How to: make winter eating your healthiest
We crave hearty meals like stews, soups, roasted vegetables and pretty much anything that warms us from the inside out. “Hibernation mode” can also be a time where we prefer heavier, richer food, especially dishes that we think will not only please our taste buds, but the rest of our senses too.
Between the weather, holidays and time change, it can lead to comfort and emotional eating. Emotional eating is one way we choose to cope with this time of year when we are searching for attention, calm or alleviation.
Once you understand the reasoning behind comfort and emotional eating during the winter, you just need a little mindfulness and preparation, and you can work around it.
Here are 3 simple tools to help you feel empowered and in control of your “hibernation mode:”
1. Make healthier versionsTake your favorite comfort food recipes and make them with healthier ingredients. You can add or substitute veggies, use a plant-based version of the ingredient, and leave off the meat and dairy. Think cauliflower rice, meatless chili or stew, spinach enchiladas with nut cheese, or avocado instead of bacon.*Hint: the same method applies when ordering at a restaurant.
2. Stock up on pre-prepared meals
Don’t feel like cooking? No problem. There are delicious, healthy pre-made, frozen fresh meals to have in your freezer and ready to go when you’re hungry. If you aren’t left starving with no options, you’re much more likely to make healthier decisions.
3. Do something else
To find out if it’s a real food craving, do something else first, but the key is to tell yourself you can eat it when you’re finished. Try to take a walk, call someone that makes you happy, pick something on your to-do list (and actually do it), take a bath, make yourself a warm drink or have someone give you a hug. Then if you still really want to eat it, let yourself do it. Many times you will be distracted and forget all about it, or satisfy the craving another way.
Embrace the winter months and learn to reap the same benefits, without the unhealthy ingredients. Veestro makes it so easy, you don’t even have to leave your house to eat wholesome, nutritious, satisfying meals. No freezer should be left without some of our top winter dishes: thai chick’n stew, enchilada casserole, red curry with tofu. 
Read more about 5 winter superfoods for more energy.
