The winter months often mean a dramatic change in appetite. Many people find themselves in a constant search for hearty, warm meals and snacks, and there’s a good, scientific reason for this change.
Your Body Uses More Energy
The cold temperatures force your body to work a little harder to achieve a warm state. Even if you are confined to the indoors for long periods of time, the colder temperature causes your body to conserve its heat. This causes other demands for more energy, setting off signals for hunger. Seeking foods that are higher in calories becomes a method of building up the warmth in your body and maintaining the warmth.
Less Sunlight Influences Mood and Appetite
The shorter days of winter mean less sunlight, and a decrease of serotonin levels occurs. It is a well-known fact that the decrease of serotonin, considered a mood elevator, affects the eating habits of human beings as well. When the levels of serotonin decrease, the body seeks food that offers comfort and is quick to digest, such as carbohydrates and sweets. These foods offer the body a quick source of increased serotonin, and that’s the reason for the winter cravings for foods such as pasta, bread, sweets, etc.
Comfort Eating Becomes a Habit
With the cold weather, indoor habits naturally come. Because of the increased time spent at home, it is natural for eating to be associated with comfort and warmth.
Thus the hot chocolate, the soup, the baked goods, become as much emotional signals as they are physical needs. This habit becomes enforced secretly and is a natural cause of the winter cravings.
Lower Activity Levels Aid the Cycle
In winter, almost everybody is less active. The decrease in active physical exercise means even more so that appetite regulation and cravings are increased even more. When the body does not expend its energies in activity, it tends to seek energy from food instead of from the expenditure of calories in activity, when in reality, there is no need for that food energy.
Lowered Activity Levels Entrain the Cycle
During the winter, most people move less. What can happen with decreased physical activity is that it can affect appetite regulation and increase cravings.
If the body is not active, it will instinctively always look for energy in food rather than in activity when in fact that energy need not be supplied at all.
Natural Response You Can Affect
Winter cravings are normal, but they can still be controlled by making slight adjustments. Eating balanced meals that contain protein, fiber and healthy fats will not only help in maintaining cravings but will enable one to stay fuller longer. Nutritious hot meals such as soups and lentils and baked vegetables and herbal teas are able to supply a feeling of fullness without an overstressed reliance on sugar and heavy comfort foods.
Awareness of your reasons for craving more in the winter can enable you to respond to them more healthily and knowingly. The body is only adapting to the seasonal requirements.
