Four types of foods to eat more of in your summer diet.

Heat is a prominent feature of summer, so our diet must be adjusted accordingly. So what changes are needed for a summer diet? What foods should we eat throughout the summer to maintain our health? This article will provide you with detailed answers:

I. Eat more bitter foods

In your three daily meals, pay attention to eating more bitter foods. Although bitter foods may not be as palatable, they are healthy foods for hot summer days. The alkaloids contained in bitter foods have pharmacological effects such as relieving summer heat, clearing heat, promoting blood circulation, and dilating blood vessels. During the "Sanfu" days (the hottest period of summer), eating bitter melon or bitter vegetables, or drinking some bitter beverages like beer, tea, coffee, and cocoa, can not only clear the mind and refresh the spirit but also increase appetite and strengthen the spleen and stomach.

Stir-fried Bitter Melon

II. Pay attention to supplementing vitamins

In high-temperature seasons, the body's metabolism accelerates, and it is easy to lack various vitamins. At this time, you can selectively and quantitatively supplement some vitamins, preferably through food. You can choose foods rich in vitamins and calcium, such as watermelon, cucumber, tomato, beans and their products, animal liver and kidney, and dried shrimp. You can also drink some fruit juice.

III. Don't forget to supplement salt and potassium

In summer, you sweat a lot, leading to a greater loss of salt in the body. Therefore, it is important to eat more salty foods to replenish the lost salt and achieve the body's required balance. In addition, excessive sweating also leads to a significant loss of potassium ions in the body, with specific symptoms including fatigue, listlessness, and loss of appetite. Fresh vegetables and fruits contain more potassium, so you can appropriately and moderately eat some fruits like strawberries, apricots, lychees, peaches, and plums. Vegetables such as green leafy vegetables, scallions, celery, and edamame are also rich in potassium. Tea contains a relatively high amount of potassium. Drinking more tea in summer can not only relieve summer heat but also replenish potassium, killing two birds with one stone.

IV. Eat more cooling herbal porridges

Summer is not suitable for heavy tonics. Eating heavy, nourishing foods in summer can easily make the body feel uncomfortable, so it's best not to eat too much mutton, especially for people with high blood pressure. It is best to eat more vegetables, less greasy food, and pay attention to eating more foods that can clear heat and reduce summer heat, such as "cooling herbal porridges" like mung bean porridge, lentil porridge, lotus leaf porridge, and mint porridge.