In general, I am a depressed girlie. In winter, my serotonin well runs extra dry. Regular depression + seasonal affective disorder (SAD) + lack of executive function = a real struggle for me to do even the most basic things some days.
Like, for instance, make dinner.
SAD is a type of depression that occurs seasonally, most often in the winter, but it can occur in the warmer months as well. It typically makes people feel low energy and, yes, sad.
For winter SAD, an additional symptom can be overeating and a craving for carbs. This makes it even harder to resist ordering something cheesy, carby, and fried at the end of the day instead of cooking. And some days I do.
And that’s okay!
But I know I feel much better when I eat more veggies and less processed food (and don’t spend all my money on takeout). So I came up with a few incredibly easy, almost zero-effort meals that I can make that are comforting and healthy(ish).
Basically, my strategy is to take the easiest thing on-hand to make and up the nutrient density by adding things like veggies, herbs, and seeds.
I know, not exactly groundbreaking stuff. But having these easy go-to’s has been enormously helpful to me this winter.
Last note—I use a lot of spinach. Spinach has a ton of nutrients and is easy to prepare, whether raw or cooked. This is key, because my brain doesn’t always make sense. Some days sauteing a bit of spinach is doable, and other days, it feels downright impossible.
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