Summer is always a special season. In addition to new experiences, you inevitably feel the change in the air temperature – because it affects your lifestyle. And your eating habits will also transform – no matter whether you realize that or not. And to resist these changes, the heat within your body can be tolerated by not only drinking enough water but also adopting an appropriate eating style. But we are here not to provide you with a strict list of not-to-eat things – rather, to help you realize which foods it’s better to avoid this summer.
Spicy Chili
Of course, it’s hard to resist the love to spicy food, but this summer it’s really worth trying your best to avoid chili at all! Wondering what’s wrong with that? The point is simple – it makes you feel hotter from inside; in other words, it’s rather a winter than a summer food.
If stopping eating chili is completely impossible for you, at least, make sure that you don’t mix it with other spices in one meal. By forcing your metabolism level to reach its peak, this combination is poisonous to your body and neglects any attempts to feel cooler inside. Take care!
Foods Without Veggies
If you’ve decided to become a vegetarian this year, summer is surely the best season to start this new life. While the atmospheric temperature rises, your digestion requires tremendous effort to process any kind of meat, fish, and seafood. So, your body will be deeply grateful for facilitating its functionality!
If that’s not convincing, let’s refer to the chemical specifics of the process. In fact, animal protein at a higher temperature creates elements that can lead to heart diseases. Are you sure that your body needs a daily portion of such problems? The solution is simple – just avoid eating these heavy foods and enjoy the dishes composed of healthy plants (specifically, Cosmopolitan recommends paying attention to nuts, beans, and whole grains as “the greatest sources of vegetarian protein”).
Sugary Sweets And Junk Food
Even the title of this category of food shows that you don’t need to EAT that junk AT ALL. Simply because most of these tasty treats need an extra investigation if you want to find out what’s inside of that dish. (By the way, DO YOU KNOW WHAT IS IN A Chicken McNugget? I stopped eating both chicken and junk after reading that its recipe that includes strange words like “dimethylpolysiloxane” and “riboflavin”). When processed, meat and poultry become even more dangerous for your body than simply heated.
So, all the hot dogs and burgers also fall under the category of highly dangerous foods for you this summer. But again, there exist some indulgence to this strict rule – consider choosing options with chicken breast and fish fillets (especially, if becoming vegan is not on your bucket list – neither this summer nor this year). And save your burger or hot dog with a whole-grain bread.
Old School Ice Cream
Of course, you should eat ice cream this summer – we aren’t that cruel! But you should choose your frozen treat wisely – while most of the producers enjoy adding high-sugar fructose syrup to a ball of shaved ice, your best friend is a real fruit popsicle.
Actually, have you ever tried replacing an ice cream with a portion of fruit salad? While the season offers you plenty of ingredients, that’s a shame not to catch the moment! Fruit is always the best choice – not only sweet but also full of antioxidants, vitamins, and dietary fiber. And supplementing it with frozen yogurt can make it as delicious as an ice cream!
Dried Fruits And Nuts
Quite unexpected appearance in this list, isn’t it? After mentioning the amazing features of fruit, this review surely needed some clarifications on this point.
So, the rationale behind mentioning this generally healthy treats as dangerous is rather obvious – you should be careful and consciously limit their intake. Delicious nuts, including almonds, cashews, and walnuts, are heavy to digest, so you’d better limit their intake to a handful per day. In their turn, dried apricots and raisins also generate an unnecessarily high level of heat within your body – you surely don’t need that on a hot summer day.
Fried Foods
In fact, any oily food is highly dangerous for you this summer. It hampers digestion, which leads to causing greater heat inside you. Whenever it’s possible, choose baked and grilled options to prevent this process.
And when it comes to a fried dough, the combination of flour, butter, and sugar is probably the worst food ever imagined for a healthy body. To be honest, you’d better simply forget the existence of such dish at all!
To receive a couple more arguments to convince you, try to investigate the impact of trans fats on your body – all that delicious but dangerous element hidden in a deep fried treat (actually, that’s the key problem of junk food too). And note that oily wheat food is the reason of gaining extra weight.
Coffee And Tea
Your favorite morning coffee and a cup of tea can be toxic for your body this summer. You’re feeling hot, they’re hot – and the result in overheating (logical!). And if you love adding sugar to your drink, the situation turns even worse, as the result will be accompanied by an unnecessary dehydration of your body. Not so perfect match, isn’t it?
However, you can still save the situation. Simply consider replacing your favorite cup of hot tea with a fresh iced option – you’ll both satisfy your body with the nutritional benefits hidden in this drink and help your body cool down. The same works with coffee – just try to make it cold, and it’ll work much better for your health! And of course, omit to add sugar – or replace it a fruit, a piece of dark chocolate, or a handful of nuts.
Alcohol
While some people think that limiting the intake of colorful sugar cocktails will be enough to maintain a cool healthy body, the reality is much harsher. Generally, alcohol and heat don’t work together at all. The reason is that a glass of any alcohol makes your blood run faster through your veins – and this makes your body hotter. The process can result in causing a heat stroke!
So maybe, it’s better to replace a bottle of beer by a coconut water in the middle of a day and wait till the evening comes before drinking alcohol? Your body will surely thank you for that.
So am I allowed to indulge at all?? It is Summer….
If after reading the list you feel upset because of such a great amount of limitations, let us comfort you. You still have all the vegetables and fruit, watermelons and ice cream, chocolate and nuts, soups and grains, and even chicken breast and fish! Moreover, most of the foods we’ve mentioned here have only specific restrictions – coffee and tea are better when cold, alcohol is safe at night, and chili is recommended as the only spice added to a meal.
So, enjoy your food and stay cool and hydrated!