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The George Mateljan Foundation, a not-for-profit foundation with no commercial interests, is a new force for change to help make a healthier you and a healthier world.

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Are there any foods to help you feel warmer? I am cold all the time.

Control of our body temperature takes place through a process called thermoregulation. It's a complicated process and involves basically all of our body systems: brain and nervous system, circulatory system, glands and hormonal system, skin, fatty tissue, muscles, and liver. To make things even more complicated, our experience of cold and warmth are not necessarily the same as our actual body temperature. When we're sick, for example, we can sometimes feel extremely cold even when we have a fever. If you feel cold all the time, we do not recommend that you start with food as a way of approaching this unwanted situation. We recommend that you consult with your healthcare provider and ask him or her to help you evaluate this situation in the context of your total health and complete body systems function.

At times we can feel cold and have decreased body temperatures from lack of food and calories, but this situation is not typical, and it would be very unlikely to apply to someone who felt cold all the time, unless that person were very poorly nourished, underweight, and had a deficient amount of body fat. We've also heard some people say that they feel colder after eating an oversized, high-fat meal, and while we've seen no research on this topic, it makes some sense to us because of the metabolic energy required to process an excessive amount of food. But we're not aware of any foods that can address the root problem of feeling cold all the time.

Some people describe themselves as feeling warmer after a warm beverage (like a cup of hot tea), or after enjoying a bowl or warm soup. We've also heard people say that they feel warmer when they make sure that their food contains some carbohydrates. That idea makes sense to us, since carbs are relatively quick in their digestion and could bring energy into the body relatively quickly. However, virtually all of the World's Healthiest Foods contain a reasonable amount of carbs, including fruits, vegetables, grains, beans and legumes, spices and herbs, and low-fat dairy products. So you are likely to be getting a reasonable amount of carbs with most of the World's Healthiest Foods.

If you are stuck at a desk in the workplace or caught up in a situation that doesn't naturally involve much physical movement, figuring out a way to increase movement and physical activity can sometimes be very helpful in feeling warmer. Movement and exercise involve heat production by the skeletal muscles as they work, and sometimes a relatively small amount of added movement can help a person feel much warmer.

"Thermogenic" Foods

"Thermogenic" or heat-producing foods have long been a topic of research interest, but the research in this area has been difficult to translate into practical, everyday food steps. We know that a certain amount of the energy stored up in the foods we eat is intended to help keep our body warm and help our body produce heat through a process called diet-induced thermogenesis, or DIT. We know that high-protein diets do a better job of triggering DIT than high-fat diets, and we also know that certain types of nutrients help to increase DIT. (The medium chain fats found in coconut oil are a good example of such nutrients.)

Only recently, however, have researchers begun to investigate the thermogenic properties of other foods, and particularly spices. Cayenne pepper and chili pepper have received the most research attention, and both have been found to have direct impact on our nervous system and sensation of temperature. (This impact is due to the interaction of one particular substance in these peppers-called capsaicin-with a particular family of cell membrane receptors and ion channels called the TRP family.) Their impact on the nervous system and sensation of temperature may put spices into their own unique category as thermogenic foods. While we have yet to see research studies showing that spices are a practical and dependable way for a person to warm up, the fact that spices clearly impact our nervous system and sensation of temperature means that you may want to do some experimenting of your own with spices like cayenne and chili pepper if you enjoy them, don't experience digestive or other problems when you consume them, and want to explore dietary changes that might potentially make a difference in your experience of too little body warmth.

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