Cold Weather, Hot Foods

With the weather being cold, and not warming up anytime soon, we often look to heat in our AC units, clothes, and even food. With the cold weather at JWU, it looks like the biggest thing we can look to is none other than food. Or rather the ingredients we can put into our food.

1. Garlic and Root Vegetables

These ingredients are known to process through the body slowly and also enhance thermogenesis, which is the body's process of metabolizing a nutrient to produce heat. These ingredients can make for a great soup to heat you up during the winter with the perfect bite.

2. Ginger

You may be thinking, “What can I make with ginger to warm me up?” You can enjoy ginger in a freshly brewed hot cup of tea. Ginger also has properties that allow it to relax blood vessels and will increase your blood flow, therefore causing a warming effect in your body!

3. Coffee

Maybe you are on your way to your early 7 am labs or maybe 8 am class, either way, you can stop by the Starbucks on campus and grab yourself a cup. Coffee, like garlic and root vegetables,  activates thermogenesis but coffee activates this through its caffeine.

4.  Cinnamon

Maybe you have your coffee or food cooked and need to just add something on top. Well, look no further than the spices of Cinnamon and Cayenne. Cinnamon has thermogenic properties as well as can boost memory, learning, and mood which is another great way to start your mornings off with that coffee. 

5. Cayenne 

Cayenne is seen as spicy and in warmer climates are used to cool you down through sweating. But cayenne is quite a versatile spice as it can warm you up as well. The spice contains a phytochemical that can heat your body and digests slowly, making you warmer for longer.

Using all of our culinary abilities given to us by JWU or even skills we have learned on our own, I hope you all can stay warm out in these cold winter weathers!