Summer Health Tips - Beating the Heat!
Its 114 degrees out there, and your skin seems to be sucking the heat in deeper into your body rather than helping you cool down. An occasional afternoon downpour brings more grief than relief for it layers on humidity that is thick enough to slice with a knife. Throw in a little pollution and each second becomes pure hell when you are outdoors.

The recently past heat wave seems to be consuming India and is probably indicative of an approaching hot summer, for brutal May, sizzling June and searing July and August are yet to come. 

Can certain foods help towards reversing some of this exchange of body heat? Yes, they most certainly can!

Why and how does this heat exchange happen?
On sultry, humid days, muscles compete with the skin for blood circulation. When it's hot outside, more blood flows near the skin to help dissipate body heat and cool the body down thereby keeping your body's temperature from rising to dangerous levels. But that can mean less blood reaches muscles, hence the lethargy.

At the same time, as when your body becomes hotter, muscle enzymes speed up and burn glycogen more rapidly, depleting stores of the sugar that your muscles use for fuel. Hence it's imperative to drink plenty of fluids that would help hydrate your muscles and skin adequately in order to maintain internal cooling down.

Is it a good idea to apply wet rags over your forehead, thereby reducing the heat entering your brain?
Not necessarily. Neither is it a good idea to wet your head down entirely, especially for kids who have just finished playing a sport. You have to make the heat move outwards. Too much water on the skin's surface inhibits sweat evaporation that helps cool the body down.

To handle this heat onslaught and ensure your body is as cool as it can possibly be, we suggest a few measures that are easy to follow:
1.    Eat light, small, frequent meals. Start the morning with a sweet, juicy fruit at breakfast. Ripe summer fruits - peaches, plums, melons and pears, are exactly what your skin craves for in the hot season. Citrus fruits are also very cooling. Eat whole or extract their juice, store in the refrigerator and sip often throughout the day.
2.    Include salads in your diet. Consuming leafy lettuce and summer greens, corn on cob and cucumbers, in salads are delicious ways to stay cool. These foods contain a significant amount of water and can actually thin the blood, which has a cooling effect. Onions too are great in the summer, because of their ability to beat the heat and provide relief from summer ailments. So, throw in some washed onion slices onto a sandwich, or in your salad.
3.    If you get burnt (sun stroke or heat stroke), seek relief by sipping on green tea or take a spoon of onion juice. They are potent antioxidants that can neutralize cellular damage caused by the sun's rays.
4.    To cool the body through sweating, add small amounts of hot spices to food while cooking. Hot peppers, fresh ginger, and black pepper are all great spices to make it really hot for you and then to cool you down.
5.    Hydrate your body. Drink at least 8-10 glasses of water a day. Water is the best drink as it doesn't contain any sugars that can add up to unnecessary calories. For a change, a lemon and honey drink can also instantly replenish your body's lost fluids and work as an energizer.  Drink fluids even if you are not yet thirsty. Once you have the feeling of being thirsty means you are already dehydrated.
6.    Wear loose, full-sleeved cotton clothes to protect the body from the sun and to aid evaporation of sweat.  Use a hat to protect your head from the sun you go out
7.     Stay indoors. Restrict outdoor activities to the cooler parts of the day - early mornings before 10.30am or late evenings after 530pm

The not so cool:

• If you're a non-vegetarian, you should limit red meat and instead go for fish and oysters.
• Avoid extreme cold foods and drinks - most of us normally pick these and they are actually known to interfere with digestion and sweating, thereby interfering with the body's natural cooling mechanisms. So, however tempting it may be to sit on your porch licking an ice cream cone or sipping a cool glass of tea, try a wedge of watermelon instead.

As the mercury rises, the last thing on one's mind is food - but if you eat smart, small & light meals and accompany it with plenty of fluids you will be a cool winner.

So go ahead and take these obvious precautions! But remember the best place to start the cooling process is in your body's core.


By. Kanchan Saggi, Dietitian, www.NutritionVista.com

Get Healthy recipes for the summer time that will not only keep you cool but are healthy for weight loss, diabetics, heart disease etc.

Talk to an NV dietitian for personalized menus to beat the summer heat specially for a child or an elderly relative or a pregnant woman in your family.

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