Perth Naturopathic Nutrition Expert Perth Western Australia | Women`s Health | Autism | Detox Programs | Weight Loss

Have you noticed how in winter our natural tendency is to snuggle down and not venture out as much? You may have also noticed that this reduced activity coupled with eating heartier meals creates a little extra padding around the waist and hips by winter’s end. Not a great look when you try on the new season’s swimmers. This is most frustrating if you managed to trim down a bit over the warmer months only to find it’s all crept back on, plus more, during the colder weather.

The problem with that extra padding is you might not shift all of it off again during the warmer months. This is why people commonly end up with a gradual increase in weight and size as the seasons come and go. The danger with the padding, particularly if it is around your middle, is that this extra body fat increases your risk of developing heart disease and diabetes. Carrying extra weight also makes your joints wear out more quickly leading to painful osteoarthritis. Being overweight or obese is also linked to a higher risk of developing some cancers.

Instead of getting too comfy in your tracky daks all the time, make sure you balance things out by eating healthy foods and doing regular exercise, even if you just go for a brisk walk most days of the week. A regular 30 minute brisk walk may only maintain your current weight so if you need to reduce your weight you’ll need to increase your walking time to 45-60 minutes. You could also benefit from weight resistance exercise to boost your metabolism.

If you need help keeping on track, there’s nothing more effective than having a winter wellbeing check-up to keep you from expanding too far in the waistband. A cellular health analysis (CHA) test will give you a good idea of your body’s composition of muscle and fat and also your overall health and vitality. If you have good body muscle you will burn more kilojoules, making fat burning during your exercise much more effective. If you are low in body muscle and carry an excess of body fat, you really need to add resistance exercise into your regime to increase your muscle and therefore your metabolism.

During the cooler months, it’s also important that you expose your skin to the sun for about 10 minutes a day so that your body can create adequate vitamin D. This should be early morning or late afternoon sun, and just your forearms and face (without sunscreen) is adequate. Vitamin D is an essential vitamin because it plays many roles within the body. It plays a crucial role in helping your body use calcium to create and maintain healthy bones. All the more reason to pop out for that brisk walk!