The combination of the long, dark wet & cold winter evenings means we’re all spending more time indoors over the winter than we would say, during the summer.

Why does this matter? Instead of going for a walk, doing some work outdoors or just spending more time in nature, we’re doing the opposite – spending more time indoors, sitting down more, watching Netflix more or the dangerous one - spending more time than necessary in the kitchen.

We all know that eating is not only something we enjoy doing, but it’s also an activity – it gives us something to do.

Often, we eat out of habit – we don’t even realise it. Here’s an example.

Have you ever walked into the kitchen with absolutely no intention at all to eat something? Then as you walked in, you saw something on the table that was easy and convenient to grab like a chocolate biscuit. Or it may have even

been a piece of fruit such as some grapes or berries.

The food itself doesn’t matter – it’s the action that counts. And the action is you eating even though you had no intention of doing so prior to entering the kitchen. And this is a challenge that comes with the long, cold winter evenings.

We’re naturally spending more time indoors which means the potential and temptation to eat more is always there.

Combine this with the fact that supermarkets are stocking up on tins of biscuits, boxes of sweets, selection boxes and multi-packs of crisps making it easier than ever to give into short-term pleasures.

Essentially, shorter and darker evening means that not only are we spending more time in the kitchen, but the type of food in our environment this time of year is more likely to be low nutrient, high sugar foods.