Spring Nutrition - what should you be focusing on?
What our bodies need more or less of in terms of nutrition, changes with each season. Clever nutrition doesn’t mean sticking to the same regimes for 12 months of the year. What should we be focusing on for Spring?
1. Keep taking Vitamin D: Don’t be fooled by spring sun-rays
The spring sunshine you are experiencing won’t yet provide you with the strength of UVB rays from the sun that are 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 into safer territory. But, those who are in at risk groups (looking to conceive, pregnant, dark skin, spending time 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.
By the way, if you were not supplementing over the winter, you will be low so you will need to up your springtime dose to catch up. Speak to our expert Nutrition team if you don’t know how much to safely supplement.
2. Shed your dry winter skin: embrace spring hydration
Central heating and biting winter winds create dry skin that may look weathered. It's time to put back moisture for a hydrated natural glow.
- Diet wise, you need to be consuming Omega 3 from oily fish to support hydration. We can’t make it in the body 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.
- Put back antioxidants: Antioxidants during the winter support our immune system, so it can be easier to have lower levels by spring time. Antioxidants support skin health, especially when it comes to ageing and minimising damage from pollution and the toll of life (lack of sleep, stress).
- Hyaluronic acid is another game changer when we look at the science of skin health. So much hype is about collagen - and not to give collagen the respect it deserves but HA (Hyaluronic Acid) is what you should be looking at initially if you want collagen reserves to stick around. HA levels decline as we age and HA is what gives our skin elasticity, hydrates and protects skin from the deep skin layers. HA creates a special kind of ‘net’ in your tissue framework that essentially is like a basket for the collagen to sit in and thereby supporting collagen levels.
3. Shift your appetite and weight to ‘lighter’ spring mode
We naturally eat heartier meals when it's colder and indulge during the festive season. It can then be a slightly harder shift to go down a gear to lighter spring eating patterns. What can make a difference is supporting your metabolism and blood sugar. This affects 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. What can you do?
- Supercharge your metabolism through supplementing nutrients for your thyroid. I love our Energy Support that includes nutrients such as iodine.
- Digestive function is also 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. Especially for women, a regular bowel movement keeps hormones in check that would contribute to hormone-related weight gain and bloating. 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, include good bacteria in your diet.
- When we can digest our food better we can then have better bowel movements, but also help you get better nutrition out of the food you eat and promote satiety (fullness from meals).
