Eat right this season to prevent common summer ailments like dehydration and diarrhoea. This must-read article tells you why staying hydrated should be on top of your list of concerns.
Summer and health concerns
The summer is here and so is heat, sweat, tanning,
perpetual thirst and a lack of appetite! Health wise, this season brings
with a lot of gastrointestinal problems like vomiting, diarrhoea, food
poisoning and others like heat stroke, dehydration and dizziness.
A proper diet, that maintains the optimal hydration level in the body
along with a good electrolyte balance, helps to protect from all these
problems. The summer heat raises the body temperature that leads to
excessive sweating, loss of water, as well as loss of electrolytes
like sodium and potassium. If the body continues to lose water and
electrolytes through sweat and urination, the body’s equilibrium will be
disturbed and could even lead to a stroke and coma.
The importance of water in your summer diet
Therefore, the diet consumed should be such that it replenishes all
the losses and helps maintain an optimal body temperature. The most
important constituent of your diet in the summer is water. Water
constitutes 60% of the human body. If the body continues to lose water
through sweating and urination, the total water in the body would
reduce, which in turn would lead to thickening of blood, making it
difficult to flow. This causes palpitation, heavy breathing and affects
all organs of the body. Therefore, keeping the body optimally hydrated
is extremely important during the summer season.
This can be done by having plain water, nimbu-paani, coconut water,
lassi, cold milk, iced tea, aam panna… the list is long. But
cold-drinks, a favourite amongst young and old, are best avoided. Colas
or carbonated beverages contain caffeine, which is acidic in nature and
acts like a diuretic. It quenches your thirst momentarily, but being a
diuretic, it enhances water and electrolyte losses from the body in the
form of urine.
Summer vegetables and fruits
Nature has a bounty of different fruits and vegetables that are just apt for the summer. That is why vegetables like ghia, tori, karela, tinda (different types of gourds); cucumber; kakdi;
pumpkin; tomatoes; lady finger; mint and fruits like water melon; musk
melon; mango and litchi are available in the summers. The reason our
elders use to force us to eat all these “boring” vegetables in the
summer was because all these vegetables are high in water content and
are light on the stomach and easy to digest.
What to avoid
Easy to digest food items are best for the summer as they do not stay
in the stomach for long, and do not make you heavy and lethargic. A
heavy meal of pooris, paranthas, junk food like fries, pizza, burgers
that are high in fat content will make you feel excessively hot after a
period of time. This is because fat in the body acts like an insulator
to body heat. Fat has a thermal effect, viz., it does not let the body
to dissipate its heat to maintain a cooler body temperature. Due to this
thermal effect, fatty-fried foods should be avoided in the summer.
That’s also the reason why foods like peanuts, dry fruits, til (sesame) which are high in fat are consumed in winters, to keep the body warm.
Foods like ice creams, chilled cold drinks, chilled beer, usually
consumed in summers, should be avoided, as excessively cold things cool
you temporarily. The body has a feedback mechanism to maintain an ideal
body temperature. If an icy drink is consumed or an ice cream is eaten,
the blood vessels constrict due to cold temperature. Due to constriction
of blood vessels, the blood flow slows down which in turn leads to slow
dissipation of heat from the body. If this heat accumulates in the
body, it can be harmful. Therefore, it is advisable to have drinks or
food products that are cold but not chilled.
Foods that should be consumed in the summer:
- Beverages - Water, nimbu paani (lemon provides potassium to the body), coconut water (one of the richest sources of potassium), lassi (made of curd, easy to digest), aam panna (provides antioxidants, protects against sun stroke) etc.
- Fruits - Mango (rich in vitamin A, antioxidants), watermelon and musk melon (high water content), litchi (good source of vitamins and minerals), banana (richest source of Vitamin K+)
- Vegetables - Ghia, tori, tinda (easy to digest, high water content), pumpkin (good source of vitamin A and antioxidants), karela (high vitamin and mineral content, excellent blood purifier), cucumber (cool and easy to digest as has a lot of water), tomatoes (vitamin C and antioxidants).
Finally, eat light, drink a lot of water and maintain good hygiene to remain healthy in this summer.
No comments:
Post a Comment