Regulating your diet
Summer heat acts upon the heart. The heart is the organ of fire and cardiac fire raises easily. Therefore, in the summer, foods should focus on clearing away heat from the heart, purging fire, clearing away heat and removing summer heat.
Never over consume cold drinks, iced water, or unripe and cold melon. Avoiding these items will prevent gastric injury, in particular to the stomach and spleen because of excessive physical and energetic cold.
- Overall, eat more cucumber, peas, loofa, and job’s tears.
- Abstain from fat, greasy, pungent, and hot-natured foods in order to prevent creating too much heat and dampness in the body.
- Pay attention to color, smell, taste, and appearance of your food, so as to activate the spleen, promote gastric functions, and improve your appetite.
- Choose plenty of brightly colored summer fruits and vegetables and enjoy creating beautiful meals.
- Cook lightly and regularly.
- When sautéing use high heat for a very short time, and steam or simmer foods as quickly as possible.
- Use little salt and more water.
Eat a variety of summer foods
Summer offers abundant variety, and your diet should reflect this. Minerals and oils are sweated out by the body, and their loss can cause you to feel weak if you do not replace them with a varied diet.
To be more comfortable, drink hot liquids to induce sudden sweating which will cool the body.
Summer heat combined with too much cold food weakens the digestive organs.
Coldness causes contraction; it holds in sweat and heat and interferes with digestion. Iced drinks and ice cream actually contract the stomach and stop digestion. They are best avoided.
On the hottest days, create a cool atmosphere (picnics, patio meals, etc.) and serve more cooling fresh foods lightly steamed or sauteed. Examples include:
- Apples
- Watermelon
- Lemons
- Limes
- Mung bean soup or tea is another specific remedy.
Avoid eating too many spicy foods.
Small amounts help release heat, but too much will deplete your yang energy, leaving you susceptible to feeling cold and getting sick more easily in the fall and winter.
Also avoid heavy foods.
They cause sluggishness. Such foods include meats, eggs, and excessive consumption of nuts and seeds. You will also eat grains in smaller quantities in the summer. Eating less and lightly on hot, bright days is a natural, healthful practice, a pattern easily forgotten when you neither pay attention to your internal rhythm or change your habits according to the seasons.
Bitter melon
Loofah also called sponge gourd
Food choices and preparation
Food should be prepared simply, with a minimum of seasonings and a mild taste. Avoid complicated dishes and combinations of foods. Moderation should also guide other aspects of food preparation, including cooking time, methods, and temperature, and the use of water and cooking oil. These recommendations are great to follow any time you need to recenter your body and mind.
Recommended foods include:
- Bitter melon
- Chrysanthemum leaf
- Loofah (also called sponge gourd or large okra)
- Watermelon
- Musk melon
- Mung beans
You may also prepare teas and medicinal porridges.
Late summer
During late summer, choose slightly sweet foods, yellow or golden foods, round foods, and/or foods known to harmonize your center.
- Millet
- Corn
- Carrots
- Cabbage
- Garbonzo beans
- Soybeans
- Squash
- Potatoes
- Yellow string beans
- Yams
- Tofu
- Sweet potatoes
- Sweet rice
- Rice
- Amaranth
- Chestnuts
- Filberts
- Apricots
- Cantaloupes
Eat According to Your Constitution
You can download recipes developed just for Radiant Shenti for each body constitution. You will find three breakfast, lunch, and dinner recipes for each body constitution. Click here to access the PDFs.
Citations
Pitchford, P. (2002). Healing with Whole Foods: Asian Traditions and Modern Nutrition, 3rd Ed.
Yanfu, Z. (2002). Life Cultivation & Rehabilitation of Traditional Chinese Medicine