Seasonal summer

Author: Li Min
Publisher:
Publish Date: 2006-04-01
Features: Summer diet should prioritize light, bitter, cooling, nutritious, and easily digestible foods, avoiding greasy, difficult-to-digest foods, and avoiding overeating or excessive hunger. Emphasis should be placed on strengthening the spleen and nourishing the stomach to promote digestive and absorption functions.
In summer, the high temperature leads to excessive sweating and fluid intake, which dilutes stomach acid and reduces the secretion of digestive fluids, weakening digestive function and causing loss of appetite. Additionally, the temptation to eat cold foods in the heat can easily disrupt gastrointestinal function or cause discomfort due to unclean food, even leading to food poisoning. Therefore, summer diet should be light yet appetizing to achieve the goals of health preservation and well-being.
1. Eat foods that promote diuresis and dispel dampness. Since summer is extremely hot and humid, these conditions also affect the human body. Regular consumption of such foods can strengthen the spleen, restoring its ability to regulate and transport fluids.
2. Eat more bitter and sour foods in moderation. The intense heat and humidity of summer make bitter foods effective in clearing summer heat and drying dampness, thereby strengthening the spleen and stimulating appetite. Sour foods have astringent properties, helping to control sweating and prevent diarrhea during the hot season. For example, tomatoes can quench thirst, strengthen the stomach, aid digestion, cool the blood, calm the liver, clear heat, detoxify, and lower blood pressure.
3. Consume more light and simple foods. Reduced appetite and sluggish spleen and stomach function in summer make it beneficial to eat light foods, which can stimulate the appetite and enhance digestive function. Overconsumption of greasy, rich, or foods can damage the spleen and stomach, impairing digestion and overall health. Therefore, summer diet should focus on foods like mung beans, white beans, watermelon, lychees, lotus seeds, silkworm pupae, buckwheat, jujubes, pig stomach, pork, beef, beef tripe, chicken, pigeon meat, quail meat, crucian carp, turtle, softshell turtle, bee milk, honey, duck meat, milk, goose meat, soy milk, sugarcane, and pears.
4. Avoid overeating in summer, especially at dinner. As the saying goes, "Eat one less bite and live to ninety-nine." The Yellow Emperor's Inner Canon: Basic Questions advises, "Moderate eating and drinking" and "Do not overindulge." Older adults and children already have weaker digestive systems, which become even worse in summer. Overeating can damage the spleen and stomach, leading to stomach problems. If you eat until 80% full, appetite will continue to improve.
5. Balance refined and coarse grains. The intense heat of summer weakens gastrointestinal function, so dietary planning should support the spleen and stomach. Include three coarse grain meals per week, balancing wet and dry foods appropriately. A ratio of two wet meals to one dry meal is ideal: morning meals of noodles and soy milk, midday meals of dry rice, and evening meals of porridge. Combine meat and vegetables reasonably. In summer, leafy greens, melons, and beans should be the primary vegetables, supplemented with meat. Lean pork, beef, duck meat, and fish/shrimp are recommended. Older adults should focus on fish, supplemented with lean pork, beef, and duck meat.
6. Eat meals on time in summer. Do not eat whenever you feel like it or skip meals, as this disrupts the normal functioning of the spleen and stomach, leading to physiological dysfunction and stomach problems.
7. Eat fewer raw and cold foods in summer, especially ice. Older adults have declining digestive and absorption abilities, while children have underdeveloped digestive systems. In summer, they are also vulnerable to the invasions of summer heat and dampness, further impairing digestive function. Excessive consumption of raw and cold foods or cold drinks can damage the spleen and stomach, causing diarrhea and abdominal pain.
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