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Effective living, energy, energy foods, exhausted, fatigue, Feeling energized, heat stress, stress, Stress Management, Summer stress
© 2014 Kebba Buckley Button, M.S., O.M. World Rights Reserved.
Is it blazing hot and really dry where you live? Yet life can be beautiful in these conditions. I want you to thrive all the time. In the Summer heat, that can be challenging. But you’ll be up for it if you’ve read all 3 of my summer thriving articles. This is the third.
In the last 2 articles on dealing with the hottest Summer days, I covered :
- – Protecting your body and skin
- – Getting enough rest, and
- – How to strategize to have the most energy you can
In this article, I offer ideas on how to eat– and drink– cool to keep cool! This is not always the cold foods you would think. And it’s not always the sweet, icy, and alcoholic drinks you might think of, to cool you off. Follow these three tips to switch what you swallow, to feel your best:
- Stay hydrated! Drink filtered water, that is, water with the chlorine removed. Do not pay for an expensive water-conversion system to alter the water molecules (which we’ll discuss in another article), without first removing the chlorine. Chlorine is a poison to microorganisms (germs) which is the exact reason they put it in the public water supply. Your body doesn’t need it, and it’s bad for you.
A simple table-top carbon-filter pitcher will filter out the chlorine, fluoride, and other bad-tasting elements of tap water. You may find this water more refreshing if you keep it in the refrigerator. You may also want to ask your local health food store about mineral drops to add to filtered water. If your body is low on minerals, the drops added to your beverages will bring your stamina up the same day, or sooner.
Water is the most hydrating liquid you can drink. If you hate plain water, try adding a little cherry juice concentrate, which will also give you a few carbs, potassium, and anti-inflammatory compounds. If you’re hiking or working outside, you may enjoy half water and half organic apple juice, which again will provide a few carbs and a lot of potassium.
If you will be working or exercising outdoors a lot, do eat salty snacks! They’ll make you thirsty and keep you from losing too much of your body’s moisture through sweat. Check with your doctor about your ideal personal salt balance.
“Genius is one percent inspiration and ninety-nine percent perspiration.”
– Thomas A. Edison
- Avoid sugary foods and drinks, and alcohol! These will make you more thirsty and tired after the initial refreshing sensation. Avoid all artificial sweeteners (which we’ll discuss in a future article), going for fruit juices and concentrates as flavors. Anything with sugar, alcohol, or caffeine will give you a little boost, then put the squeeze on your kidneys. Alcohol is, for some purposes, a super sugar. So limit that, plus all refined sugars and caffeine, when you’re hot. The decaf coffee drinks still are loaded with antioxidants, so you still will get a boost, but a healthy one.
- Set your goal to get the most energy out of whatever you swallow. Think of it this way: part of the art of eating well and healthfully in the hottest times of summer is having quick food to grab. Because you and your family will often come home tired on blasting hot days, you’ll be grateful to yourself for keeping healthy cool foods ready to eat. Some of these could be: celery sticks, jicama sticks, cucumber slices, cherry tomatoes, cherries, berries, grapes, bananas, pineapple chunks, dates, peaches, nectarines, yogurts, roasted chicken (available at your grocery store), pan-broiled salmon (you made it last night and chilled it), hard-boiled eggs, boiled organic potato chunks, cans of organic beans or chick peas, and raw almonds or cashews.
You might call this collection, “the fastest slow food you can get”. Your grocery store now has trays of veggies, trays of fruits, prepared chicken, and even heat-and-eat ribs. There are salads ready-to-go and salad kits in bags. Green salad is your friend, and as light greens go, Romaine lettuce is the most energizing. It’s the lettuce in every “Caesar Salad”, prepared or in a kit. As dark greens go, kale is the star of the nutritional show. Have a large dark green salad for dinner almost every night, with pieces of potato, avocado, and chicken. Topped with your favorite dressing, it’s a quick and restorative meal. You’ll feel alert and clear-minded all evening, and then you’ll sleep well.
Can you have great days and wonderful relationships in the desert summer season? Absolutely, you can. Eat well for the weather, follow the other tips in this series, and you will sail triumphantly through the hot season!
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● Kebba Buckley Button is a stress management expert and the author of the award-winning book, Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br), plus the 2013 book, Peace Within: Your Peaceful Inner Core, Second Edition (http://tinyurl.com/mqg3uvc). She also has a natural healing practice and is an ordained minister.
● Liked this article? You can buy Kebba’s books: just click the links!
- Discover The Secret Energized You (http://tinyurl.com/b44v3br).
- Peace Within: Your Peaceful Inner Core (Second Edition) (http://tinyurl.com/mqg3uvc)
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Some good advice for those currently experiencing summer (which unfortunately is not me).
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Mummy, I’m chuckling b/c for us, in Phoenix, Arizona, it’s hard to imagine temps lower than 90 right now. Perhaps, when you do have summer, you’ll remember my tips with a smile? Thanks for visiting and commenting.
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Thanks for the reminder to hydrate and to avoid alcohol. Keeping cool foods at the ready is also a good strategy. I love my Soda Stream. I gave up soda and only drink plain seltzer. I don’t really like plain water so this at least keeps me drinking 2 or 3 liters of water a day. What’s the harm in CO2?
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Cathy, I’m so glad you enjoyed my summer strategies. The carbonation of regular sodas cause leaching of phosphorus, and therefore weakening of bones, but I don’t know if the soda stream output has the same effect. If I find out, I will loop back to you. Meanwhile, it might not hurt to ask your health food store about minerals drops for highly filtered water. The drops could cover you. Thanks so much for visiting and commenting.
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Nice post, and very timely as I’ve been hydrating and preparing for a 5k run in the morning. This week has been a scorcher! And heat and humidity can become dangerous and deadly more quickly than we realize.
Your formatting strengthens your presentation, by the way. Well done!
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Dawn Teresa, I am so glad you enjoyed my summer strategies. I’m proud of you for running a 5K, and I hope you’ll do it in the healthiest way. (Where are you?) Thanks for complimenting my format; I’ve been working on it since 2009. Now that I have my own photography, I like the look of my work even more. Thanks for visiting and commenting!
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I love these meal ideas, Kebba! Easy to prepare and have ready for when you don’t feel like cooking. Which is almost the case in the hot summer days! And such interesting advice about the salty snacks 🙂
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Totally with you Kebba! Water is the best thing you can drink (although I have a feeling the soft drink manufacturers wouldn’t exactly agree, unless the produce bottled water as well.) I personally go for tap water wherever I can. Love your summer snack ideas. One of my favorites is: celery, cucumber, carrot and fennel sticks covered with lots of fresh lemon and a bit of salt (fits in with your recommendation for salt intake).
Thanks for the informative post.
HUGS ❤
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Judy, re-read what I said about filtered water, unless you are blessed with really clean well water. Thanks for the snack idea-sounds wonderful! And thanks for visiting and commenting. Hugs to you!
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