Summers are here and incidents of food poisoning, dehydration, gastrointestinal troubles are on the rise. Add heat-related problems such as boils, heartburn, acidity to the mix, and summer can be a hotbed of illnesses waiting to happen.
So here are some foods to avoid and keep yourself healthy through summer.
1 . Red Meat
While red meat is a great source of protein and iron, summer months are a good time to stay away from meat. The body has to work really hard to digest and assimilate nutrients from meat, and red meat also increases body temperature, which is avoidable in summer months. The body expends almost 80% more energy to digest meat. Also, meat spoils really easily due to heat, increasing chances of food poisoning.
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2 . Sugary Drinks
Most of us reach for cold sugary drinks to feel refreshed during summer, from sherbet concentrates to aerated colas, the rising temperatures lead to an increase in consumption of unhealthy drinks, which increase our calorie intake, dehydrate the body and make our kidneys work overtime to flush toxins from the body. A strain on the renal system can lead to painful kidney stones. Switch to coconut water, buttermilk, fresh juices and other healthy options instead.
3 . Dairy Products
While products like yoghurt are great during summer other dairy products such as milk, paneer, cheese, cream and butter are heavy in nature and contain high quantities of fat. Fat is hard for the body to digest and can lead to indigestion and gastric problems. Milk and milk products putrefy easily due to high temperature and improper storage and are a major cause for most upset stomachs during summer months.
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4 . Sea Food
The rule in olden days for seafood was “eat seafood only in months that have an “R” in them” which means that from May through August one must stay away from seafood. The reason behind this was to avoid fishing during these months which weren’t just hot but also mating season for aquatic animals. Also, spoilt seafood is the number one cause of food poisoning during summer months. If seafood is not fresh it can cause vomiting, diarrhoea, gastroenteritis.
5 . Spicy Curries
Indian food is rather rich and contains many spices, while the flavour is important, excessive oil, ghee, cream is hard for the body to digest, too many spices increase the body temperature, and the body has to work doubly hard to regulate the temperature. Switch to coconut milk, tomato-based curries and stick to cooling herbs and spices such as coriander, mint, curry leaves, cumin, cardamoms, saunf for healthier meals.
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6 . Oily Junk Food
Deep fried patties sandwiched between white bread isn’t good for you on any given day, but really bad for you in summer months. The oil which has been heating all day long frying batch after batch is responsible for the instant heartburn you get after eating a samosa or bread pakora. These foods are unhealthy and hard to digest and increase your body temperature causing acidity. Greasy food in summer months increases the activity of sebaceous glands of the skin, increasing breakouts, blemishes and oily skin.