Choosing smart foods in summer

In summer season, diet plays a crucial role in maintaining our health and wellbeing. Because, the air temperature and level of moisture favours some notorious bacteria to grow in the food and produce foodborne diseases that commonly cause diarrhoea.
It is also a season when we can get dehydrated easily due to excess sweat and perspiration in summer. Thus, a special summer diet consisting of light and healthy food and drinking plenty of water can help us staying fit and cool. The following tips will help us follow the way to healthy summer:
* At the time of excess sweating, we feel like reaching out for something cold. This is where we go wrong because anything extremely low in temperature can constrict our blood vessels affecting the heat loss process from our body.
* We have to increase our water intake even in high humidity. At this humidity rate we do not sweat adequately due to which we cannot release heat efficiently from our body. That is the reason why we need to drink enough water at regular intervals even if we are not thirsty, to cool our system. Drink as much water as possible as the heat absorbs the water of our body and skin and if there is even slightest shortage, we might get dehydrated. So, we should try to limit or avoid beverages that are caffeinated, carbonated or high in sugar level which will produce heat at the time of digestion.
* We need to eat lot of fresh fruits and raw salads. Fruits and veggies are easy to digest and high in water and mineral content which helps in hydration. We could easily try to start our day with fruits and if possible all country fruits like green mango, green coconut water, watermelon, mask melon, pineapple, cucumber etc.
* Avoid fried and junk foods as they take time to digest and require a lot of water. Spicy foods can also increase body heat. So we should avoid taking hot and spicy food items as far as possible.
* Drink naturally cooling beverages like coconut water, lemon juice, buttermilk, sugarcane juice, etc. rather than aerated soft drinks, caffeine etc as they contain sugar and other preservatives which will produce heat at the time of digestion and act as diuretics (increase the flow of urine) thus can cause loss of water from the body.
* Curd is excellent for summers as it increases friendly bacteria in the gut and improves digestion and boosts immunity. Curd and other low fat dairy products will also help us remain cool and provide us with calcium and protein. It is a great and healthy alternative to ice-cream as they are packed with nutrients, vitamins and calcium which help to soothe ulcers, allergies and heat boils during the season.

The writer is the In-charge of Dietetics and Nutrition Department at United Hospital Ltd., Dhaka.