Healthy foods to eat during the winter

With the winter season right on your doorstep, stacking up your body with healthy and nutritious diets to fight off the winter cold and keep yourself energized is rather important. As one becomes more susceptible to catch a cold and get sick easily during this season, what you eat has a huge impact on your health and determines your immunity power. Here is a list of some wholesome foods, and why they are so important to consume during the season to foster good health and keep you warm.

Gingers
You probably heard your mom tell you to drink ginger tea every time you catch a cold, didn’t you? Well, this has a very good reason given that compounds gingerol and shogaol present in it gives the spicy and thermogenic quality every time you drink it. Gingers are also diaphoretic that aids the production of heat in your body. So, the next time you find yourself getting beaten up by the weather, don’t hesitate to make yourself some quick and easy ginger tea. 

Bananas
It might come as shock when you hear that bananas could actually help you stay warm in winter but its vitamin B and magnesium also have thermogenesis properties and regulate your body’s temperature. Add bananas to your favorite bowl of cereal every morning for breakfast or eat them with your whole-grain loaves of bread and peanut butter to make them extra delicious. 

Whole grains and complex carbs
While for us Nepalese, rice can be considered the ultimate source for carbohydrates, other healthier options such as lentils and beans help to increase our body heat in winter. They are rich in proteins as well, keeping you fuller for a long time, and are easier to prepare in your households. Just make your favorite “daal” or “rajma tarkari” full of nutrients and hot soup to help you get by winter. 

Coffee
Another good news for all coffee lovers out there is that the caffeine in the coffee increases your metabolism, thus helping raise your body temperature. This may come as a surprise but iced coffee has more benefits than hot coffee and produces more heat in your body due to high amount of caffeine in it, thus giving one more reason for iced coffee lovers to enjoy it even during winter. 

Green Tea
If you are not a huge fan of coffee, then another healthier option of green tea is always a great idea. It has amazing antioxidants and the flavonoids called “catechins” that help to boost your body temperature. There are innumerable benefits to drinking green tea, and drinking it with your breakfast or any other time could never go wrong. 

Sweet potatoes
Sweet potatoes are always a healthier alternative to your regular potatoes and they have high level of vitamin A, C and potassium, fibers, and nutrients. Just make your favorite soup, or add them to your vegetables for that extra zing. 

The Best of Winter Warmer: Qwati
Normally consumed on the auspicious day of Janai Purnima, Qwati is a mixture of nine super ingredients (black gram, green gram, chickpea, field bean, soybean, field pea, garden pea, cowpea and rice bean). It is jam-packed with proteins and vitamins which help keep one warm in the cold days of winter. To make it even more enticing one can add black pepper (marich) once the Qwati begins to simmer, and top it off with green onion (lawa) and coriander.