What is the most effective food to eat for summer heat relief?
Introduction: In the hot summer, the air is humid, making it difficult for the body to dissipate heat. When an excessive amount of heat accumulates, it can lead to the body's thermoregulatory center losing control, causing illness. So, what is the most effective diet for summer heat relief?
Eat more congee
Eating more congee is a traditional health-preserving method in China and is very beneficial for the body. Congees for preventing summer heat include mung bean congee, lotus leaf congee, fresh lotus root congee, and raw reed rhizome congee. You can also use 15 grams each of cassia seeds and white chrysanthemum, 60 grams of japonica rice, and an appropriate amount of rock sugar to make a congee, which serves as a cooling drink for summer and autumn. Additionally, congee made with white-fleshed sweet potato and mustard greens added to japonica rice has the effect of relieving summer heat and inducing sweating.
Drink more soup
When a person sweats a lot and loses a significant amount of body fluid, drinking more soup can replenish water in a timely manner and is also beneficial for digestion and absorption. The best soup to drink is mung bean soup, as mung beans are cooling and have the effect of clearing heat and relieving summer heat. Mung beans can be combined with various foods or herbs to make delicious soups that clear heat and relieve summer heat, such as mung bean and mint soup, mung bean and pumpkin soup, mung bean and coix seed soup, and mung bean and honeysuckle soup. Furthermore, a soup made with 100 grams each of watermelon rind and peanuts, and 50 grams each of malt and coix seeds, also has a good effect of clearing heat and relieving summer heat.
Eat more green vegetables
When the weather is hot and humid, people generally prefer light, fresh, and non-greasy foods. Green vegetables have this characteristic and are also rich in vitamins and protein. Therefore, you should try to eat more green vegetables, such as various beans, gourds, bok choy, coriander, and fennel. While supplementing nutrition, they also have the effect of clearing heat and relieving summer heat. For example, cucumbers, winter melons, and bitter gourds all have excellent effects of clearing heat and relieving summer heat. They can be eaten raw as a cold salad or stir-fried with a small amount of lean pork. Among summer vegetables, with the exception of pumpkin and golden squash, which are considered warm-natured, vegetables like bitter gourd, loofah, cucumber, snake gourd, watermelon, muskmelon, tomato, eggplant, celery, lettuce, asparagus, watercress, and jicama are all considered cool-natured vegetables.
However, people who are sensitive to sunlight and prone to sunspots should avoid photosensitive vegetables (such as celery, coriander, and white radish). Instead, they should eat more fruits and vegetables that inhibit pigment deposition and can whiten the skin, such as tomatoes, kiwis, strawberries, and oranges.
Eat more melons and fruits
Melons and fruits are juicy and sweet, not only quenching thirst but also clearing heat and relieving summer heat. Watermelon is sweet, juicy, and cooling, making it the top choice among melons for relieving summer heat and quenching thirst. Additionally, eating muskmelons and cucumbers raw after washing them, or drinking their juice, also has a good effect of clearing heat and relieving summer heat. Kiwis are rich in vitamin C and have an excellent effect of clearing heat and relieving summer heat, making them a frequent choice for fruit and drinks for people working in high temperatures and outdoors. Mixing pear juice, water chestnut juice, lotus root juice (or sugarcane juice), ophiopogon juice, and fresh reed rhizome juice together to make a "Five-Juice Drink" has a great effect of quenching thirst, generating fluids, and clearing heat and relieving summer heat.