In addition to the significant changes you witness in energy bills and how you dress during winter, the chilly weather also affects your body. Your food preference, metabolism, and even energy levels change drastically during winter. Winter May Actually Make You Hungrier Many parts of the Northern Hemisphere are chillier and darker this time of year. Could those factors affect the foods you’re hankering for? Some researchers suspect cool weather may trigger an evolutionary relic inside us to fatten up to survive tough environmental conditions, the way many other animals do. A previous study found that participants consumed an average of 86 more calories per day in autumn/fall compared with spring and ate more fat and saturated fat in the winter months. But the researchers who conducted that study also noted that over the course of a year that magnitude of “extra” calories was fairly small. Another theory is that the change of season may influence the balance of some of the hormones that control hunger and appetite. A prior review that looked at data in people and in animals found that seasonal changes did affect many hormones related to hunger and appetite, including glucocorticoids, ghrelin, and leptin. The feeling of skipping the gym and eating…
