, vitamins C and B6, sulphur and other trace minerals.
Food swap idea #4
- Out: Hot Chocolate
- In: Hot choc protein shake
Those store-bought hot chocolates may taste great, but they often contain added sugars and artificial sweeteners. Making a homemade hot chocolate using chocolate-flavoured protein powder and some heated milk (some dairy or a plant-based alternative in a pot or in the microwave) is a great winter treat. It is also beneficial for you because you’ll get a protein boost while satiating that hot choc craving.
