A guide to feeling your best this winter

Snowflake, oversized sweaters, fireplaces and hot drinks. These are a Canadian’s best friends during the colder months of the year.

However, healthy eating and even grocery shopping can sometimes feel like a challenge during the winter. Schedules are busy, fresh produce is harder to find and you may feel more like hibernating than cooking. Yet it’s important to continue to get the nutrients your body needs at this time of year. Here’s a quick rundown of some of the essential nutrients you should focus on during the winter months.

Let’s start with vitamin D: why is it important and where can we find it? This vitamin works in the body with many other nutrients, such as calcium, to help create and maintain strong bones and teeth (a few calcium sources include dairy and fortified products and dark leafy greens). In addition to its many other roles, vitamin D has strong antiinflammatory benefits in supporting your immune system to fight off bacteria and viruses; a key consideration, especially now as cold and flu season continues.

Vitamin D can come in many different forms. The body can produce some of the daily requirements when exposed to ultra-violet light. Most often this means sunlight. However, this only works when large surface areas of the body are exposed. Sadly, going outside with just your face exposed will not give you your daily requirement of vitamin D. Some foods rich in vitamin D include fortified milks, breakfast cereals, egg yolks, and fatty fish such as trout, salmon, tuna and mackerel. If you don’t tend to eat these foods regularly you may want to consider a supplement.

Just remember, if you are thinking about starting a supplement of any kind, always talk to your doctor first.

Another tip for feeling your best throughout the winter is to ensure you are staying hydrated, something that can be easy to forget in wintertime. Remind yourself by keeping a water bottle handy during the day, filling a water glass to drink with your meals or drinking hot beverages such as teas and soups.

Sticking to more seasonal vegetables, like root vegetables (potatoes, carrots, beets, turnips, parsnips, sweet potatoes) and opting for some frozen or canned fruits and vegetables instead of fresh may make including produce in your diet easier in the winter months. Making simple soups and stews at home can ensure that these are packed full of nutrition, and allows you control the amount of salt added, as store-bought canned soups are often high in sodium. Adding legumes like beans, lentils, and chickpeas to soups and stews can also help you achieve your fibre goals. And bonus, they are an inexpensive way to boost protein content in in many recipes, in addition to or as a substitute for animal protein.

Finally, even though getting vitamin D through sunlight alone is probably not feasible in the wintertime for us Canadians, it’s still important to get outside and soak up the sunshine when you get the opportunity. Staying active with winter activities such as snowshoeing, sledding, or even a winter walk in the park can help your mood and regulate hunger cues. Doing outdoor activities with friends and family – and sharing a snack or meal afterwards – helps you staying connected and may even result in discovering a new favourite winter recipe.

If you are finding it difficult to maintain a healthy eating pattern throughout the winter months, please feel free to contact me any time for more tips.

Jenelle MacIsaac is a registered dietitian with Atlantic Superstore in Truro, Elmsdale and Amherst. Do you have a nutrition health goal in mind? Contact Jenelle by phone at 902-324-8899, or by email at jenelle.macisaac@loblaw.ca, or book an in-person or virtual consult at bookadietitian.ca.

Our dietitian team also offers group programming in select stores and in the community – check the dietitian booth or at the pharmacy at your local store to see what’s happening!