Healthy eating tips in the summer help you use your body constitution as a guide to know which foods are best for you to eat.
Reading time: 8 minutes
Overall, Chinese medicine understands that everyone needs to eat according to the season to be healthy. According to Su Wen, “Summer is hot when yang qi of the sky and earth meet. All living creatures have an exuberant metabolism and prosper with exuberant foliage. Yang and blood circulate freely at the surface of the human body, while yin (body fluid), depleted, withdraws and retires inside. It is a season for an outdoor type of person. Ensure a smooth movement of qi, or your heart gets hurt.”
The main healthcare goal for summer is to protect and open energy channels in your body. When they are open, yang energy and qi can flow smoothly.
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Healthy eating tips for a balanced constitution in the Summer
Firstly, if you have a balanced constitution, your goal is to eat more pungent-tasting food to energize your stomach. Eating this type of food helps you get rid of dampness and cold left over from winter and spring. For example, ginger is a great choice, just make sure to eat ginger before dinner.
A bowl of tofu stewed with scallions and ginger makes it easy to eat ginger, for instance. It will tonify your qi, as well as cool and detoxify your blood.
Secondly, remember that hot temperatures can reduce your appetite. Therefore, you had better eat more sour and salty-tasting foods such as: lemons, plum sauce, pineapple, tomatoes, seafood, and vinegar.
Other helpful foods for you include: watermelon, cucumber (best when eaten with black fungus), wild cabbage, corn, mung bean congee with honey, French beans, spinach (don’t eat with dairy), tomatoes (best with an egg or potatoes and a bit of vinegar to counteract the tomato’s alkalinity), and tofu skin (best with straw mushrooms).
These foods help keep your body balanced, especially when the temperatures soar.
A third healthy summer eating tip for you is to not eat cold or strongly flavored foods which harm yang energy and can throw you out of balance. For example, never drink water or other beverages iced. Make sure that everything you drink is at least at room temperature to avoid irritating your stomach lining.
Hot constitution healthy summer eating
Summer proves especially challenging for people with a hot constitution. You sweat more and therefore lose even more fluids than others. However, if you eat right, you will feel less tired and irritated.
To start, eat plant and ocean-based proteins. For instance, fish, strawberries, nuts, soybean products (ideally consumed with shiitake mushrooms if you want to lower your blood pressure), and watermelon.
An additional healthy summer eating tip for you is that green tea will help invigorate and cool your body. Do not drink after having alcohol, or you may harm your kidneys.
Furthermore, you need to avoid foods and spices hot in nature. Some examples include: basil, black and white pepper, cayenne pepper, chicken, cinnamon, cloves, garlic, lamb, onions, shrimp, and trout.
Other foods that will increase you heat and restrict your flow of qi and blood are fried, fatty foods. Too many fatty foods will increase skin problems for you, such as acne and rashes.
However, your body needs healthy fats, and black sesame seeds are a good option for you during the summer.
Yin deficiency constitution
Extreme summer heat tends to drain your energy, which is already low. If you have a yin deficiency constitution, make sure to stick to your low-fat, low-sugar eating plan. Likewise, avoid the following foods: chili or Sichuan peppers, ginger, garlic, lamb, litchi fruit, longan fruit, scallions, shrimp, and walnuts. In fact, any highly seasoned or spicy foods will further drain your energy.
Some symptoms that indicate you should carefully avoid spicy foods include yellow urine, insomnia or light sleep, and constipation.
Healthy summer eating tips for you include avoiding eggplant. Eggplant can worsen emotional symptoms. You already worked hard to stay emotionally balanced. Avoiding eggplant will help.
What’s more, you should eat watermelon in small quantities. Never consume too much or you may harm your spleen.
If you have a Yang deficiency or cold constitution, you need to eat warming foods.
Healthy eating tips for yang deficiency and cold constitution
As someone with a yang deficiency constitution or cold constitution, is your chance to increase your warmth and yang energy. You need summer heat! By eating right in the summer, you will prevent many fall and winter health problems.
There is just one small challenge. Avoiding all the cold summer treats that will worsen your condition. Iced lemonade, ice cream, and r