A mango a day keeps the summer blues away

One mango can give you the entire day’s requirements of Vitamin A. All the summer fruits are seasonal for a reason.
Keep the summer blues away.
Keep the summer blues away.

BENGALURU: Summer! The word immediately brings to mind juicy mangoes and family vacations. But with the soaring temperatures, the nasty bacteria and viruses decide to step up their activities as well.  Flu, cough and cold, stomach upsets are some minor concerns that can strike anyone. The more serious ones are food and water borne infections like typhoid, cholera, gastroenteritis, food poisoning, and jaundice. Besides, the high amount of sweat gives rise to fungal and yeast infections on the skin.

Nutrition will play an important role in beating these blues in summer.  A healthy, balanced diet accompanied by regular exercise will do wonders for your health in the summer and beyond.  Here are some tips on how to eat healthy during summers:

Ban the unsafe foods

Stay away from eating raw and cold foods while eating out, especially chutneys, salads, cut fruits, fruit juices or ice creams. While it is tempting to reach out to something cold and refreshing, these are highly likely to cause food borne infections when they are not stored in ambient temperatures. With frequent voltage or power breakdowns, the frozen foods tend to thaw and refreeze, which causes bacteria to multiply.  Check the expiry date when buying ice creams and also look for uneven shape or bulges on the ice cream packaging. This could mean the ice cream has melted and again refrozen.

Hydrate

Sun burns, heat stroke and severe dehydration are some of the dangers in the scorching summers.  The best remedy is to hydrate with clear fluids like plain water, tender coconut water, buttermilk, fresh homemade fruit or vegetable juices. Refrigerated water or other fluids may cause colds and coughs to those sensitive to sudden temperature changes. Using earthen pots to store water, or to set curds, buttermilk is a cool way of getting nourishing fluids in a safely cooled manner.   Storing water in copper vessels is also a way of getting some copper ions and staying cool!

Stay light

Fried foods are heavy and can make you uncomfortable since it takes a long time to digest, and increases thirst.  Replace these with shallow fried, grilled or baked foods lighter on your stomach and better for your health.  Include a lot of raitas, gravies, and light watery vegetables like gourds, cucumber, melons, tomatoes that are rich in nutrients as well.

Get your greens

Green leaves are loaded with vital nutrients including antioxidants, fiber, magnesium, zinc, iron and calcium.  The leaves of drumstick, cauliflower, and radish are particularly high in these nutrients.  Puree a cup of mixed greens and blend into your dal or roti to get a good dose of disease fighting nutrients.

Load up on fruits

One mango can give you the entire day’s requirements of Vitamin A! Other summery fruits are there for a reason too.  Watermelon which is 80 per cent water, serves to hydrate and refresh, while giving you the necessary electrolytes lost in the sweat.  Lychees, which can easily be called the queen of fruits in summers, and musk melon are rich sources of vitamin c that helps protect from colds and coughs.

The author is a lead dietician from Manipal Hospitals.

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