Summer diet is also crucial for preventing summer illnesses. Want to get sick less in the summer? Be careful with these 5 types of food! Eat less meat
When the temperature exceeds 35°C, excessive sweating increases blood viscosity and causes irritability. Eating meat at this time can worsen one's temper. Meat contains a large amount of animal protein, which reduces the level of tryptophan in the brain, leading to tendencies towards aggression, anxiety, and belligerence. Secondly, meat has a low ratio of calcium, and excessive consumption can lead to low calcium levels in the body, which also increases the tendency for irritability and agitation. Overconsumption of meat can harden blood vessels, thereby raising blood pressure. High blood pressure is a major cause of emotional instability.
Don't overeat heaty fruits
Eating too many heaty fruits in the summer, such as lychees, longans, and apricots, can easily trigger an "excess internal heat" condition. Lychees contain components that lower blood sugar, and excessive consumption can lead to hypoglycemia. For those with a "heaty" body constitution—who are already energetic, have trouble sleeping at night, and have a high metabolism—it is especially important to avoid heaty fruits. Furthermore, children with a fever or inflammation in any organ should also avoid them. Besides lychees and longans, peaches, longans, guavas, cherries, coconuts, durians, and apricots are also considered heaty fruits. They should be eaten in moderation during the summer, never excessively.
Eat less nuts
Nuts refer to various oil-rich seed foods, such as peanuts, walnuts, cashews, pine nuts, melon seeds, almonds, and pistachios. It is essential to eat nuts in moderation during the summer because they are very high in calories. 50 grams of melon seeds contain as many calories as a large bowl of rice. For the average person, about 30 grams of nuts per day is a suitable amount. Nuts have the function of generating internal body heat, so they are better suited for winter and should be eaten less in the summer.
Avoid raw seafood
Seafood is nutritious and delicious, and eating it raw in the summer has a superb texture. However, foods like "qiangxia" (spicy shrimp), hair clams, mud clams, "kuiban" (a type of clam), drunken shrimp, drunken crab, and salted crab carry significant safety risks. This is because seafood often contains many parasites, and without high-temperature sterilization, consumption can easily lead to infectious diseases. Many believe that uncooked or uncooked foods do not lose their nutritional elements, so raw is best. For foods like vegetables and fruits, raw consumption is better as their vitamins, fiber, and other nutrients are not lost. However, when eating raw vegetables and fruits, they must be washed thoroughly because they often contain pesticides.
Use less heaty spices
During the hot summer, using heaty spices (such as star anise, fennel, cinnamon, Sichuan peppercorns, and white pepper) in cooking can make one unbearably agitated and may cause ailments in the digestive and urinary tracts. Consuming heaty spices can lead to constipation, hemorrhoids, bloating, reduced urination, painful urination, kidney pain, and even systemic diseases like angular cheilitis, pharyngitis, conjunctivitis, prickly heat, and heatstroke. People with chronic illnesses who consume heaty spices may find their condition worsens. Therefore, it is not advisable to use too many heaty spices in cooking during the summer.