Touch of Radiance

What should we eat in the summertime? Our nutritional needs vary throughout the year, and our food choices can either enhance our health or disrupt it. We generally don’t think of eating a hearty beef stew in the summer, just as a fresh, crisp salad doesn’t sound so good in the winter. Some of these choices we make automatically, knowing intuitively that watermelon is better in summer and pot roast is a perfect winter food. These days, the seasonality of many foods is not as obvious as it once was, as most items are available year-round in supermarkets. Learning to change our diets with the seasons is an important aspect of feeling our best.

In Chinese medicine, there are six External Pernicious Influences that can cause imbalances in the body. These six are Heat, Cold, Dampness, Wind, Dryness, and Summer Heat. In the summer, the weather is often hot and sometimes humid, so we most often have to deal with invasions of Heat, Dampness, and Summer Heat (which is basically an extreme version of Heat). We can choose foods to counteract these influences, and prevent them from causing discomfort and illness.

Foods that are cooling and foods that drain Dampness are great choices for summertime. Increasing fruits and vegetables while decreasing meat, fat, and alcohol helps to keep the body cool. Spicy foods also contribute to cooling the body, as they help to open the pores and release Heat. Foods that drain Dampness include mung beans, sprouts, and watermelon. How the food is prepared makes a difference as well. Try grilling, sautéing, and steaming, and avoid roasting, stewing, and slow-cooking. Summer is also a good time for more raw foods. For beverage choices, green tea and juices are very cooling.

A good rule of thumb is to eat produce that is grown locally, as you won’t find asparagus in July unless it was grown in the Southern Hemisphere. Choosing foods that are grown nearby also ensures that the produce did not have to travel far to get to you, and therefore is likely to have higher nutritional values than the jet-lagged supermarket stuff. As an added bonus, supporting local farmers helps the environment and your local economy. Visit your local farmer’s market to discover what is in season today!

This entry was posted on Monday, June 29th, 2009 at 7:21 am and is filed under Nutrition. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.