Introduction: As the hot summer arrives, people tend to sweat. Sweating leads to the loss of water, water-soluble vitamins, and some electrolytes. At the same time, high temperatures can reduce the secretion of digestive fluids in the body, making it easier to lose one's appetite compared to other seasons. In summer diet, one should pay attention to healthy eating knowledge.
Therefore, many people like to eat some cool foods to "cool off the summer heat," such as cold dishes, watermelon, ice cream, iced soda, beer, etc. However,
1. Drink more water and soup, and less "cold stimulation".
Daily, one should drink small amounts of water frequently. One can also drink beverages like green tea water, mung bean soup, or sour plum soup to relieve thirst and heat. Drinking more soup in the summer can adjust the taste and enhance appetite. Some people, when the weather is hot, like to drink a large bowl of iced beer or iced beverages all at once. This "stimulating" cooling behavior can irritate the spleen and stomach, affect gastric juice secretion, reduce appetite, and cause gastrointestinal diseases such as indigestion, loss of appetite, abdominal bloating and pain, and diarrhea. In addition, although cold food can temporarily relieve dryness, the oral cavity being stimulated by cold can cause the salivary glands, taste nerves of the tongue, and periodontal nerves to cool down rapidly. Sometimes, they can even go into a state of numbness, which can irritate the throat, causing adverse reactions such as pharyngitis or toothache.
2. Eat more fruits and vegetables, and less greasy food.
In the summer, there is a wide variety of vegetables and fruits that are nutritious. Commonly available bitter gourd, winter melon, tomato, loofah, pumpkin, cucumber, watermelon, etc., have a cooling and heat-relieving effect. Especially some dark-colored fruits and vegetables, such as carrots, mangoes, and red and yellow tomatoes, they contain a large amount of carotene and phytochemicals, which help enhance immunity and supplement vitamins, minerals, and dietary fiber. Eating greasy food will increase the burden on the gastrointestinal tract, making people feel bloated, uninterested in food, and more tired. The summer diet should be light and mild.
3. Eat more cooked food, and less raw and cold food.
In the summer season, people often like to eat raw fruits, seafood, and other foods. It is worth noting that in the hot summer, various bacteria and parasites can easily breed. If one does not pay attention to food hygiene, especially eating unhygienic food at "three-no" (no business license, no health permit, no food handler's certificate) stalls, it is very likely to contract an illness. Food is the paramount necessity for the people, and safety is the first priority in food!
In addition to the "three more, three less" mentioned above, one should also maintain a healthy lifestyle in the summer, including adequate sleep and more outdoor exercise.
Health Benefits of Eating Lilies in Summer
Lilies have the effects of nourishing the heart to calm the mind, moistening the lungs to relieve coughs, and are especially suitable for people who want to nourish the lungs and stomach, such as patients with chronic cough, tuberculosis, canker sores, dry mouth, bad breath, and some patients with palpitations can also eat them in moderation. However, because lilies are cool in nature (but not cold), patients with a cold stomach should use them less. As winter approaches, more and more people need to moisten their lungs and nourish their stomachs. Lilies can clear the heart and moisten the lungs, calm the mind and stabilize the will, making them very suitable for people troubled by insomnia.
9 Major Benefits of Lilies
1. Moistening the Lungs and Relieving Cough: Fresh lilies contain mucus, which has the effect of moistening dryness and clearing heat. In traditional Chinese medicine, it is often effective in treating coughs due to lung dryness or lung heat.
2. Calming the Mind and Soothing the Nerves: Lilies enter the heart meridian and are slightly cool in nature. They can clear the heart, relieve restlessness, calm the mind, and soothe the nerves. They are used for conditions such as lingering heat after a febrile illness, mental confusion, insomnia with many dreams, depression, and a tendency to cry from sadness.
3. Beauty and Skin Care: Lilies are pure white and delicate. Fresh lilies are rich in mucus and vitamins, which are beneficial for the metabolism of skin cells. Regular consumption of lilies has a certain beautifying effect.
4. Anti-Cancer: Lilies contain various alkaloids that can prevent leukopenia, increase blood cells, and have a therapeutic effect on cell reduction after chemotherapy and radiotherapy. Lilies can also promote and enhance the mononuclear phagocyte system and phagocytic function, improving the body's humoral immune ability. Therefore, lilies have good preventive and therapeutic effects on many types of cancer.
5. Quenching Thirst and Moistening Dryness: People with poor bronchial health can benefit from eating lilies to improve their condition.
6. Nourishing and Therapeutic: Lilies have good nutritional and tonic effects, especially for post-illness weakness and neurasthenia.
7. Adjunctive Therapy: Lilies are often used in the clinical adjunctive treatment of diseases such as leukemia, lung cancer, and nasopharyngeal cancer.
8. Has the effect of treating stomach pain of heat-stagnation type.
9. Clearing Heat and Nourishing Yin: Lilies cooked with rock sugar and mung beans into congee or soup can clear heat and nourish yin.
Health-Preserving Recipes
1. Lily and Honeysuckle Congee
【Ingredients】: 50 grams of lilies, washed; then take 10 grams of honeysuckle, dry and grind into powder for later use.
【Method】: First, wash 100 grams of japonica rice and cook until the congee is thick. Then add the lilies and cook for another 10 minutes. Before turning off the heat, add the medicinal powder and an appropriate amount of sugar to eat.
【Effect】: Clearing heat and reducing inflammation, promoting fluid production and quenching thirst. Suitable for people with sore throat and those prone to "internal fire".
2. Mung Bean and Lily Congee
【Method】: Cook 100 grams of mung beans and an appropriate amount of japonica or glutinous rice with a suitable amount of water. Then add 50 grams of washed fresh lilies and cook for a moment.
Before eating, add white sugar or rock sugar to taste.
【Effect】: Clearing heat and detoxifying, promoting urination and reducing edema. Suitable for the treatment of dry cough in the throat, lingering heat after a febrile illness, irritability, insomnia, etc.
3. Steamed Lilies
【Method】: An appropriate amount of fresh lilies are washed, steamed, and then eaten.
【Effect】: Tonifying qi, nourishing yin, and moistening the lungs. Suitable for hepatitis, stomach diseases, anemia, and physical weakness.
4. Honey-Glazed Lilies
【Method】: Mix 60 grams of lilies and 30 grams of honey in a bowl, steam until cooked over a water bath, and then eat.
【Effect】: Moistening the heart and lungs, and lubricating the intestines to promote bowel movements. Both lilies and honey are suitable for autumn and winter lung dryness, cough, sore throat; tuberculosis cough with blood in sputum; chronic dry cough in the elderly from bronchitis, and constipation.