Winter, walking and weight gain, and cutting costs and calories
Cold hard reality
Along with all the temptations and opportunities to overconsume food that are provided during the late fall and winter months — Thanksgiving, Christmas, New Year’s, Superbowl Sunday, Valentine’s Day — there is another factor at work making it harder for the average citizen to avoid gaining weight: the days are shorter, colder, often filled with precipitation in various forms and generally less hospitable.
Not only does this mean we are less likely to engage in outdoor sports or forms of exercise such as jogging, tennis, and swimming, it also means that we flat-out just don’t move around as much on foot. We tend to drive more often, even to what would ordinarily be walking-distance destinations, or to simply postpone errands, meaning we don’t even walk to the car that day.
According to the February issue of Medicine & Science in Sports & Exercise, this means that we walk about 2,000 fewer steps in the winter than in the summer, which works out to approximately a mile, and considerably fewer calories expended.
A University of Pittsburgh study of middle-aged women specifically found them taking an average of just 5,304 steps in the winter, compared to 5,850 in the spring and fully 7,616 in the summer. That’s a 30 percent difference in daily walking distance, a fall off that could have real consequences, especially when health professionals recommend taking at least 10,000 steps per day total to begin with.
Other studies have shown that men, while they engage in more physical activity overall, experience a similar winter inactivity.
This is troubling to health professionals, who note that the maximum benefits of exercise come with consistency; episodic, occasional or random workouts aren’t nearly as efficient in burning energy. Yes, it’s miserable outside, but you know it’s for your own good to get out there and walk off some calories. Look at it this way: every minute you’re out in the cold is a minute you aren’t paying a budget-crippling amount to heat your home.
Failing that, at least bear in mind the fact that you are probably significantly less active this time of year in many subtle ways in addition to as steps taken, and you’d be wise, and healthier, to make a conscious effort to compensate by working physical activity into your daily routine as much as possible.
Weighing less and paying less: Not incompatible
If you are a typical American, the odds are that you are currently grappling with two problems: (1) money is tight and getting tighter; (2) the same can be said for your pants. The problem is that keeping your weight under control and your spending under control are often conflicting goals. Fortunately, there are a few choices you can make that help accomplish both goals.
Example 1: Fresh fruit and vegetables, however nutritious and low-cal they might be, can get rather pricey, especially during the winter months. As a result, some weight-watchers are tempted to simply bypass the produce section of the supermarket and substitute pasta or potato side dishes, or worse.
A much better idea would be, when fresh produce prices soar, to head for the frozen food aisle, where you will find an abundance of frozen fruits and veggies which for all practical purposes are as fresh and nutritious as the unfrozen version, having been harvested in their absolute prime and promptly flash frozen. But avoid frozen fruit with added sweeteners and veggies in cheese or butter or other rich sauces.
Example 2: There are few healthier food items than plain old unprocessed oatmeal; when flavored with diced or pureed fruit (fresh or frozen), it is as tasty, and cheaper than, the sweetened instant variety. If you’re strictly a cold cereal devotee, substitute shredded wheat in place of sugar-saturated “cereals” that are little more than snack food.
Example 3: Soups. And stews. And casseroles. They help to extend costly cuts of meat and poultry over several meals, and are a terrific way to incorporate inexpensive and health-enhancing legumes and vegetables into your menu.
Example 4: Breakfast is the least costly of the three daily meals, and considered by most dieticians to be the most important. Make it your biggest meal of the day (while minimizing the fatty breakfast meats), and you’ll tend to eat less, and thus spend less, the rest of the day.
Example 5: Desserts. On the one hand, you have your ice cream, cheesecake, pecan pie and their ilk. On the other hand, Jello. Case closed.
(By Robert S. Wieder for CalorieLab Calorie Counter News)
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