Healthy cooking and eating for the winter holidays
Many of my friends tend to gain weight in the winter. They race less. They do not worry how they look in a bathing suit. And they eat more when they are cold. Here are some half dozen strategies I plan on following so that I can be in top form next year:
- Eat a healthy breakfast,
- Pack healthy, smaller meals and snacks to take to work,
- More hot soups, cereals and oatmeal – they keep you warm, and when your core temperature is up, you tend to eat less. Conversely, when you are cold, you tend to eat more.
- Drink more water. Dry winter air can dehydrate you. Rather than the empty calories of soda, warm herbal teas, water and low-salt boullion for me !
- STOP EATING after 9:00 p.m. Do not go to bed “stuffed” and uncomfortable. This just makes for fat production and makes for less restful sleep.
- Get a full night’s sleep. OK, this is not a “diet” stratagem per se. However, the less I sleep, the more I eat. And, while I am sleeping, my body uses the good nutrition I have taken in all day to repair the damage caused by intense training. Napping helps too.
[TriathlonTrialLawyer Doug Landau getting a cooking lesson from top Richmond area Chef Tim Clinton. They are preparing egg white and Challah french toast and vegetables cooked in olive oil breakfast prior to a long spin class cycling workout]