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I hate winter

aimeeaimee Raw Newbie

I don't know about you guys, but I do not like this season. What I hate the most is the darkness, it really depresses me. I wish I could just hibernate till spring. Why isn't Christmas in February? By then there would be more light. All this busyness and moving around seems so unnatural at thistime of year. The Christmas season definantly is not a "joyful" season for me, I can hardly wait for all this stress to be over with.

I find people are also in very bad moods at this time of year. Everyone is grouchy and cranky.

How do you feel about winter?

Comments

  • angie207angie207 Raw Master

    Better when I take a vitamin D supplement. :)

  • I find that I sleep an extra hour to two hours a night when it's winter especially because it get's so dark early and remains dark until 8am. I also find that my diet is somewhat compromised as my body craves heavier, foods like bread to keep warm. I'm a little person with not much flesh on above the hips. Once or twice a week my body craves a good quality wholegrain bread. To justify eating this, I pretty much put a huge salad in it to compensate. My body, during this time, is very thankful. I also drink a lot of herbal tea to warm my back. For some stupid reason my entire back is always freezing, no matter how many layers I'm wearing. Having said that, as soon as the weather is warm, my body craves nothing but greens greens greens blueberries and tomatos. It all works out in the wash for me.

    Having said all that, I actually love winter. I love the fresh stinging cold air om my face and I love walking round like a snowman in all my layers. It's also a nice feeling snuggling in bed and listening to the pelting rain and howling wind outside.

    I say, give winter a chance!!!

  • For me, winter is just the build up to christmas which i swear is just another excuse for my parents to argue about who gets the kids, and once christmas is over its just the build up to exams.

    I hate this time of year. An i agree with you about the stress.

    Hey at least us girls get to go shopping for clothes to wear for the endless meals with family members........thats gotta be one plus right?

    x

  • JoyceHJoyceH Raw Newbie

    aimee - so sorry you don't enjoy the winter season. I see you are in Germany. How far are you from some snow? Could you get out and try some cross crountry or downhill skiing? or maybe a snowshoe hike? I live in a cold snowy part of the world where winter begins in November and doesn't truly end until the beg of April. I find that doing some outdoor activities saves my sanity :-) And having some indoor hobbies as well helps too like reading and playing a few tunes on the ol flute. I personally like the change of seasons. I do wish winter wasn't so long and there was more daylight. But the other evening, my husband and I watched the twilight from our little sunroon and enjoyed the colors and shadows on the snow as the sun went down.....

    On the raw side of things, I've been experimenting with more fun recipes during the weekends. This past Saturday it was insanely cold outside, but I was warm inside with the fire going in the wood stove and some yummies in the dehydrator. So nice to hang out in the kitchen and make raw food treats :-)

    Best of luck :-)

  • For me Raw is hard in the winter. I'm home for Christmas. Home is Massachusetts. And raw, cold food makes me freeze! I have noticed that began I eat more nuts and bananas. in Oct..and have subsequently gained weight...which is fine...but I'm still COLD. Guess I need to drink more tea...but tea usually makes me sleepy! I definitely don't miss the overeating at parties. That was miserable. I do miss the unity that eating together brings though.

    I hate the gift giving. I'd rather just do an exchange and enjoy peoples company than everyone having to buy and give stuff to everyone. The gift giving causes most of the stress, I think. That and families who dont get along feel obliged to "fake it" or make things worse.......wish people would slow down and breath. I do like to give gifts...but because I know someone needs or enjoys something..not because I HAVE to...it's amazing how we do ourselves in as a society.

  • heartshapedskyheartshapedsky Raw Newbie

    Exercise those endorphins by bouncing, running, lifting small hand held weights, do jumping jacks, etc, and sleep a bit more at night. These are the things that are currently helping me get through being iced-in. All the best, by the way- I don't like winter too much either.

  • aimeeaimee Raw Newbie

    I'm in Berlin and it doesn't snow much. It only gets sloshy. Sometimes we'll end up having black ice, which is lots of fun trying to get to work or whereever.

    I agree I should get moving, and cross country skiing would fit me more then downhill.

    I remember Christmas in the States, I'm originally from southwest Missouri and we had lots of snow. As a kid I loved it. Besides I was the only child in the family for 10 years, so that meant I got spoiled rotten. My parents were divorced and I had Christmas dinner and presents at least 3 times pro season. I can remember sleighing and shoveling paths in the snow (that went up over my head) with my Grandpa. The ladies in the kitchen chatting and making all kinds of "good" food. And then passing out on the couch after dinner.

