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People tend to eat more in the winter months. Comfort foods like hot chips, muffins, 
and chocolate top craving lists and can become harder to resist.

There are many reasons for this trend :

• Cold, wet weather can interrupt your workout routine making it more likely 
to reach for comfort foods.
• Reduced daylight hours contribute to winter blues with mood swings triggering 
cravings.
• Food companies create greater temptations by advertising more comfort foods.
• You spend more time covered up so your motivation to keep in shape can decrease.
  

All these factors make it more important for you to manage your appetite in 
the colder months.

Appetite awareness

If overeating over winter doesn’t pose a problem because you 
easily burn off calories you may simply need to focus on planning your diet 
and fine tuning your meal pattern to top up your energy levels throughout the 
day.

However, when you’ve got a heavy workout schedule you want to fuel your body with just the right amount of energy, particularly from carbohydrates,but not too much that you end up with excess body fat. Getting better in tune with your hunger and appetite signals can help you get the right balance.



Here are some questions to ask yourself at times you tend to overeat:
Am I really hungry or just am I just bored or stressed? 

Particular moods can trigger overeating, so manage these moods first. For example, 
keep occupied to reduce boredom or help manage stress by means other than exercise 
if you need to. Regular massages are useful here.

Do I overeat when I’m distracted?

If you eat on the run or in front of the television you may consume too much 
because you are not listening too your stomach telling you you’re full. 
Try to take a break to just eat.

Do I eat too fast?

I call this ‘breaking the feed limit’. Slow down your whole eating 
experience. It takes 10-20 minutes from when you start eating for the natural 
hormones and chemicals produced by your gut to be recognised by your brain. 
Finishing your first course within 10 minutes can have you tucking into seconds 
or dessert with calories that you really don’t need.

If you want to feel fuller on fewer calories and still experience the comfort 
of a warm winter meal, add soup to your menu. See The Soup Strategy [below/left/right] 
for why.

Cutting chocolate cravings

Chocolate cravings can present a specific challenge. A little chocolate 
each day (a piece or two rather than a few bars) can be part of a healthful 
eating and fitness routine.

But when chocolate cravings get in the way of achieving a healthy diet, it’s 
emotional rather than biological triggers, which are likely to need attention. 
Becoming aware of eating triggers is a good place to start beating chocolate 
cravings.

Write down any triggers for a few days and think about what led to the trigger 
and how you could have avoided it. Often it’s planning meals and having 
satisfying alternatives to chocolate that help here rather than relying on willpower 
alone. Keeping healthier sweet treat foods like tubs of stewed fruit, trim vanilla 
custard or your favourite flavoured low-fat yoghurt handy in case of cravings 
can help get in way of having chocolate.

When you think you really need chocolate, ask yourself – “Do I need 
a lot of chocolate or do I just need a chocolate fix?” A fix of the taste 
of chocolate may be all you need for satisfaction.


Try these tips:

• Choose small serves like individually wrapped bit-sized bars, a Freddo 
Frog or Milky Way.
• Go for dark chocolate which has a more intense flavour.
•  Eat chocolate slowly and savour every bite. You may feel satisfied before 
you consume too much.
 

And for perhaps the ideal warming winter alternative to straight chocolate try 
a diet hot-chocolate drink. By implementing these strategies you’ll be 
able to maintain your energy levels in the right balance year round.

The Soup Strategy

To avoid a wider winter waistline, add some soup to your diet. Research 
shows that eating soup can help fill your stomach, decrease hunger and reduce 
the likelihood you’ll consume too many winter comfort foods.

Professor Barbara Rolls from Penn State University fed alternate preloads of 
chicken rice casserole and chicken rice soup to 24 lean women as a first course 
at lunch. She then measured how many calories they consumed overall for that 
meal. When the subjects consumed soup they ate 95 Cal (400 kJ) less for lunch 
than when they consumed the casserole.

In another study, Rolls instructed 200 overweight and obese subjects to follow 
an energy-restricted diet for a year. The group that was asked to consume two 
servings of low energy density soup daily lost 50% more weight than the group 
consuming the same amount of energy as high energy density snack foods.

If you feel you overeat during winter prepare a thermos of hot broth or low-fat 
soup for lunch or choose soup as your first course at dinner. Reduce the volume 
of food you serve after the soup as you’re likely to feel fuller sooner.

Matt O'Neill - MSc(Nut&Diet), BSpSc, Dietitian
www.smartshape.com.au