Start whenever you like

Wintering Well: Living, eating and thriving with the season

Butter bean and leek stew with kale and lemon

One of three pots for the week, from Warmth.

Porridge with stewed apple and toasted seeds

One of three breakfasts for dark mornings, from Light.

Spiced apple and ginger tea

Something warm to drink in the evening, from Rest.
A four part course for the dark months. Light, Warmth, Rest and Company, with the science in plain English and something lovely to cook and enjoy in every section.

Somewhere around the end of October the light goes, and a lot of us go with it. We are hungrier and more tired, and we see fewer people. Most of us decide the fault is ours. It's not. This course will guide you through creating and living your best season.

Four parts, taken in any order

The course takes four things that winter changes, which are light, appetite, rest and company, and gives each one a part of its own. Every part gives you the science in plain English and something to cook. It also borrows one practice from a country with longer winters than ours, and it ends with one small change that you choose yourself.

The parts can be taken in any order and nothing is tied to a date, so you can start whenever winter gets to you.

There are forty short pages, most of them a few minutes of reading. You also get twelve recipes and a set of printable worksheets for each part.

This course is written for the ordinary winter dip. It is not a treatment for depression. Seasonal affective disorder is a type of depression that comes in winter and lifts in summer, and it is a matter for your GP.

Light

What short days do to your body clock, and where some daylight could fit into your weekday. The borrowed practice is Norway’s habit of going out whatever the weather, and the kitchen page has breakfasts for dark mornings.

Warmth

Why you are hungrier in winter, and how to build a plate that carries you through a dark afternoon. The borrowed practice is hygge from Denmark, and the kitchen page has three pots for the week.

Rest

What is known about sleep and the seasons, and what is not. The borrowed practice is the Japanese bath before bed, and the kitchen page has early suppers and something warm to drink.

Company

How to tell a welcome night in from the kind that leaves you lower. The borrowed practice is fika from Sweden, and the kitchen page has food for a small table.
Meet your instructor
Kim Close is a nutritionist, lecturer and food writer based in Northern Ireland. With a background in psychology and culinary nutrition, she has spent over a decade teaching how food influences mood, cognition and long-term health.

She is Head of Cognition at the Food for the Brain Foundation and the founder of Whole Health 360, where she combines evidence-based nutrition with practical cookery and behaviour-change science. She holds a BSc in Psychology (1st class) and qualifications in Behaviour Change, Health Coaching and Nutritional Therapy, and is a fully qualified higher level lecturer. Kim is currently studying and carrying out research for a PhD in Lifestyle Medicine.
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