So I listened to a great old podcast of Alexandra Jamieson’s about winter foods. I am reading her new book ” Women, Food, and Desire” right now and wanted to hear a little more of her work. You may remember her from the award-winning documentary “Super Size Me” in which she was the co-star with her ex-husband. Since then she has an amazing transformation story and outlines a lot of that in her new book and on the pod cast she does with Sean Croxton from Undergroundwellness.com.
Anyhow, I really love some of the points that she makes about our food choices in the winter and our New Years weight loss goals. She suggests that we actually sabotage our weight loss efforts in these New Year resolutions by trying to diet with foods that aren’t in season and are to cooling to the body.
For instance —we often reach for a smoothie in the am with lots of frozen fruits and then do salads for lunch. Our bodies in the winter are in hibernation mode –they don’t want those cooling foods like bananas, grapefruit, and cold salads. Our body wants to metabolize warming foods. It is more natural for the body’s internal environment. Here is a short list of Warming Foods—
Anise
Basil
Carob
Cumin
Chives
Cinnamon
Cloves
Coriander
Dates (and most dried fruit)
Dill
Fennel
Garlic
Ginger
Ginseng
Honey
Kumquat
Leeks
Mustard greens
Nuts
Oats
Onion
Papaya
Parsley
Parsnips
Pepper (black, Chile, red bell, green bell)
Quinoa
Rosemary
Rutabaga
Scallions
Seeds
Tea
Vinegar
Wasabi
Watercress
Wild rice
Here is a copy of the book–I’m about 1/2 way through and I really like it. It really puts emotions, cravings and eating into a different perspective
