Food: Eating for the Winter Blues

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Eating for the Winter Blues
Monday, December 05, 2005

With winter looming just around the corner, it is important that we think about the often accompanying "winter blues." Winter blues, also called Seasonal Affective Disorder (SAD) is a condition known to plague people during the darker, winter months. It can take the form of anything from feeling a little down, tired, or weepy, to full-blown depression. There are many helpful ways to deal with the winter blues, from light therapy, special diets, exercise, and even medication. But one simple way to begin is to look at the food you are eating and decide if it is helping or hurting you.

We all are familiar with comfort foods. During the cold, winter months, we crave comfort foods that are usually warm, tasty, and full of carbohydrates. Cakes, pies, thick soups, chili, cheesy pastas, and of course bread - with plenty of butter. Yum! While these foods may sound good and taste delicious, and possibly even make us feel better temporarily, they can actually aggravate the symptoms of someone with Seasonal Affective Disorder. Giving into carbohydrates cravings will do one of several things: it will cause you to gain weight, it will cause you to feel hungrier in a shorter amount of time, and it will cause you to experience a quick "high" followed by a depressing low. Carbohydrates cause our blood sugar to go up, which gives us a quick burst of energy, but without the proper amount of protein and fat to keep the blood sugar balanced, it will then, within the hour, drop back down to levels below where it was had you eaten nothing at all. Food is like and drug and we should treat it as such.

So does this mean a person suffering from the winter blues must adopt a completely new diet? Absolutely not. That would probably only add to the frustration and depression. Rather, continue to eat what you always have eaten, but try to eat a bit more at each meal and snack. Yes, you read that right. Add a bit of protein and fat to each carbohydrate laden meal and snack. If you want a slice of chocolate cake, go ahead and indulge, but be sure to wash it down with several ounces of chicken breast, turkey, or roast beef. If you crave a bag of potato chips or a chunk of French bread, have several pieces of cheese with it. Most of these sources of protein have enough fat in them to balance things out. It is best to stick with lean meats and healthy carbohydrates such as fruits and vegetables, but the idea here isn't to change your whole diet, just to add to it a bit, so you can get through the winter.

Remember, the winter blues are usually only seasonal. Watch what you eat, as suggested here, and force yourself to get exercise at least three times each week. On those rare sunny days, get out and let the sun shine on your face as much as you can, and if possible, visit a tanning salon. Lastly, when you crave lasagna, make sure it has plenty of meat in it!

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