Weather you like it or not…oh wait, I mean whether (lol) you like it or not, winter time, darkness, and cold weather have arrived. For many of you, it means a yearning for those warm, hearty comfort foods to well, comfort you in this time when our systems (biology/physiology) change and thus change our lifestyles -our energy levels may dip, our cognitive functioning and moods morph (1, 2).  This can also mean those comfort foods leave you with some extra padding for cold protection especially since workouts tend to decrease in intensity and overall volume in the winter too.

Instead of setting yourself up for a harder to tackle, long list of New Year’s resolutions that typically involve better body composition (resolutions are not solutions but I digress), let’s nip at least one part of the typical health demise over the holidays in the bud. Here is an easy-to-do, no special skills required fitness-friendly comfort food recipe that is much lower in calories and higher in protein, fiber, and nutrients over the typical seasonal fares:

You will need the following but please feel free to experiment and break some rules by adding more or less based on your personal preferences. :

• Crock Pot/ Slow Cooker
• 2 cloves of garlic
• 1 white onion
• 3 large carrots peeled and cut
• 1 can of rinsed kidney beans
• 1 can of chickpeas
• 3 small or 2 medium peeled and cut sweet potatoes
• 1 can of peaches and cream corn (no sugar added)
• 2 lbs of boneless, skinless cut up chicken breast
• 1/2 teaspoon of ground cumin
• 1/4 teaspoon of ground cinnamon
• 1 tsp of iodized or pink salt
• 1 can of diced tomatoes (drain half the can if you want less of a soupy meal)

Throw it all in the pot/cooker on high for 4hrs. Remember, this is about a week’s worth of food here, in addition to whatever else you snack on during your hectic days and you can occupy yourself with other things to still be productive for the 4 hours this is cooking.

Another option is to freeze half of this and use it a week or two later and make another huge batch of healthful food, enough for a week, and swap them out.

There really are so many ways to make better choices. I hope you find this one as delicious and helpful as I did. If you make some adjustments, I would love to hear about it in the comments section.

Be well!

References:

1. Meyer, C., Muto, V., Jaspar, M., Kussé, C., Lambot, E., & Chellappa, S. L. (2016). Seasonality in human cognitive brain responses. https://doi.org/10.1073/pnas.1518129113
2. Knapton, S. (2015, October 14). ‘Eternal summer’ of artificial light and central heating could be harmful to health. Retrieved December 22, 2018, from https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/science/science-news/11929276/Eternal-summer-of-artificial-light-and-central-heating-could-be-harmful-to-health.html