What To Eat In Extreme Cold Weather

It's that time of year. The nights are long and the weather is cold. I love New York, but around this season it gets chilly. We start taking short-cuts to make our life a little easier. My Uber budget takes a hit as walking between avenues gets trickier and trickier. Friends who live in another borough are seen less and less. And, if I’m not careful, the diet starts to slip into comfort food territory.

Getting Nutrients For Cold Weather

Getting home and opening up Seamless is so easy. Ordering in or even firing up a ready meal can seem like the only option. But this kind of food should only be a one-off, special occasion meal. You need nutrients to keep you going through the cold weather - find foods that are doing the work for you!

My Top Nutrient Packed Foods For Cold Weather

Here’s a list of my favorite cold weather foods. They can be made into amazing, fresh recipes, and are packed with nutrients that can help you push through the winter months until spring arrives.

Black Beans

Black beans are one of the best sources of antioxidants you can find. The skin on all beans is packed with antioxidant compounds, and black beans have more antioxidant activity per 100g than any other bean. Try putting them into a bean-based chili, or cooking up a black bean soup. It's not only warming and seasonal - it’s good for you.

Whole Grain Pasta

Fiber is important for digestion, but it also takes more energy to break down. This might not sound like a good thing, but in the winter months, that extra action needed to digest complex carbohydrates can help keep you warm. Are you a pasta lover? Try swapping out your regular pasta for whole grain in one meal a week, and see if you can notice the difference.

Brussels Sprouts

Cold and flu season is real. One of the well-known ways to fight against the onslaught of illness that comes every year is to boost your immune system with vitamin C. Often, this comes in the form of orange juice. The problem is that orange juice is full of sugar. For a more healthy hit of vitamin C, try eating brussels sprouts. A serving of sprouts contains more vitamin C than an entire orange. Try roasting them in olive oil at 380 degrees F for about 40 minutes, tossing them around at minute 20. Once you make them this way, you’ll want them all the time.

Coffee

I have good news. Coffee is one of the things that can help you warm up in the winter. The health benefits of coffee have been known for a long time. When it’s cold outside, don’t skip the morning joe - the caffeine can burn through nutrients and help keep you nice and toasty in snow season.

Peanuts

Two tablespoons of peanut butter contain ⅓ of the recommended daily allowance of vitamin B3. Also known as niacin, it's an essential nutrient that the body cannot synthesize. Vitamin B3 plays an important role in blood flow and metabolism, which is crucial for maintaining body temperature - especially when it’s cold outside.

Oatmeal

A warming bowl of oatmeal is a fantastic way to start the day when the weather turns icy. I mix my oatmeal up as much as possible, making sure that I include superfoods like blueberries or walnuts, but even the oatmeal itself is useful for the body. Oatmeal is high in zinc, which is great for maintaining your immune system. Its also packed with fiber. Try making it with a low sugar almond milk for a tasty, healthy alternative.

Ginger

Ginger is a well-known metabolism booster, that can also increase blood flow. Both of these things can help increase internal temperature, and adding ginger to the diet is an easy, tasty way of making sure you are eating to keep warm. If you are a tea drinker, pick up a packet of ginger tea next time you go to the store.

Eat To Stay Warm

By thinking about your diet and making a few additions, you can ensure that the foods you are consuming are working for you. Do you have any foods that you like to make in winter? Send them to me on Twitter @jstraubnyc and I will take a look - I’m always on the hunt for new recipes.

Jon Straub is a life coach based in NYC. He is on a mission to change entrepreneurs’ attitude towards health, wellness, and happiness – the most important productivity tools we have.