Things To Do to Beat the Heat
You know the summer heat is getting severe in a country when a city decides to issue heat alerts.
Ahmedabad in Gujarat last week became the first city in South Asia to develop a heat wave warning system in response to extreme temperatures.
Here are five things you can do to beat, or at least cope with, the sweltering Indian heat:
1. Eat the right food. Sweating in extreme temperatures makes the body lose not just water, but also sugar, minerals and salts, especially sodium and potassium.
“In India, we live through nine months of summer. We definitely need a diet to keep our reserves active,” says independent nutritionist Suneet Khanna.
Expert nutritionist Shikha Sharma, says coconut water comes as close to the perfect replacement for all the minerals we lose when we sweat.
“The electrolyte combination of coconut water is similar to the plasma in the human body,” says Ms. Sharma.
Ms. Sharma says that one common mistake people make during the summers is to assume that the temperature of the food determines whether it’s “cooling” or not.
“Something that is straight out of the refrigerator, say, a chilled boiled egg salad, does not necessarily cool the system post digestion,” says Ms. Sharma.
However barley, rice, mint, coriander and onions, have a cooling effect on the system once they have been digested, she added.
Spicy meat dishes should be avoided if you want to stay cool, according to nutritionists. They say that even though this kind of food might help restock the sodium content, it dilutes the potassium, calcium and mineral content in the body.
2. Protect Your Skin. Scorching summer heat and the sun’s strong rays can be damaging to the skin.
“Moisture from sweat and the constant exposure to sunlight, combine perfectly during summers and the result is a dangerous hub for bacterial and fungal infection,” says Rohit Batra, a dermatologist at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi.
Shielding the skin is indispensable, doctors
Ahmedabad in Gujarat last week became the first city in South Asia to develop a heat wave warning system in response to extreme temperatures.
Here are five things you can do to beat, or at least cope with, the sweltering Indian heat:
1. Eat the right food. Sweating in extreme temperatures makes the body lose not just water, but also sugar, minerals and salts, especially sodium and potassium.
“In India, we live through nine months of summer. We definitely need a diet to keep our reserves active,” says independent nutritionist Suneet Khanna.
Expert nutritionist Shikha Sharma, says coconut water comes as close to the perfect replacement for all the minerals we lose when we sweat.
“The electrolyte combination of coconut water is similar to the plasma in the human body,” says Ms. Sharma.
Ms. Sharma says that one common mistake people make during the summers is to assume that the temperature of the food determines whether it’s “cooling” or not.
“Something that is straight out of the refrigerator, say, a chilled boiled egg salad, does not necessarily cool the system post digestion,” says Ms. Sharma.
However barley, rice, mint, coriander and onions, have a cooling effect on the system once they have been digested, she added.
Spicy meat dishes should be avoided if you want to stay cool, according to nutritionists. They say that even though this kind of food might help restock the sodium content, it dilutes the potassium, calcium and mineral content in the body.
2. Protect Your Skin. Scorching summer heat and the sun’s strong rays can be damaging to the skin.
“Moisture from sweat and the constant exposure to sunlight, combine perfectly during summers and the result is a dangerous hub for bacterial and fungal infection,” says Rohit Batra, a dermatologist at the Sir Ganga Ram Hospital in Delhi.
Shielding the skin is indispensable, doctors