The dog days are very hot, now it’s already in the midst of summer, even hotter. Many people can’t stand the heat and don’t even want to go out, just want to stay in the air-conditioned room. However, staying in the air-conditioned room for a long time can easily lead to air conditioning sickness, which still poses a threat to your health.
So, besides staying in the air conditioning, how else can we cool down? It can help you stay healthy and prevent illnesses. Here, I recommend starting with diet. Eating the right foods can not only help cool down but also be very beneficial to your health.
How to cool down in the dog days? Don’t miss these 5 foods
1. Green bean soup
Green bean soup is a very common cooling drink, also available in the market, but it is recommended to cook it yourself to reduce additives and make it more green, healthy, and natural.
Green beans are cool in nature and have detoxifying effects, so drinking green bean soup in summer can help relieve heat, calm your mind, reduce restlessness, and drive away internal heat toxins. Cooking green bean soup is simple, just add green beans to an appropriate amount of water, cook until soft, let it cool to room temperature, and you can eat it. It can also be refrigerated in the fridge before consumption for better taste.
However, it’s worth noting that green bean soup may not be suitable for people with weak constitutions, weak spleen and stomach, and those taking Chinese medicine.
2. Bitter melon
Not only that, bitter melon contains bitter glycosides and bitter elements that can improve appetite, invigorate the spleen, and induce appetite. After eating bitter melon, your mouth will feel fresh, and you won’t easily feel dry or bitter.
In the hot summer, you can prepare a cold bitter melon salad by boiling the bitter melon first and then serving it cold. This way, it won’t be as bitter and will retain its effects.
3. Lotus root
Summer is a good time to eat lotus root. Lotus root can clear away heat, generate body fluids, cool blood, and in this season, eating lotus root can relieve heat and dryness, alleviate symptoms such as thirst, cough, and acne caused by body heat.
Moreover, lotus root is rich in B-group vitamins (especially vitamin B6), which can help reduce irritability, relieve headaches, and reduce mental stress, thereby improving mood, reducing the risk of heart disease. Lotus root is also high in dietary fiber, low in calories, and helpful for controlling blood sugar and cholesterol, promoting intestinal movement, aiding digestion. So, friends who want to lose weight in summer can eat more lotus root.
4. Red bean and Coix Seed Soup
Summer is not only hot but also humid, making it easy for dampness to invade the body. With the addition of dampness obstructing the middle burner, it can weaken the functioning of the spleen and stomach, leading to a feeling of abdominal heaviness and fullness, poor appetite. When the spleen and stomach have problems, the limbs may also feel heavy and weak. This is also why people feel heavy in summer.
At this time, you need to remove dampness, and red beans and coix seeds are a good choice. Coix seed can treat dampness, benefit the intestines and stomach, remove edema, invigorate the spleen and stomach, and eating it regularly can make your body feel relaxed and full of energy. Red beans can help with water retention, reduce swelling, and invigorate the spleen and stomach.
Boiling coix seeds and red beans together into a soup can have a good effect on eliminating dampness and invigorating the spleen and stomach. This is very suitable for consumption in summer.
5. Lily and Lotus Seed Soup
In summer, people are prone to heart inflammations, irritability, mouth ulcers, oral erosion, irritability, and insomnia, all of which can affect normal daily life and health. In this case, you can try boiling a bowl of lily and lotus seed soup to drink.
Lotus seeds are cold in nature and bitter in taste, but they have the effect of clearing heat and reducing heart fire. Lily can enter the heart and lung meridians, has the effect of calming the mind, nourishing the lungs, and stopping coughs. Mixing lotus seeds and lilies together can not only clear heart fire but also help eliminate summer heat-induced irritability, insomnia, and improve sleep quality.
In the dog days, pay attention to 3 dietary principles, staying cool and healthy
1. Avoid overeating icy foods
In summer, many people like to eat cold foods, thinking that it helps to cool down. While cold foods may have better texture and cooling effects, overeating them can harm our spleen and stomach, possibly causing cold to invade the body and lead to illness.
It is recommended to control the amount of cold foods eaten and stop when you feel your body temperature has dropped. Also, avoid foods that are excessively cold to prevent irritation to your mouth and stomach.
2. Avoid eating foods that have been left for a long time
Due to the extremely hot weather during this period, food left out for a period of time can spoil, breeding a large number of bacteria. Eating such food can easily cause stomach upsets and even lead to gastrointestinal problems.
Therefore, don’t eat food that has been left out for too long in summer. Consume it promptly while it’s fresh. Wrap any leftovers in plastic wrap and store them in the refrigerator, but do not leave them for more than 12 hours.
3. Eat some nourishing foods
Even though it’s hot in summer, many people enjoy eating cold foods like cold drinks and ice cream. If you don’t eat some nourishing foods, your spleen and stomach may become weak over time. Eating some foods that nourish the stomach can protect your health and reduce the chances of getting sick.
Eating foods that nourish the stomach is recommended. It is said, “Eat radish in winter and ginger in summer.” Eating ginger in summer is a good way to nourish your body. Eating ginger in summer or drinking ginger soup can help prevent air conditioning sickness, dispel cold, nourish the stomach, and more, which is beneficial and harmless. You might as well give it a try.
