What to eat in the heat and what foods and drinks to avoid

Find out which foods are recommended during the heat wave and how much water is recommended to drink:

What to eat in the heat

High-liquid recipes can help with hydration levels. Soups, fruits, vegetables, salads and light stews are all good examples and can of course be prepared with the right seasonal ingredients. Here’s what to eat during the heat wave:

soups

Maybe the soup automatically makes you think of a cold winter day, one where it’s raining outside and you’re huddled under a blanket on the sofa, sipping a mixture of chicken and noodle soup.However, high-liquid recipes help on the level of hydration and choosing a lighter vegetable soup rather than a heavy meat soup is ideal for hot summer days.

Tomatoes

Tomatoes are rich in lycopene, an antioxidant known to be a powerful anticancer. Red tomatoes contain 94% water, while the green variety contains about 93% water. Delicious in a salad or perfect in a sandwich, it’s easy to introduce this fruit into your daily meals during the heatwave.

Cucumbers

Cucumbers are a great vegetable for hot summer days because they contain a lot of water and are refreshing. In fact, cucumbers are 95% water. Make sure you always have these vegetables on hand and keep them raw because once cooked they lose their water.

Green leaves

The dark green leaves are made up of 80-95% water, which makes them very easy to digest. This means that they quickly pass through the digestive system, giving a feeling of freshness to the body. In addition, they have an important content of vitamins and minerals.

Discover the recipes of the summer salad.

Chili pepper

It’s probably the last thing on your mind when it’s hot, but curry and chillies stimulate heat receptors in your mouth, improving circulation and causing sweating, which cools the body.

Celery leaves

While celery is not a calorie-free food, celery contains 95% water. Plus, a cup of chopped celery (celery) has only 16 calories!

Broccoli

Love it or hate it, broccoli is great for you. It is known as a very smart carbohydrate and has a high fiber content which aids digestion, keeps blood sugar low and prevents constipation. This cruciferous vegetable looks dense, but is actually 91% water. We are sure there are many who would argue that a glass of tasteless water is tastier than this green alternative.

The yellow melon

Melon quenches even the most intense thirst and is found in abundance during the summer months. A simple slice offers a truly refreshing experience. Cantaloupe is low in calories and high in water (95%), making it an ideal food or snack for a hot summer day.

Berries

Strawberries, blackberries, blueberries, raspberries and blueberries are all alkaline fruits. They generate a cooling sensation in the body, according to traditional Chinese medicine.

Coconut milk

Coconut milk and coconut water contain important nutrients that help with hydration, which means they are both delicious and packed with health benefits. Many recipes include coconut milk because it is a great ingredient for thickening sauces.

Find out many amazing things about coconut milk and coconut

Why is it not advisable to eat ice cream in the heat?

Popsicles or ice cream may seem like natural choices when you want to cool off, but they can actually do more harm than good. Cold foods and drinks can give you an initial cooling effect, but it is short-lived. Eating cold foods actually leads to an increase in body temperature because the digestion process generates heat. This, combined with the rapid cooling initiated by cold foods and drinks, means your body overcompensates by raising your core temperature. So you may end up feeling warmer than you were in the beginning.

How much water to drink during the heat wave

We typically lose between 2 and 2½ liters of fluid per day through sweat, breathing, urine and faeces. So on normal days we should drink about 6-8 glasses of water or other moisturizing liquid, according to the NHS. The good news is that you can achieve this amount not only by drinking water, but also by drinking milk, unsweetened drinks, tea and unsweetened coffee, but remember that caffeinated drinks have a diuretic effect, causing you to lose fluids, so it’s good to eat them in small amounts. Fruit juices and smoothies also matter, but should be limited to one 150ml glass per day due to the natural sugars they contain.

Our specific needs vary based on age, weight, gender and amount of physical activity, as well as environmental factors including temperature and humidity, which accelerate the loss of water through the skin. We should reconsider our water intake during hot summer days. Higher temperatures and humidity increase the rate at which water evaporates from the skin, which means we sweat more. Therefore, we need to replenish our fluid levels more often. How much you need really depends on your personal needs and how active you are.

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