    Now I have to organize everything and I'm far away from home. My husbands family is slightly dysfunctional and make it hard for me to feel at home. This year, after everybody grumbeling about so much work I agreed to fix the freakin turkey, the sweet potatoes, the stuffing, the vegetables, the rolls, plus make vegetarien fare for my family. And they are still grumpy that they have to make the peel and cook the potatoes for 22 people. I just don't get it.

    Next year I'm not doing and freakin thing and as far as I'm concerned we can fly to Florida for the holidays. Or rent a ski hut in Austria. Both options are tthe same cost wise.

  • I live in Finland and I just love winter. I love the cold air, it makes me feel good, not feeling so hot all the time. And I love the winter sports, especially cross-country skiing. There is nothing more (mind)relaxing to me than skiing in a snowy forest. Although it's very dark (the length of the day being 3 h 38 min and still getting shorter) I feel like I'm getting more active in winter and having more energy. But maybe my happy happy attitude and feelings are there because I know what nice things I can do in winter and I don't really focus on those gloomy things.

  • Ooh, winter can be challenging, being dark, damp and cold. Stay cosy and make nice food. Enjoy the downtime, less 'out there' kind of thing. Light candles, meditate, exercies to music, get fresh air and sunlight when it does shine. Maybe consider vit D supplement. Eat fresh fruit high in antioxidants, making up nice seasonal fruit salads with ginger added. At least we have Christmas to cheer us up with all the lights and razzmatazz.

     

  • I'm in california right now. It's rainy today, but it's mostly warm and sunny during the winter months. It's wierd. I'm from new york and I use to wish for warm winters but now that I have it, it's really plain. Mainly because it's just the same weather all year round, you loose sense of time, and you never have spring to look forward to. I remember in new york, during the holidays it would snow, it was cold, i felt like i was in hibernation. Then spring would come and I would be so ecstatic. Everyone in Manhattan island gets so cheerful when spring comes. The weather change creates movement and excitement. Here it's nice pretty frequently. Don't get me wrong, I love nice weather, but I also enjoy feeling the earths weather move and I can feel time and seasons happen. Once you're without it, you kinda miss it...

  • Usually I don't mind the winter season. I'm horrible with cold weather as I'm CONSTANTLY freezing, seriously, the hot shower at night is the only real warmth I get during the day. But this is my first raw winter and it's awful! My body is not craving fruits, greens, veggies, or smoothies! I can't believe it - I have come to despise smoothies! I just can't do it right now. I'm not eating any greens, and I'm finding I want fruit less and less. Raw winter has turned out really hard for me. All my body wants are warm meals. I'm trying my best to stick to raw, sometimes eating one cooked meal a day (that has seemed to be the case in the last week or so), but I don't even like that i'm doing that, but i just can't eat my raw food with ease like I used to in the warmer months. I feel really guilty for eating cooked food, I just can't help it. I strive to be 100% but just can't in this cold weather. I too am petite with low body fat. It feels like most days I just rather go hungary than eat cooked food, but I have such a hard time keeping warm... :(

  • angie207angie207 Raw Master

    Eloisa - have you tried eating more nuts/seeds/grains/bananas/avocados/dates? I seem to gravitate toward eating more calorie-dense foods when it's cold. Also, a way I like to get my greens in the wintertime is to make kale salad (look up "rock & roll kale salad" on this site for a place to start). Smoothies, cucumbers & lettuce don't do it for me in the wintertime. :P

  • seaweedseaweed Raw Newbie

    I'm from a tropical-weather small village on the coast of Mexico- but I live in the Northwest so I've been having the hardest time getting adjusting to the cold! i'd never seen snow before!

    and while the snow is beautiful, the fires cozy, and all the cuddling that happens keeps me warm, I go CRAZY when the sun disappears!

    I try to keep very busy during the dark months...I signed up at a gym so there are classes I can fill my schedule with, plus school and work and etc etc. Keeps me moving.

    Something I noticed was that, on a 95% raw diet, my body naturally started to gain weight. I don't think my fat consumption has increased alarmingly, perhaps my body just started storing nutrients in preparation for the cold days. I definitely started craving more dates and dried fruits, along with saltier things like dulse and nori. While I definitely don't mind gaining weight within reason, it still makes me feel more self-conscious and sluggish when I notice my face has rounded out a bit. Plus the winter blues are for sure kicking in! AAAARRRGH

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