Eat your veg
make soups or curries with seasonal veg. Autumn also brings an abundance of apples and blackberries – try stewing them and use them as a topping for a warming breakfast with porridge.
Enjoy oily fish
Aim to have 1-2 servings as week. Oily fish provides a great source of omega 3 fatty acids, which help with fatigue and inflammation, and they also provide a small amount of that all important Vitamin D.
Drink a probiotic
It is now well documented that using a probiotic over the winter months can reduce the incidence of upper respiratory tract infections. Aim to take a daily supplement of probiotic drink to help you remain well over the winter months.
Boost your immune system
Absorbing sufficient sunlight to produce vitamin D is a pretty much impossible during a UK winter. Vitamin D is the go-to nutrient to help protect your immune function and mood. There are very few foods that provide you with it, so this one nutrient I would highly recommend you supplement during the winter months.
Don’t ditch the dairy
We have all heard that milk is the best choice of recovery drink after a hard training session. However, incorporating dairy throughout your day – aiming for around four servings a day, where a serving is 300ml milk, 150g yoghurt, 100g cottage cheese or a matchbox size portion of hard cheese – can help to maintain lean muscle mass.
Renee McGregor is a nutritionist and author of Fast Fuel. Follow her on Twitter: @mcgregor_renee
