I’m not one to make a big deal out of winter, because I love it. However, after a winter that was long and harsh on my plants, it was nice to get this little reminder that we still have a few weeks of snow-free time before spring arrives. It’s a reminder that I need to keep my plants healthy and well-fed, and that I’m not neglecting my home.
Winter is hard on all of us, but especially on plants. To keep them happy and healthy, we need to make sure they have a plentiful supply of nutrients and water. Winter actually can make a plant sick. By giving it a cold, wet, and miserable winter, it essentially kills it. A plant can die if it isn’t properly nourished.
A lot of people have a hard time with this. Winter is a time of year that many people avoid because of the idea that it can kill their plants. We call this the “winter blues” which describes feeling tired, grumpy, and generally down on yourself. It’s a natural reaction.
This is actually a very common reaction to a cold. Even people who want to start a new business have to deal with the “winter blues” after a long winter. To ease the pain, many people take it easy with their diet in order to get rid of any winter blues. Some people cut out gluten, dairy, and nuts. I can’t remember what else they take to get rid of their winter blues.
It may seem counterintuitive to eat something so healthy to make your winter blues fade away, but many people actually feel better when they eat more fruits and veggies. A recent study found that a diet high in fruits and vegetables resulted in a significant decrease in depression and a decrease in general stress.
The point is that the more plant-based your diet is, the more likely you will feel healthier and less stressed. This is especially true if you eat a lot of fruits and veggies.
What’s more, studies consistently show that eating fresh fruits and vegetables can actually be good for your waistline. People who eat more fruits and vegetables tend to have a lower body-mass index (BMI), which is a measure of a person’s weight and height. By eating more fruits and veggies, you are literally lowering your BMI, allowing you to shed more fat and put on less belly fat. To put it another way, you are basically gaining weight while your belly muscle is growing.
This is all well and good, but what about the other side? I’ve been on a diet and a lot of it has involved eating more fruits and veggies as well as making my body sweat out fat. The problem is with that type of diet, I’m seeing it in my own weight loss efforts. I’ve tried to make myself eat more fruits and vegetables, but it’s just not working.
The thing I’ve noticed is that when I’ve been doing a lot of cardio, I’ve been gaining weight. I’m always telling people that I’ve been eating a ton of fruits and veggies, but I’m just not getting into the fat burning phase. Why? Well, I think when you work out, you sweat out all the fat stored in your muscles.
You can’t just expect to lose 10 pounds or even 10+ pounds without working out. That’s the difference between a really lean body-builder and a really fat one. A person who’s burning fat and muscle for the sake of losing fat can’t only lose weight. They also have to be eating more and more vegetables.