Can "stocking up on meat" really help you keep warm in winter? Here's the truth!

“I’m freezing to death, I need to stock up on meat to keep warm” and “Gaining weight is the minimum respect for winter”… But can “stocking up on meat” really help keep warm?

What kind of "meat" are you stockpiling?

The heat in the human body mainly comes from the energy-generating nutrients in food, including three major categories of substances: protein, carbohydrates (sugars) and lipids. These three major nutrients can undergo biological oxidation and phosphorylation in the body to release energy, and the main place to complete this metabolism is the mitochondria in the cells.

The human body's adipose tissue is divided into white adipose tissue and brown adipose tissue. The difference is that brown adipose tissue contains a large number of mitochondria. When the body eats or encounters cold stimulation, it can produce a large amount of heat and quickly supply energy, which is beneficial for cold resistance. In addition, adipose tissue also has buffering and heat insulation functions. Thicker subcutaneous fat can wrap heat in the body, which can prevent body heat from dissipating and help keep warm. Moreover, fat is the most important substance for storing energy and the nutrient with the highest energy supply coefficient. Usually, 1 gram of fat can produce 9 kilocalories of heat, while 1 gram of sugar and 1 gram of protein can produce 4 kilocalories of heat respectively. Adipose tissue is like an energy warehouse for the body to use when needed.

It seems that fat is the best way to keep warm. But is this really the case?

Although brown fat has its own "heat generator", it has nothing to do with "fat people are resistant to cold" because the overweight and obesity we often talk about are almost all white fat that does not produce heat.

"Cold resistance" also depends on muscles

The amount of brown fat decreases with age, and is generally higher in newborns, but much lower in adults. Therefore, children are usually more afraid of heat than adults, and in addition to their high metabolism and active nature, a relatively high amount of brown fat is also a reason.

In addition, white fat cells contain very few mitochondria, while muscle cells are rich in mitochondria. It can be said that muscles are the main organs that produce heat in the human body.

Therefore, for people with a "pseudo-obese" body shape (high fat content and little muscle), even if there is sufficient fuel (nutrients), the heat production efficiency will be greatly reduced due to the lack of conditions (mitochondria) to promote its combustion.

To use an analogy, fat is like clothes and blankets wrapped around the body, which can block the wind and prevent the loss of body heat, but cannot generate heat for the body. Muscles are like a heating pad or electric blanket with a self-charging function in the body, which can continuously generate heat and provide energy for the body.

Therefore, no matter how much fat you store on your body to prevent heat dissipation, if you don't have enough muscle mass and your own heat production is limited, you will still not be able to resist cold or keep warm.

Therefore, to keep warm and resist freezing, you cannot rely on thick fat. Active resistance to the cold requires developed muscles.

How to build muscle by turning passive into active?

1. Ensure adequate protein intake

As the saying goes, "Fitness depends on exercise for 30% and diet for 70%". If you want to grow muscles, you need to consume enough protein. Protein can not only increase satiety, but also prevent muscle loss while reducing fat, and increase the body's basal metabolic rate.

Lean meat, poultry, fish, shrimp, eggs, milk and soy products are all good sources of high-quality protein and can be preferred during weight loss and fitness. However, it should be noted that meat has a high fat content. If it is cooked in a "heavy" way, the calorie intake will inevitably exceed the standard. Therefore, if you want to gain muscle and lose fat, you still need to "control oil, salt and sugar" and resist the temptation of foods such as skewers, instant noodles, milk tea and sweets.

“So can we eat hotpot?” Of course we can. If we eat hotpot in the right way, we won’t “hoard meat”.

The first choice is a clear soup pot, with a seasoning of minced garlic + aged vinegar + soy sauce + coriander, add a little sesame paste or peanut butter for dipping, choose vegetables + beef + soy products + mushrooms, and then pair it with some potatoes, corn or lotus root as the staple food. It not only ensures nutrition, but also satisfies the appetite, and does not affect weight loss, but don't eat too much.

2. Choose high-quality carbohydrates

Eating more will make you gain weight, but what you gain may not be muscle.

Therefore, in your daily diet, while increasing your protein intake, don't forget to appropriately reduce your total calorie intake. Eat three meals at regular times and in fixed quantities, don't overeat, eat a good breakfast, eat less at night, and it's better to feel a little hungry before going to bed.

In addition, reduce the intake of refined white rice and flour products, increase the proportion of whole grains, beans and potatoes, replace part of white rice with sweet potatoes, yams, taro, etc., and develop the habit of eating whole grains. These whole grains are rich in dietary fiber, which can reduce the absorption of cholesterol in the intestine, regulate gastrointestinal function, and help lower blood lipids and control weight.

3. Focus on strength training

Resistance exercise is what we often call strength training. It is an active exercise in which muscles overcome external resistance during exercise. It can exercise the body's bones and muscles well and improve muscle strength and explosive power.

Resistance exercise can be divided into bodyweight exercise and equipment exercise.

For freehand exercise, you can choose plank support, push-ups, pull-ups, crawling and squat jumps, etc., using your own body weight to contract your muscles. In addition, you can also use some equipment, such as dumbbells, barbells, kettlebells, yoga balls, elastic bands, sandbags, bottled water, etc. for weight training to achieve the purpose of muscle growth.

Some projects can be completed at home. For example, you can do freehand exercises and exercises with small dumbbells, elastic bands and other small equipment in the early stage, and then slowly increase the intensity according to your own situation, step by step. If you don’t want to go to the gym in the cold winter, it’s completely fine to “lift weights” at home.

Tips: When the weather is cold, you should do this to warm up your Yang Qi

Do not expose your head, neck, limbs, and keep warm

With the improvement of living conditions, people usually have air conditioners and heaters in winter. The indoor temperature is relatively high, and many people wear thin clothes, which makes it easy for cold air to enter the body and cause diseases. Take the head as an example. Traditional Chinese medicine believes that the head is the meeting point of all yang. In winter, the temperature is low and the wind is strong. The head is particularly susceptible to cold. Cold is the source of all diseases. If cold air accumulates for a long time, the human body will naturally get sick.

Whether indoors or outdoors, it is recommended that you keep warm, especially the head, neck, hands and feet, which are prone to cold. Wear a hat, scarf, and appropriate clothing. In addition, it is recommended to soak your feet in hot water every night.

Do not overeat, eat proper supplements

When it comes to winter health care, the first thing that comes to mind for many friends is "eating". Indeed, diet is very important for winter health care, but we should also pay attention to the dietary structure and not blindly take supplements. Unrestrained consumption of high-energy and nutrient-dense foods such as meat and animal liver can provide the body with more heat to resist the cold, but these foods contain more animal fat. Excessive consumption will cause excess energy. Once too much fat accumulates in the body, it will also lead to chronic diseases such as high blood pressure and hyperlipidemia.

Therefore, it is recommended that the winter diet can include Poria cocos and wolfberry pigeon soup, Cistanche spareribs and kidney-tonifying soup, etc., you can also eat yam and lily porridge, Polygala tenuifolia and jujube kernel porridge, etc. You can also eat more kelp, cabbage, leek, sweet potato, red dates, radish and other foods, mainly warming and tonic, and adjust in time according to your physical condition.