Eating Well Over Winter

During the winter time maintaining our weight tends to be more challenging. But how can we avoid this and maintain our body weight (if not lose some if needed):

1) Eat your fruit and veggies still. Eating what’s in season is a great way to do this, this time of year enjoying fejoa’s, kiwi’s and coming into winter more citrus fruits. It’s usually pretty easy to tell what’s in season by the cost and availability of the New Zealand fruit in the super markets. Or in the winter if you’re not so keen on apples start throwing frozen berries into a smoothie in the morning.

Aim: To eat 3 servings of fruit a day: eg. breakfast fruit smoothie, 10am piece of fruit, 8pm (a couple of hours post dinner) piece of fruit and to eat veggies 2 x a day: eg. salad with lunch and stir fry veggies with dinner

2) Enjoy the stodgier winter food, but don’t overdo the carbohydrates, a bit of carbs like potatoes or pie crust is OK, but not if it takes up much more room on the plate then the protein source does.

3) Keep up the exercise, in Canterbury most winter days if dressed in a long top and pants it’s usually pretty OK out there to still go for a run or walk. In the evenings or mornings organize to meet a friend a couple of days a week or join a club. On weekends pick at least one day you will have a focused exercise routine in the mornings.

4) Strength training is great to do through winter as we’re spending less time outside, so keep it up or maybe increase to an extra day a week. Especially for endurance athlete’s, this is the time to really focus on gym work for better results next season.