Warm Greens vs Fresh Salads: Which is Better?
Hey Angels and Alphas,
Yes, it’s absolutely undeniable that salads are a fresh, light, and “clean” way you can get in all of your essential nutrients in and nurture, mineralize, and energize your body.
But when it comes to the cold months of Winter, Ayurvedic medicinal traditions have provided us (throughout history) with a few notable reasons why salads are probably not our best option if we have big fitness or weight-loss goals.
Today, we’re here to explore three reasons why salads might not be your best option during the cold winter months… and what you should use instead.
Let’s get started.
#1 YOUR BODY NEEDS SEASONAL INGREDIENTS IN ORDER TO SUPPORT OPTIMAL HEALTH
One reason you might skip fresh salads is that seasonal ingredients are those that are growing on farms around the world as you’re reading this.
Nature provides what living beings need right around the times they need it.
Apples are freshly ripe for deer to eat just as they’re building out their winter coats.
Grains are usually ready to be taken away by squirrels just around the time when squirrels start preparing for their winter slumber.
And if you, as a person, want to feel good inside your body, all while achieving the fitness goals you’ve set for yourself, you have to do your best to align those same natural rhythms to the foods that are available to you during the winter months.
These would be the foods that, during this specific season, feature the most nutrients, minerals, and the best bioavailability in the cold weather. It’s difficult to find light, leafy greens in the winter.
So what you should opt for are potatoes, hearty winter greens, root veggies, squash, and those leafy greens that are deep in color (and should be cooked to be digested properly.)
#2 YOU HAVE TO KEEP YOUR DIGESTION RUNNING SMOOTHLY IN THE WINTER MONTHS
Old ayurvedic medicine traditions always aim to remind us that the healthy, nourishing food we eat is only going to benefit our body if it’s properly digested.
And, for a lot of us, salads (especially salads made with deep leafy greens) might be difficult to properly digest. Especially in cold weather.
Fiber is one important factor of your overall digestive health, and it’s a nutrient you have to work around sometimes. For example, cooking our greens would not only make them more digestible and easier to process, but it would also allow them to retain all that healthy fiber. The takeaway? Cooking your salads in the winter is a must.
#3 STAYING WARM IS VITAL TO YOUR HEALTH & WEIGHT LOSS GOALS
Our bodies are constantly working overtime through the winter so keep us warm and allow us to execute our basic functions. Not to mention, help us fulfill our busy lives as students, athletes, parents, professionals, and people in general. Then, you go ahead and add fitness and weight-loss goals into the mix.
All of these targets can be made easier simply through the consumption of warmer foods in cold winter months. Since everything we consume would, on average, be colder, Ayurvedic medicine tells us to heat up things we consume to 98°F before we digest them.
And while initially, it may seem that giving your body more work will mean you’re burning extra calories, that’s not necessarily the case. The more work of this specific type that your body has to perform, the less likely it is to completely internalize and absorb the nutrients from healthy meals.
That’s why cooking your greens and eating warmer salads is a small tweak that you can implement in your winter diet that will make a massive difference in how much of the healthy nutrients you’re actually utilizing. Maximize your intake of powerful, plant-based nutrition, and you’ll be making it much easier for your body to process nutrients and use these nutrients to your body’s advantage.
The bottom line is…
Fresh salads are a non-negotiable staple in the spring and summer, but during the cold winter months, our bodies start wanting (and needing) warmer foods that are easier to digest, more nutrient-rich, and appropriate for a season in which we have to slow down our metabolism and stay warm.
During winter months, skip raw salads, and start cooking your greens if you want to increase the bioavailability of healthy nutrients and make the most out of every nutrient.
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