If you’re reading this, you’re probably dreading the incoming heatwave as much as we are. Let’s face it, living in a tropical country like India and dealing with the eccentric climatic conditions, pollution and other functional challenges seem excessive during the summer months. In times like these, most people resort to raking up huge electric bills, thanks to the air conditioning being on for hours on end. But what it really boils down to is staying cool, both internally and externally, and ensuring that we keep weather-related ailments at bay.
Health discomforts and challenges like acidity, bloating, sleeplessness, fatigue and indigestion are some of the common issues that we’re faced with when it’s hot outside. Finding economical remedies that do not involve feeding your body harsh antibiotics or unknown chemicals that are present in the medicines we consume, is not only a sustainable way forward, but also a sure shot way of being conscious about the kind of food we consume in the summer. Simple alterations or additions to our diets, which involve local and seasonal produce along with commonly available things in your home kitchens is one of the best ways to ensure that you stay cool, quite literally, as the summer heat burns.
Seasonal Fruit
Consuming a piece or two of seasonal, local fruits with a high moisture content, for a mid-morning snack, is a delicious and economic way of keeping heat-induced acidity and bloating at bay. Summers in India bring a bountiful of delicious fruits like litchi, ice apples (tadgola), jamun and indigenous berries which are juicy and high on nutrients and vitamins. These fruits help in ensuring that the sugar levels in our bodies remain at an optimum level as well as help in keeping the body hydrated. Look for these antioxidant-rich fruits that squirt juices when bitten into, as this is the type of seasonal produce that provides maximum nourishment and fortification for the season.
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Consuming Dahi-Chawal
Image Credits: Wikimedia Commons
The summer heat is one of the main causes behind feeling a loss of appetite during the day, which causes people to overeat in the evenings. This chain action and reaction induced by higher external temperatures can be regulated by eating a portion of boiled rice with cultured yoghurt made at home. What this does is cool the stomach, whet your appetite as well as encourage good gut bacteria to thrive during the summer, which in turn helps secrete digestive juices that aid in the assimilation of food. When eaten with homemade pickle or papad, dahi-chawal also proves to be a good source of prebiotic and postbiotics along with soothing random sugar or salt cravings that typically occur in the evening or late at night.
Gulkand Water
Image Credits: Bodhishop India
Drinking a glass of water mixed with a spoonful of sun-cooked gulkand (rose petals candied in crystal sugar) before bedtime, helps keeping the production of bile and unwanted acids at bay. If you’re in a line of work that requires you to look at an electronic screen all day long, your eyes might experience fatigue during the summers; something that gulkand water will help soothe the nerves as well as sleeping well at night, without the need for any artificial air-cooling systems to be set up. Gulkand water is also highly effective to keep acne and breakouts at bay.
