Cucumbers are about 95% water. Just one cup of sliced cucumbers will give you as much water as an 8 oz glass of water. Remember that water from food counts toward your overall daily fluid intake. Keep cucumbers raw during the summer. Once you cook cucumbers (or any vegetable), a lot of the moisture and water seeps out. You can use cucumbers in a variety of ways during the summer. You can slice cucumbers to make infused water, eat them raw with your favorite dip, make a creamy cucumber salad or even make chilled cucumber soup.
Eating mint tricks our brains into feeling a cold sensation (even when the mint isn’t actually cold). Methanol is the compound in mint responsible for attaching to nerve receptors in our mouth that sense coldness. Mint also helps satiate thirst. Together with a cold beverage (like chilled cucumber-infused water), mint can help ease thirst and satisfy your thirst much faster than room temperature water. A great tip for summer. Since you may not want to eat mint plain, try mixing it with other foods. You can add mint to infused waters, toss chopped mint with fruit salad, or mix chopped mint into a cold bean and beet salad.
Any type of lettuce (like iceberg or cabbage) or dark green (like spinach or kale) will have a high water content. In general, greens are about 93% (and sometimes more) water. If you’re going for some lettuce, try to pick some of the darker greens. These are high in nutrients like Vitamin C, Vitamin K and Vitamin A compared to those lighter greens like iceberg lettuce. Lettuce and dark greens go perfectly into a summer salad. However, you can also use lettuce as a sandwich wrap instead of bread or a tortilla. Toss greens like spinach or kale into a frozen smoothie.
When you bite into celery, you might notice how juicy this vegetable is. That’s because celery is over 95% water. Celery has gotten a reputation over the years that it doesn’t contain many nutrients. However, this crunchy veggie actually has a decent amount of fiber, folate, vitamin A, vitamin C and vitamin K. Serve sliced and cleaned celery stalks with sliced cucumbers and your favorite dip for a super hydrating snack. You can also make a raw celery salad or make a celery salsa to serve with chips.
Whether you choose greek or regular yogurt, this creamy dairy treat contains about 85% water. In addition, yogurt is a great source of protein, electrolytes, calcium and Vitamin D. It’s also a great summer food because it’s eaten cold straight from the refrigerator. Besides eating yogurt plain right from the container, you can try topping it with frozen fruit (for an extra cold hit), pureeing it with frozen fruit and freezing into popsicles, or making frozen yogurt.
Fruits are not only a healthy and nutritious food group (they’re known to be high in fiber, vitamins and antioxidants), but many fruits are also very hydrating and contain a higher water content. [6] X Trustworthy Source USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion U. S. agency responsible for promoting good nutrition based on scientific research Go to source Fruits like watermelon, grapefruit, peaches and berries are all known to be high in water and can help cool you down and keep you hydrated during the hot summer months. [7] X Research source Incorporate one to two servings of hydrating summer fruits each day. Measure out about 1/2 cup or one small piece per serving. Eat fruit raw or sliced into fruit salads, toss sliced berries into a spinach salad or puree into a breakfast smoothie or homemade sorbet.
The great thing about summer vegetables are that they’re a little cheaper in price and you don’t always need to cook them for long periods of time. Many are great raw or only lightly or quickly cooked. Incorporate summer vegetables into your barbecues. You can put vegetables like sliced zucchini, asparagus, peppers, mushrooms right onto a hot grill and serve them up as a delicious, nutritious side. Or you can toss the vegetables in a little olive oil and seal them in an aluminum foil packet and roast them on the grill. Eat three to four servings of hydrating summer vegetables daily. Aim for 1 cup of vegetables and 2 cups of salad greens per serving. [8] X Trustworthy Source USDA Center for Nutrition Policy and Promotion U. S. agency responsible for promoting good nutrition based on scientific research Go to source Try recipes like: a raw tomato, cucumber and onion salad, a caprese salad with sliced raw tomatoes, mozzarella and basil or a cold pasta salad tossed with onions, black olives, peppers and cucumbers.
