Weight Management

by Freda Coetzee

How to Lose Weight During Winter

“A summer body starts in the winter” This saying rings true every single time. It is pointless to start working on that beach body and lose weight when summer is already here – it is simply too late. Another reason this statement rings true is that most of us tend to put on a bit of weight during the winter months. That is why it is important to get over the fact that it is cold outside and focus on weight loss during winter. Even if it is just to keep a steady weight instead of putting on extra kilograms… What makes winter weight loss different? Losing weight in the winter normally requires different foods than weight loss during the warmer months of summer. Not only because some foods are more difficult to come by in winter, but also because the body reacts differently to different food depending on the weather. So what should I do for winter weight loss? Ever craved a cool glass of freshly pressed juice or an ice-cold slice of watermelon in the winter? I thought not… In winter we usually want food that warms our body. Soup and cooked foods are what we crave. Well, the good news is that these can be used just as effectively for weight loss as a juice cleanse during the summer. By eating the right foods in the winter months we can cleanse our bodies, give our energy levels a boost, and ultimately lose weight. These are some tops tips for cleansing in winter… Eat ourselves warm. We don’t have to eat fruits and salad when our bodies are already feeling cold. Go for seasonal, local foods that have the same effect. Eat more foods like dense root vegetables, winter greens, and quality animal products. Spices and herbs can also help give the warming effect to any dishes. Take the  Manna Blood Sugar Support supplement with each meal, because it can help to curb food- and sugar cravings. Fats to make us thin. Healthy fats are more than just a nice winter comfort food. They have real benefits. These fats can help the body absorb important nutrients from the food we eat more effectively. They are great for absorbing vitamins A, D, and E. Healthy fats also play a key role in ensuring a healthy nervous system. This means that in addition to weight loss benefits, healthy fats can also put us in a better mood. Make sure that the fats we are eating are: Monounsaturated fats Polyunsaturated fats And the right saturated fats Steer clear of hydrogenated and trans fats that are found in processed foods. Good food sources of these healthy fats are: Olives and olive oil Almonds Avocados Salmon Walnuts Anchovies Flax seeds and hemp seeds Grass-fed butter and organic clarified butter Unrefined coconut oil Sweets that slim. It is part of our built-in nature to crave sweet things. But be careful of sugar and carbohydrates as these can make us gain kilograms in the blink of an eye. Go for the healthy options like sweet, high-nutrient veggies such as roast beets, sweet potatoes, and a variety of winter pumpkins and squash. These help satisfy sweet-cravings, as well as giving us extra energy. Or, go for the new Manna Low GI Shake which is sweet, but it is natural. It can curb sweet and food cravings, suppress appetite and help to reduce our daily calorie consumption. Get enough sleep. When it gets cold outside, our metabolism slows down. This makes us want to sleep more – which isn’t necessarily a bad thing. The days get shorter and the nights get longer, so there is no excuse for getting in a few hours of extra sleep. We should get to bed earlier so that we can wake up nice and early to make the most of the sunshine that is available. Waking up earlier and getting the most sunlight possible has a positive effect on the sleep cycle and metabolism. Getting more sleep before midnight – especially in winter – helps our mood stay stable. It also helps stop midnight snacking, and improves the quality of our sleep. Exercise regularly. Leaving the house early on a cold winter morning to go to the gym can ruin our entire day before it even starts. It is much easier to do exercise in the comfort of our own home. It is best to do short bursts of intensive exercise. Break up the exercise routine into 4 x 1-minute sets of each exercise below… Jump Rope This is much more than a fun activity for children. This can make us work up a sweat within minutes. Just be careful of low hanging light fixtures! Stair Stepping We don’t even need stairs or a step for this. Get an exercise step, or even just a really thick book. We can do different patterns of stepping, all while remaining in one spot. We can even do it while watching television. It may take longer to work up a sweat than jumping rope, but it is a great, steady way of exercise and keeping our bodies on the move. Planking People who think that one minute is a short time have never done a plank! It might be one of the more challenging exercises, but it is also one of the most beneficial. It is one of the best ways to build up the core muscles and increase abdominal strength. The key to mastering the plank is to start off small and build up from there. Start off with just 30 seconds, and then add 5 seconds each day. How to plank: Get into a push-up position. Instead of bending the arms and lowering ourselves, hold the position with the arms straight. Make sure not to arch the back. If we don’t feel the burn on our abdominal muscles, we are doing it wrong. Dancing Whether it is Zumba or Latin dancing – it is one of the most fun ways to exercise. We can do it with our partner, workout buddy, or on our own. Turn the music up and get moving. And most importantly – dance like nobody is watching! Lunges Make it part of the daily routine. Whenever we go down the hall or from one room to the next; do lunges instead of just walking. If that gets too easy, hold some weights to make the lunges more challenging. Water Bottle Weights We don’t have to get a home gym or even dumbbells. Start out by using water bottles as weights to do some resistance training and build the arm muscles. We can easily control the weight of our “dumbbells” by changing the size of the bottle or how much water we put inside. We can also use large bottles like milk jugs as kettlebells to do different types of weight training. High Knees Running in place is great – but high knees are better. Bring the knees up as high as possible, and kick up the pace to get the heart pumping and sweat dripping. We can either do this by standing in one place or move up and down the hall. Jumping Jacks A nice throwback to our childhood! Jumping jacks are an excellent form of cardio, and get our whole body moving at once. We can do this while watching television, or while waiting for whatever is warming up in the microwave. We can challenge ourselves to do a few jumping jacks wherever and whenever we get the chance. Want to lose weight EVEN MORE effectively this winter? Yes? Then take the Manna Blood Sugar Support with every meal. How does Manna Blood Sugar Support work? It gels with the food we eat and then slow-releases the sugar from the food into our bloodstream. Taking 2 tablets with each meal helps to lower the Glycemic Index of the food we eat by up to 43%! The Manna Blood Sugar Support is an organic dietary supplement which can help to control blood sugar levels, suppress appetite and curb food cravings the natural way without any side effects. By controlling blood sugar levels, the insulin levels also decrease, which prevents fat from being stored in the cells. How does this help us lose weight? This helps to balance the blood sugar levels, control food cravings, and reduce the insulin requirement of the body. Lower insulin levels and craving control can help us to eat less and burn more fat as energy, in order to lose weight the healthy way. Stop the Cravings and lose weight with Manna Blood Sugar Support Helps to reverse insulin resistance. It helps to normalize blood sugar levels. Helps to slow down the uptake of sugar. Makes the body to require less insulin.