Spring nutrition - what should you be focusing on?

BY LORNA DRIVER-DAVIES, Head of Practitioners at Wild Nutrition.

 

When it comes to nutrition, what our bodies require ebbs and flows with each seasonal shift. But where do you start and what should you focus on as spring emerges?

1. Don’t be fooled by spring's sun rays - keep taking Vitamin D

The spring sunshine you are experiencing won’t yet provide you with strong enough UVB that's required to produce your own biological reserves of Vitamin D. In fact, you will know when the sun rays are strong enough by checking the height of your shadow. When your shadow is taller than you, you won’t be able to produce Vitamin D. Once it becomes shorter than you, you are in safer territory.

However, those who are at-risk (looking to conceive, pregnant, with dark skin, working indoors, experiencing poorer health) will still need to keep supplementing even in very sunny months. Vitamin D levels need to be optimal if you have menstrual cycle imbalances, PCOS or Endometriosis.

If you haven't been supplementing over the winter, you will be low so you will need to up your springtime dose to catch up. Speak to our expert Nutritional Therapist team if you don’t know how much to take.

2. Shed your dry winter skin: embrace spring hydration

Central heating and biting winter winds lead to dry skin that may look weathered. It's time to restore moisture levels for a hydrated natural glow with:

• Omega 3: consuming Omega 3 from oily fish supports hydration. Our bodies can't produce it so levels need to be built up from eating 2–3 portions of oily fish per week or supplementing. If you rarely eat it or do not supplement you will be deficient.
• Antioxidants: these support our immune system, so it's common to have lower levels by the time we hit spring. Antioxidants support skin health, especially when it comes to ageing and minimising damage from pollution and the toll of life (lack of sleep, stress, etc.)
• Hyaluronic acid (HA): this is a game changer and what you should be initially looking at if you want to preserve collagen reserves. HA gives our skin elasticity, hydrates and protects skin from the deep skin layers but HA levels decline as we age. It creates a special kind of ‘net’ in your tissue framework that essentially is like a basket for the collagen to sit in thereby supporting collagen levels.
  

3. Shift your appetite to 'spring' mode

We naturally eat heartier meals when it's colder and indulge during the festive season but then it can be harder to shift down a gear to lighter spring eating patterns. Your metabolism and blood sugar levels affect how hungry you are (portion sizing), how often you need to eat (set meals or constantly need to graze) and how well you can lose fat. So, what can you do to support this shift?

Firstly you can supercharge your metabolism by supplementing nutrients for your thyroid, such as iodine. Secondly, strengthening your gut health is also vital. Digestive function is key for resetting your appetite and supporting healthy bowel movements - if you don’t have a bowel movement each day you will find it harder to lose weight. For women especially, a regular bowel movement keeps hormones in check that can otherwise contribute to hormone-related weight gain and bloating.

When you can digest your food better you can have better bowel movements, absorb more nutrients from the food you eat and achieve satiety (fullness from meals). To better support your gut, increase your oily fish intake, increase your fibre intake (you need 30g a day), drink two litres of water a day, and include good bacteria in your diet.