As the winter weather slowly starts to creep in, you start to put away the fans and swimwear and bring out your woolly jumpers and electric blankets. However, covering up isn’t the only way to get warm this winter; you can also keep warm and cosy by including certain foods in your diet.
1. Spices – For a warmer body temperature, as well as flavour and aroma, you can’t go wrong with warming spices like cinnamon sticks, cloves, ginger and pepper. Ginger contains thermogenic properties that help to increase your body temperature – as well as being extremely beneficial for your digestive wellness – while cloves have an amazing capacity to warm the body and freshen the mouth.
2. Vegetables – Whether you boil them, steam them or blend them up in soups and smoothies, nothing warms your inner furnace as quickly as vegetables. As an added bonus, eating plenty of veg helps to boost your immunity, increase your blood flow and give those cheeks a rosy glow.
3. Honey – The winter blues can send your sugar cravings into overdrive, and so honey is a great, healthier alternative to refined sugar. Adding it to warm water makes for the perfect drink on a long winter’s night, and the natural sweetener is also works wonders for your complexion.
4. Onion – So it gives you bad breath and may induce tears, but all will be forgiven when you realise how beneficial onions are to your winter wellbeing. If you include onion as part of your daily diet, it acts as a persistent body heater, helping to ward off that constant chill.
5. Chillies – As chillies are so hot and spicy, they work to stimulate your body temperature by enhancing your blood circulation. Plus, the reason why chillies’ flavour is so pungent is due to a substance called Capsaicin, which also works to increase thermo genesis.
6. Green Tea – This beverage packs a triple threat to fight that winter chill, as green tea contains caffeine, catechins and antioxidants. The latter component helps to improve your metabolism, which warms you up, while the other two together increase thermo genesis by up to 77%.
7. Coconut Oil – As coconut oil is mostly made up of medium-chain fatty acids, it’s an excellent way to increase thermo genesis and help to raise your body temperature.
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