I am definitely not one of those people who can naturally enjoy cold weather. Actually winter used to be the season of depression for me. Instead of enjoying the time with friends and family at and around Christmas I fell into depression – although I was still kind of functioning as I forced myself to – which was often accompanied by panic attacks. I always thought of winter as a period to survive and kept planning to move to a country with warm climate instead of trying to focus on the positive sides of the season and balance out the qualities I do not like about it. It is not a very positive way to look at life, is it? 🙂
The encounter with Ayurveda has completely changed my life and the way I think of my own likings and preferences. Finding out that I have a certain body constitution that prefers warm weather as opposed to cold I was not surprised at all. The real change has come when I started learning about the diet and lifestyle changes we need to make during the different seasons.
I am pretty sure, most people share a completely different view on this, but winter is actually a period when we should have a lot of energy. Of course, to harvest the abundance of energy, we do need to keep the right seasonal routine, which I am going to share with you in a moment. Although some of the things might sound weird to you – they definitely did to me -, they actually make a lot of sense if you put them into practice.
As our digestion tends to be quite strong during this season – we might be cold on the peripheries (on the skin), but the heat is getting stronger in the stomach. That means we can digest heavy types of food much better: if dairy is part of your diet, you can include more dairy products into your diet, also meat eaters can have more good quality meat (which should still not be more often than 3 times a week), and generally more oily food (But please stick to the healthy oils, no trans-fat, margarine, etc.). We can indulge in sweet dishes more often as well – which does not mean dessert for breakfast 🙂 -, even a bit of wine cannot harm.
Although I do recommend having some raw fruits and veggies every day because of the amount of vitamins and minerals they contain – the amount should be reduced compared to summer. Avoid including too much light, cold, pungent, bitter and astringent food into your diet. Have hot drinks – e.g. tea with honey, turmeric milk, etc. – instead of cold as often as you can. Do not have cold drinks at all if it’s possible. If you do not enjoy hot drinks, go for room temperature drinks.
Actually, drinking hot water instead of cold every time you are thirsty at the end of the winter season – which is NOW – prevents a lot of problems we commonly have at the beginning of the spring period – like accumulated mucus, flu, common cold.
Remember, the way we treat our body in winter determines our energy and health for the whole year.
Think of this when you feel too lazy to practice yoga or exercise on a regular basis as both are essential for a good balanced lifestyle in winter and for stable health in the rest of the year. If you have the opportunity to indulge in regular body massage, please go for it. If not, no worries, doing regular self massage is also a huge step towards better immunity.
One last tip: even if you feel sleepy, try to resist to a nap during the day. Instead, for a higher energy level have an early dinner and also go to sleep early at night.
- 1 suggestion: Spend more intimate time in the bedroom. This is the best time of the year to indulge in sexual activity more often. Forget about the cold weather and just enjoy the good parts of winter! 😉
Author: Nora Nagy
Email: [email protected]
Author Bio: I am holistic health and beauty coach, ardent traveler and passionate foodie. I teach women how to love themselves more deeply and how to find balance in their lives.
Link to social media or website: https://www.instagram.com/nora__nagy/