Studies have shown that when you eat hot or spicy foods, initially it makes you feel hot; however, after a few minutes you begin to sweat around the top the of your head, ears, neck and face. This is called gustatory sweating. [9] X Research source Sweating is the way your body cools itself down naturally. So even though initially you may feel like your mouth is hot, it’ll eventually cool you down quite nicely. This is especially true if you’re in front of a fan or out in a breeze as you feel particularly cool once air blows on your damp skin. Spicy foods that are perfect for a hot summer day include: chips and salsa, spicy chilled gazpacho or a spicy cucumber salad.
Most people need a minimum of eight glasses of hydrating fluids each day; however, during the hot summer months, you may need 13 glasses or more depending on how much you’re sweating. [10] X Trustworthy Source Mayo Clinic Educational website from one of the world’s leading hospitals Go to source Drinking continuously throughout the day in addition to eating hydrating fruits and vegetables is the best way to keep yourself hydrated and your thirst satiated during those hot summer days. Go for fluids that hydrate you with little or no calories as these are the most nutritious as well. Go for plain or infused water, sparkling water, flavored water, decaf iced tea or coffee. You may even want to try milk as this dairy food also has a high water content. Skip the alcohol. Although summer margaritas or beers are tasty, alcohol dehydrates you very quickly. Keep your consumption in check during those super hot days. You should also limit your consumption of sweetened beverages, such as lemonade, juice, soda, fruit punch, cold specialty coffee drinks, and sweet tea. The sugar in these drinks makes them high in calories, and if you’re gulping them down when you’re hot, you may be racking up your calorie count without even realizing it.
Many times you may not feel like eating a big meal when you’re hot. Think about other times during the day that are cooler that would make eating more enjoyable. Usually it’s significantly cooler in the morning. Consider eating a bigger breakfast so you can stick with small, light lunches during the heat of the day. Evenings are also cooler. You may be able to eat more and feel more comfortable eating when the sun has already set. You may also find it easier to have smaller meals or snacks during the day. Sometimes when you have a large meal, you’ll feel overheated. Instead, go for four to six small meals during the day.
Although grilling is a very high-heat method of cooking, if you’re using an outdoor grill, the heat can dissipate into the air around you. Indoor grill pans or grill tops may heat up your whole kitchen, making your home much warmer. These still require you to heat up your stove top to a high heat level in order to cook foods thoroughly. Grilling allows you to cook just about every type of dish or food that you’d want without having to turn on your oven. You can do a whole chicken, make burgers, grill vegetables, make baked potatoes or even make sweet desserts like baked apples — all without turning on the stove or oven.
You may notice a slight increase in your kitchen temperature when using the stove top, but it will be significantly less than if you turned on the oven and decided to roast a whole chicken or bake potatoes. Avoid baking or roasting foods. These cooking methods require your oven to heat up and stay hot for extended periods of time. This can make your house or apartment warm and more difficult to cool down. To speed up cooking time on the stove top so you can minimize how much you heat up the kitchen, try: slicing foods into smaller pieces, using thinner or smaller cuts of meat or poultry, and covering your pan or pot to trap the heat inside.
Try sticking to foods and recipes that don’t require you to turn on the oven or only need a quick cooking session on the stove top. This can help reduce the heat dissipated into your kitchen. Chilled foods can include: cold salads (tuna salad, chicken salad); green salads; cold vegetable salads (three bean salad, beet salad); chilled soups; and yogurt/cottage cheese with berries. Also try to make meals that require little to no cooking. You can make sandwiches, scrambled eggs on toast, grilled chicken or steak over a salad, chilled soba noodle salad with raw vegetables, cheese and crackers with deli meat, or a poached egg over a spinach salad.
If you have windows in your kitchen, keep them open for ventilation. You might want to try to opening windows on opposite sides of the kitchen or house to get a cross draft. Try using a portable fan to keep hot air moving through the kitchen. You can align it so it points toward a window or pushes hot air out of the kitchen area. Also, if you do need to use the oven to bake or roast something, try doing it early in the morning when the temperature is the most cool. This will help prevent heating up the kitchen in the middle of a hot day.
