Heat is a prominent feature of summer, so our diet must be adjusted accordingly. What changes are needed for summer eating? What foods are suitable for health and wellness throughout the summer? This article will answer these questions in detail:
1. Eat more bitter foods
In your three daily meals, try to include more bitter foods. Although they may not be as palatable, bitter foods are healthy for the summer. The alkaloids 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 bitter beverages like beer, tea, coffee, and cocoa, can not only clear the mind and refresh you but also stimulate the appetite and benefit the spleen and stomach.
Sautéed Bitter Melon with Chili and Fermented Black Beans
2. Pay attention to supplementing vitamins
In high-temperature seasons, the body's metabolism speeds up, and it can easily become deficient in 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, tomatoes, beans and their products, animal liver and kidneys, and dried shrimp. You can also drink some fruit juices.
3. Don't forget to supplement salt and potassium
In the summer, you sweat a lot, leading to a significant loss of salt. Therefore, it's important to eat more salty foods to replenish the salt lost by the body and achieve the necessary balance. Additionally, excessive sweating can lead to a loss of too much potassium in the body, with symptoms including fatigue, listlessness, and loss of appetite. Fresh vegetables and fruits contain more potassium, so you can appropriately eat some fruits like strawberries, apricots, lychees, peaches, and plums. Vegetables like green leafy vegetables, scallions, celery, and edamame are also rich in potassium. Tea contains a relatively high amount of potassium. Drinking more tea in the summer can not only relieve the summer heat but also replenish potassium, killing two birds with one stone.
4. Eat more medicinal congee to relieve summer heat
Summer is not suitable for heavy nourishment. Eating overly rich foods can easily make the body uncomfortable, so mutton should not be eaten too much, especially by those with high blood pressure. It's best to eat more vegetables, less greasy food, and focus on eating foods that clear heat and reduce summer heat, such as "medicinal congee" like mung bean congee, lentil congee, lotus leaf congee, and mint congee.
Pyramid bean crotch