Healthy Diet - 12

Healthy Diet for December 22 – Chilled Out? Warm Up!

Do you need to eat more to keep warm? That’s a tempting rationalization. But if your daily routine doesn’t change, you don’t need more calories. True, your body uses energy to stay warm. But you burn extra calories only if your body temperature drops enough to make you shiver.

That said, can food or drink take your chill away? What works: Mom knew: a hot cup of cocoa, mulled cider, or a hearty bowl of chowder or chili. In fact, any hot food helps warm you from the inside out. And eating itself has a “heat-making” effect, as metabolism speeds up from energy released during digestion. That may be why your brain signals hunger when your body temperature drops.

What doesn’t: Brandy or other alcoholic drinks tend to increase the body’s heat loss, which makes you more susceptible to cold. Stay warm this winter.

  • Outdoors, keep your water bottle inside your parka. Drinking icy water chills your stomach and your whole body.
  • Carry a snack for winter activity. If you’re chilled, dried fruit or granola cookies may stoke your furnace.

• Enjoy warm drinks: simmered cranberry-apple juice with a cinnamon stick, or hot cocoa topped with a small scoop of praline frozen yogurt. (See January 21.)


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