In winter, a black hole forms in the stomach, and this insistently demands food every two hours. The number of refrigerator openings during this period increases several times, and the feeling of hunger catches up much more rapidly and more often than in the warm season.
We will show you how not to be carried out seasonal provocations of the body and not to eat up problems for the beach season.
The extreme craving is alarming at first glance and has a completely natural explanation. Here are five reasons why you are constantly hungry in winter, and just as many ways to deal with it.
Reasons Why You Crave More Food In Winter
1- In Winter, More Energy Is Spent On Warming
To maintain body temperature, the body spends more energy keeping warm. Therefore, as soon as you freeze, comes – a feeling of hunger.
In order not to get better, we offer the simplest thing – to freeze less. That is, not to be fashionable, but to wrap up warmer, fall in love with thermal underwear, and stop loving cropped jeans with protruding ankles. Well, and take more seriously the proprietary grandmother’s parting words, choose only long outerwear for winters.
2- Consumption Of More Alcohol
To warm themselves, people tend to use more alcohol in winter. It enhances blood flow. As a result, the body warms up. However, excessive use of it slows down the metabolism, causing more hunger.
Moreover, it can lead to addiction even in other seasons. So better talk to an expert for help. They may recommend a residential rehab option that will make you recover soon. Make sure you get rid of this habit before the weather changes or it will sustain forever.
3- Insomnia
Eternal life in the dark mixes day with night, and you want to sleep much earlier than in the summertime. This is due to the production of the hormone melatonin, which is responsible for synchronizing sleep and wakefulness.
It is synthesized in the dark, so in winter, due to the gloom, it begins to be produced long before the usual time of going to bed.
As a result, a person feels sleepy and lethargic for most of the day, and at night, due to disturbed biorhythms, he tosses and turns and cannot sleep. Not only does a lack of sleep lead to depression and apathy, but also an increase in the hormone ghrelin.
It stimulates appetite and leads to a decrease in leptin, on which you feel full.
To correct biorhythms, sleep in pitch darkness without a single night light. Turn on more lamps in the evening so as not to fall asleep ahead of time, and walk in the fresh air in the daytime. All this will reduce the feeling of hunger and relieve the obsessive desire to eat something.
4- Accumulation Mode
In cold weather, the metabolism slows down, and the body conserves energy, trying to put as much as possible “in the pantry”, that is, in the fat layer. Therefore, it requires a plate with a slice, in order not only to ensure the functioning of all organs but also to keep the excess with it.
In this mode, there is one more thought. If you want to lose weight and go on a diet, then the body will not let it so easily part with the fat reserve it needs. First of all, it will start burning muscle mass, and only then – the extra pounds.
As a countermeasure to this situation, we propose an increase in physical activity and the inclusion in the diet of foods that speed up metabolism. At the same time, leave exhausting and intense loads until spring. Choose activities that are pleasant for you such as dancing, skating, snowboarding, and skiing.
5- Water Scarcity
In winter, we do not faint from thirst and do not feel thirsty at all. However, the body needs water in winter just as much. Hot batteries and warm air from an air conditioner dry out our skin and strip us of moisture.
But the cold dulls the desire to drink, so there are no signals to replenish the loss of water. Instead, you may feel like you’re hungry.
In order not to be led by deceptive needs, with the next hunger after a recent snack, do not rush to the refrigerator. Try drinking a glass of water. Perhaps this is all you need at the moment.
6- Increased Stress
Due to the lack of sunny days, our body ceases to produce the required amount of vitamin D. Without it, the production of the hormone of happiness – serotonin is impossible. The human factor is superimposed here: problems at work, all kinds of experiences, neuroses, and fears.
As a result, instead of serotonin, the body begins to intensively produce stress hormones – cortisol and adrenaline. This couple, in turn, sends a signal to the brain that the person is in danger and urgently needs salvation – energy recharge. That is, everything again comes down to the command “I have to go eat.”
Where Can You Get Serotonin?
Besides, serotonin can be obtained from food: this requires foods containing the amino acid tryptophan and glucose. Once in the body, these substances stimulate the increased production of the hormone.
But the brain quickly becomes addicted to this and in case of depression. It immediately requires carbohydrate food to quickly replenish the hormone deficiency. As a result, a person simply “seizes” his bad mood.
Summing Up
To make yourself happier, make up for tryptophan from foods. This amino acid is found in sufficient quantities in spirulina, pumpkin seeds, egg whites, cod, sesame seeds, caviar, bananas, and cheddar cheese.
Also, maintain your level of joy with activities that please you: arrange meetings with loved ones for no reason, play snowballs, ride down slides, walk in parks, and listen to your favorite music.
