response 60 of 74:

Aug 17 01:23 UTC 2007

[ok, I'll chill with posting interesting articles for a little while
after this one, ok? At least  no more this evening, at least...  :-)  ]

Eat and Keep Cool
Baby, it's hot outside! You can stay fresh as a daisy this summer by
choosing foods that  cool your body from the inside out.

By Lisa Kingsley
    
When the temperatures soar, there's more you can do to stay cool and
comfortable  than sit in the air-conditioning and sip lemonade.


According to the principles of ayurveda a holistic system of
preventative medicine  developed in India more than 5,000 years ago and
supported by modern science, all  food falls into one of six taste
categories: sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, or  astringent. Foods
that are sweet, bitter, or astringent have a cooling effect on the body;
 foods that are sour, salty, and pungent have a heating effect on the
body.

So, when the weather's hot, keep cool by choosing sweet, bitter, or
astringent  (somewhat sharp or dry taste, like that of cilantro or
pomegranate) foods, says author  Jennifer Workman, a registered
dietician and a continuing education provider for The  American Dietetic
Association who teaches ayurvedic nutrition to Western clinical 
dieticians and nutritionists.

"The craving for cold, sweet things in the summer is correct. If it's
hot, it makes logical  sense that the body is going to try to reach
homeostasis -- that's it's goal," Workman  says. "It wants balance.
That's why, when it's 100 degrees outside, nature provides  sweet fruits
like watermelon and grapes and strawberries. It's why we crave iced tea,
 and salad, and shrimp cocktail."

Eating foods that help you stay cool isn't necessarily about the food's
temperature ,  Workman says. For instance, ginger has a warming effect
on the body -- so drinking a  cold ginger ale isn't going to have the
desired effect.

Even switching up a few ingredients in a meal can make the difference
between a  warming or cooling effect, she says. For instance, most beans
and legumes have a  cooling effect. Ditto for avocado and salad greens
(especially the bitter ones).  Tomatoes, on the other hand, are warming,
as are hot chilies.

"So if you have something Mexican with black beans and lettuce and
guacamole, it'll be  cooling," she says. "If you have the same thing but
have it with a lot of tomatoes, salsa  with chilies, it'll be warming."

Warm vegetable soups made with cooling, digestive spices such as cumin,
coriander,  turmeric and fennel ultimately cool you down, too, she says.

To that end, here's a short list of cooling foods you might want to
incorporate into your  diet during these hotter-than-blazes days.

Cooling Fruits

Apples
Avocado
Coconut
Grapes
Mangoes
Raisins
Strawberries
Watermelon
Cooling Vegetables

Squash
Asparagus
Broccoli
Brussels sprouts
Cauliflower
Bok choy
Cucumber (of course!)
Corn
Dandelion greens
Fennel
Sweet potatoes
White potatoes
Snow peas
Grains

Oats
Basmati Rice
Wheat
Proteins

White meat turkey and chicken
White-flesh fish
Shrimp
Tofu
Almonds
Herbs/Spices

Dill
Fennel
Mint
Cumin
Coriander
Fennel
Turmeric
Cardamom
Rosewater
Drink and Keep Cool

Just as certain foods will cool your body from the inside out, so too
will choice  beverages. Like the foods we eat, what we drink has a
cooling or warming effect on our  bodies that doesn't necessarily have
to do with the temperature of the drink itself, says  ayurvedic
nutritionist Jennifer Workman.

The most cooling drinks are those that have some astringency (a sharp,
dry taste).  That's why teas of all kinds -- whether sipped cold, hot,
or room temperature -- are  terrific body coolers.

"Teas are very helpful to people because they're astringent and
cooling," Workman  says. Some of her favorites are green tea, raspberry
tea, jasmine tea, lemongrass tea,  or lemon verbena tea.

One of her favorite recommendations for summer sipping is lightly
sweetened chai (hot  or cold) with milk (dairy is cooling) and a little
bit of cardamom (also cooling).

She also loves sweet and/or astringent fruit juices, such as
pomegranate, mango, or  cranberry.

"One of my favorite treats in the summer," she says, "is cranberry juice
with sparkling  water and a squeeze of lime." Aaaah.

response 62 of 74:

Sep 23 20:42 UTC 2007

Many apartments no longer allow that.  Mine instituted the "no fires"
rule about 5 years ago.

response 64 of 74:

Oct 1 17:15 UTC 2007

I have one of those as well - I just used it for the first time last 
week. The ribs didn't have that outdoor-grille-charcoal taste, but it 
worked very nicely.

response 66 of 74:

Aug 11 07:07 UTC 2009

Hummus and raw veggies has become a summer staple.

response 68 of 74:

Aug 12 03:44 UTC 2009

The spicy peanut noodles with broccoli recipe that I posted a while 
back is another good one.  The peanut sauce can be put together and the 
broccoli chopped in less time than it takes the noodles to cook and 
using just one burner for a half hour doesn't heat up the whole place.  
I like to use other fresh veggies along with or instead of the 
broccoli, too.

response 70 of 74:

Aug 12 15:18 UTC 2009

It's still my "go-to" noodle salad recipe.  

response 72 of 74:

Aug 13 03:17 UTC 2009

Our neighbor called me over to offer me a large basil plant (we cut branches
off to put in water instead), then explained how to freeze instead of dry the
leaves, then gave me her recipe for pesto, then called me back for two ziplock
bags of the pesto she just made.  It was excellent on noodles, as advised.

Most summers it is too hot to cook much.  We eat bread and fruit.

response 74 of 74:

Aug 13 18:56 UTC 2009

I love pesto.  So very very much.  And you can do so much with it....