The 4 Seasons
The impact of seasonal changes on nutrition and training
Most humans are ‘like’ Bears. We hibernate over winter. We Netflix, we chill, we eat heartier foods, drink red wine and curl up on our couches with our significant others and listen to the rain on our roofs.
Sounds dreamy, doesn’t it? Well I am here to tell you as a #lifegoal #soulgoal it most certainly is! BUT for keeping your body fit and healthy it’s not the ideal lifestyle.
Put your hand up if every winter you promise yourself you will behave, you will still train even when it is cold and rainy and you will not eat everything in sight, so you can maintain your body the way it is in summer, OR pull a swifty on everyone and come out the other side with a brand new set of never before seen abs!
I put my hand up. Did you? This used to be me. I had a plan, I was going to stick to it, nothing would sway me until it was raining and couch snuggles, naughty food and Sunday movies with my other half were just way more enticing than the snuggles and the movies without my fun ‘cheat day’ snacks.
Now I am not saying that you have to cut this out entirely and never eat popcorn again. I am merely saying that there is a better way, a way of balance and compromise, that if done right, lets you have your cake and eat it too. And I mean come on, who doesn’t LOVE cake!
Yes, we eat heavier foods in winter, more soup, more stew, our go to meals are of the hot variety as opposed to the salads we eat in summer, and this is because it’s cold outside and we ourselves are cold. Hot food on a cold day is satiating, and that is fine. We just need to make sure we are 80-90% of the time eating the right hot foods as that allows us to Netflix, chill and eat naughty snacks.
The way that we make our hot foods healthy is to pay more attention to what goes into them. To make them nutritionally dense. To use produce that gives us more bang for our buck calorie and macro wise. I am talking things like replacing your mashed potato with a mashed pumpkin as you get to eat twice as much pumpkin for the same amount of calories #winning! I am also talking swapping out calorie high sauces like cream based pasta with something of the tomato or pesto variety. That way you can eat your pasta, but not blow your day on a sauce. This saves you room for something like some amazing home made organic chocolate. Ohhh did I mention you’ll be able to make this yourself after the 12 weeks?
When it comes to our training, there is an element of ‘suck it up’ mixed with an element of creativity. If you’re an outdoor person, you may have to brave the cold to get your dose of nature when it’s not raining. Yoga, Indoor Rock Climbing, places like bounce are all great fitness outlets if you’re not an avid gym goer, but still want to get that endorphins kick. Whilst the amount of times you make it to the gym may decrease, as long as you are moving and as long as you are trying, the seasonal impact on your body, fitness and mind will be limited.
At the end of the day, you will only get out what you put in and you are your most important project and your greatest asset. We only get one human vessel so you need to make sure you treat it well.
The MBS team and I will be there every step of the way to help guide you, to help you strategize and to help you plan how to tackle the oncoming winter months, so that not even nature can stop you from becoming the best you you can be.