Winter’s approaching. Are those pounds creeping on again? Perhaps you have a winter weight and a summer weight. Or maybe you always carry extra weight, regardless of the time of year, and it doesn’t seem to want to shift! This could be because you are low in certain nutrients: the ones involved in regulating fat storage.
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Amira’s story
Since she was a little girl Amira had loved cooking. Her mum, from South India, had taught Amira many traditional recipes. Amira always cooked from scratch, and her family sat down together for healthy, home-cooked meals.
She loved visiting her mum’s family in India, especially in winter. The UK winter, with its unrelenting grind of drizzle and grey skies, always left her feeling low and desperate for spring. Last year had been particularly hard going.
She’d coped quite well with the lockdown at first. But after a while, being cooped up in a flat with young children and a garden the size of a postage stamp began to get to her. Plus, her daughter had recently started nursery and seemed to pass on constant colds and runny noses.
When the warmer weather arrived, Amira had got out her summer clothes, with relief—only to be dismayed when she couldn’t quite squeeze into her favorite dress. For the past months, living in jogging bottoms, she hadn’t noticed the pounds slowly sneaking up.
Amira hadn’t been out in the sunshine so much over the last year. Sunshine on our skin is our main source of vitamin D (although in the UK, your skin doesn’t make vitamin D from sunshine during the winter months). As Almira has darker skin, it is not as efficient at converting sunlight into vitamin D.
Whilst Amira ate healthily, she didn’t eat fish or eggs, the key food sources of vitamin D. Being low in vitamin D was increasing her susceptibility to the colds and the bugs she kept picking up. And it may well have been a factor in her increasing weight.
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What low calcium, magnesium, and vitamin D affect your weight
If you are low in calcium, magnesium, or vitamin D, you are more likely to be overweight. To absorb calcium, you need vitamin D. To absorb and use calcium and vitamin D, you need magnesium. These micronutrients work together.
Read Also About Foods High in Magnesium
Calcium and vitamin D are involved in how your body regulates and stores fat. Getting enough calcium helps you burn calories. If you don’t get enough calcium, your body becomes more efficient at storing fat. Having sufficient calcium and vitamin D may also reduce abdominal fat. Our main source of vitamin D is sunlight.
If you become low in vitamin D, this may signal to your body that winter has arrived, triggering a move to a winter metabolism. A winter metabolism may cause you to gain weight, as a larger body size provides more protection against cold.
Fat also provides a way to store energy, as your body is designed to expect food scarcity in winter. It does not know that, nowadays, food is readily available all year round. Many people are low in vitamin D, and some researchers have suggested that obesity would be less common if we had better vitamin D levels. But having a good vitamin D and calcium intake is not enough. You need sufficient magnesium to absorb them. The higher your magnesium intake, the less likely you are to be obese.
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Quick questionnaire—Is low calcium, magnesium or vitamin D contributing to your weight?
If you answer Yes to three or more questions in any of the questionnaires, then you may be low in that nutrient, making it harder to lose weight.
Are you low in calcium?
Do you suffer from joint pain or arthritis?
Do you have problems with tooth decay?
Do you have high blood pressure?
Do you get muscle cramps?
Do you have problems sleeping?
Do you feel nervous or have a lot of stress in your life?
Are you low in magnesium?
Do you have muscle weakness or fatigue?
Do you have muscle spasms or cramps?
Do you have high blood pressure?
Do you have an irregular heartbeat?
Do you have problems sleeping?
Are you often constipated?
Do you suffer from depression?
Are your vitamin D levels low?
Do you suffer from joint pain or arthritis?
Do you have muscle cramps?
Do you have problems with tooth decay?
Do you suffer from backache?
Are you losing your hair?
Is your immune system low?
Do you often get bugs?
Do you have dark skin?
Or do you rarely go out in the sun?
Or if you do expose your skin to the sun, do you wear sunscreen or moisturizer, or cosmetics with SPF-15 or above?
Key things you have learned in this article
Calcium, magnesium, and vitamin D work together in your body. If you are low in any of these nutrients, you are more likely to be overweight.
Calcium and vitamin D are involved in how your body regulates and stores fat. If you don’t get enough calcium, your body becomes more efficient at storing fat.
Our main source of vitamin D is sunshine on our skin. If you are low in vitamin D, your body may think winter is coming and store fat. Fat provides protection against the cold and serves as an energy source if food is scarce.
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