Beating Winter Blues with Nutrition

   
It's thought that each year 2-3% of Canadians suffer from seasonal affective disorder, or SAD. About
another 15% of us have milder winter blues. Even though winter has shorter days of the year, with the cold and darkness, for some these days can certainly seem to be longer. For anyone out there who does feel like that, with the end of January just about here, the good news is we're about halfway through the winter season. So we can't change the weather, but what can we do during winter months? Well, eating the right foods can help to play a role in people feeling their best and beating wintertime blues. Getting enough adequate nutrients, especially vitamin D and omega-3 fats are key.
Vitamin D, or the sunshine vitamin, is one that people tend to lack in. This time of year especially.

We usually obtain vitamin D from two sources. The sun, or food we eat. In Newfoundland and Labrador the sun's rays are only powerful enough to help us produce this vitamin for a few short months during the year, usually the summer. In fact, this is true for essentially any one living north of about New York. People who have darker skin, are older, overweight or obese tend to have lower levels too. If you're 50 years of age or older you should be having a vitamin D supplement daily of 400IU in addition to dietary intake. So where can you find vitamin D from food? Sources include things like milk and fortified beverages, such as soy, oily fish, egg yolks, and margarine. We know that vitamin D is  really important for bone and dental health, but lately it's been linked to potentially aiding in prevention for many disease states as well.

Ever hear someone say fish is good for the brain? Well if they're referring to fish high in omega-3 (and not deep fried with chips) that's certainly true. Intakes of omega-3, the good fats are thought to be protective as well. Like vitamin D many people don't get enough of these in their regular diet. Fatty fish, like salmon, mackerel, herring, char, trout or sardines or plant sources like flaxseeds, walnuts, pecans, almonds or soybeans are good sources. Try and have these foods at least twice a week.

Serotonin, a feel good chemical our bodies produce, is also worth noting. As it gets darker earlier, we get less exposure to the sun, which can lead to a drop in this healthful and helpful substance. The drop people experience sometimes causes depression and food cravings. You can boost serotonin levels with healthy carbohydrates. Things such as whole grain bread, rice and pasta, sweet potatoes, yams,  pumpkins, and squash. Choose these over foods like white grains, French fries, sugary cereals, sweets and treats. It can be tempting to give in to those sugary foods, and yes you may feel some 'goodness' at first, but it will surely peak and quickly drop. The good feeling you'll get from eating the wholesome healthy carbs first mentioned will be much longer lasting. Serotonin also increases with exercise.

Being physically active and eating well not only helps our bodies to be healthy, but keeps
our minds feeling good too. Increasing your intake of these foods can certainly equip you for feeling your best during the cold winter days. However, if you think you're experiencing more than just wintertime blues and say winter depression, aka Seasonal Defective Disorder, be sure to follow up with a healthcare professional.

As seen in The Telegram January 30, 2012

Portions Out the Window

 

If you frequently visit the drive through at Tim Horton's, today this might seem true. Starting today
standard cup sizes have changed. Instead of introducing a 'new' extra large size, each size has shifted
down one to make way for a larger serving. What was a small is now extra small, large is now
considered a medium and so on. The good news for coffee lovers is you are getting more for your
money (as sizes will increase but prices remain). However, the critical dietitian in me ponders about the message this, and other commercial portion sizes, imply regarding health and weight.

Let's first consider the example we have demonstrating healthy eating, Eating Well with Canada's Food Guide. It gives us two references for beverage size. One for juices, the other for milk. A standard serving of juice is 4oz, and milk 8oz, or the equivalent of a (now) extra small at Tim's. Judging by these new portion sizes and speaking in terms of health, what we may consider extra small is really more like the ideal portion size. So how much exactly is a new 24oz extra large? At 710ml it's a total daily recommendation of milk for a young teenager. Just under half the bare minimum of what most need for overall fluids each day. And probably the easiest visual would be about 4 standard size coffees.

It's likely that people will continue to order according to serving size name, and not how much the serving actually contains. Calories in coffee and tea arenegligiblee, so it's more the caffeine and what you add to the beverage that is going to matter. When it comes to the caffeine, Health Canada tells us as adults that 400mg or the equivalent of three 8oz cups of brewed coffee should be the max we take in per day. It's less for those who are younger, pregnant or breastfeeding. Taste buds are programmed to usual habits, meaning any change will taste different at first. A now large coffee with the former large fixings just isn't going to taste the same. The likely solution for many? Adding more fixin's to get that same great taste. More cream, sugar or milk, plus the same usual portion, equals more calories without realizing it. A double double might just turn into a triple triple with you even knowing it.

Obesity, like exaggerated portion size, may be becoming the norm too. True or false, an individual is
considered obese only when they are 100 or more pounds overweight? Obesity is usually defined by a BMI, or body mass index, which takes into account your height and weight. It actually doesn't take
many extra pounds for an individual to be considered medically obese. So the answer is false. But if
you said the answer was true you're not alone. Most people will overestimate height and underestimate weight. Even I am sometimes surprised when I calculate a BMI and it determines someone as obese, when in actual fact they look overweight. Or at least what society has portrayed us to believe as overweight. Whether we want to admit it or not, like portion size, we have  non-consciously shifted our views of weight as well. It's not that we don't think obesity and portions are a problem, rather we are programmed in a super-sized society to think that larger is the norm.

Will I have a Timmy's coffee now and then? Of course. Eating is also about everything in moderation. However, with the portions increasing I am going to try and make a conscious decision to 'downsize' from my regular medium size to the (still medium) new small. Same taste, same calories, and more money in my pocket.

As see in The Telegram January 23, 2012