How to eat healthy in summer

Ah, summer is not only the most radiant time of the year, a time of adventure, relaxation and travel, but also a season of increased danger for our body, because most often it is in the summer that our digestive organs are under particular threat, since in such a hot season it is easiest to catch intestinal infection. How can you protect yourself from such a misfortune and spend a carefree, healthy summer? Our article will tell you about this and many other useful tips on how to protect your body from infections and diseases with the help of properly organized nutrition.

Great mood and well-being even in the heat

Let's remember the coldest and snowiest time of the year. How does our body adapt to environmental temperature conditions? That's right, our body requires warmth, so we tirelessly drink tea and hot chocolate to warm up. In the summer we are exhausted from heat and thirst and we are constantly thirsty. This is not surprising, because at any other time of the year our body loses about 2.5 liters of fluid per day, but in such heat the human body releases almost 4 liters of moisture per day. Therefore, if you are constantly thirsty, it doesn’t matter, you can drink as much as you like, the main thing is to drink correctly.

Research shows that the daily water requirement for an adult is 2-2.5 liters, excluding tea, coffee and any other drinks. This amount includes only mineral and melt water. Beer, carbonated sweet drinks and water are completely undesirable in the summer, so the best quencher of summer thirst is cold mineral water, placed in the freezer or refrigerator in the evening.

Table mineral waters are recommended for consumption, because hot weather and high temperatures cause the body not only to sweat and at the same time remove not only a lot of liquid, but also useful minerals. It is table mineral water that will help replenish your strength and charge you with energy, thanks to which you will instantly forget about fatigue and thirst.

Let's talk about nutrition. It is unlikely that in the summer you dream of a plate of hot soup or hot tea. Of course, in the heat you want ice cream, okroshka, cold water or chilled compote. That's right, because in the summer we usually lose our appetite, since the body requires much less energy, and we want to eat a hearty, full-fledged meal in the evening, when the heat subsides a little. But you shouldn’t run to the nearest McDonald’s and stock up on high-calorie fast food or ice cream in a store near your house (by the way, fruit ice cream, namely fruit ice, will cool you much better than creamy ice cream). Fast food, baked goods, fatty fried foods, sausage products are not what you should eat in the heat.

For breakfast, porridge with fresh fruit or muesli with dried fruits is best; for lunch, a vegetable salad of your choice would be ideal; for dessert, treat yourself to fruit or freshly squeezed cool juice.

Proper nutrition in summer

– the key to good health, youth and excellent well-being. It is proper nutrition and consumption of vitamins and healthy foods that will help you feel like a fish in water in such a hot season, and you will forever forget about illness, discomfort, and, well, extra pounds too. Do not forget that summer is a time for a beautiful tan and vacation, for which all women begin to actively prepare, frantically trying on swimsuits and carefully examining themselves in the mirror. It is trips to distant tropical countries and vacations on the sea coast that stimulate us women to spend hours searching on the Internet for effective exercises and diets that can remove all those extra pounds in a week and bring the figure into the shape that we like best.

To get the maximum benefit from all the gifts of nature that the earth gives us in the summer, to lose extra pounds, and also to improve your health, you just need to pay attention to your diet. It is enough to drink more mineral filtered water, eat fresh vegetables and fruits, berries, herbs and proper nutrition in the summer, menu

will not only be useful, but also enjoyable, and your body will become slim and healthy.
A balanced diet, vegetable dishes and fruit desserts guarantee lightness and harmony, and fermented milk products, which you also don’t have to limit yourself to, perfectly satisfy hunger, cope with thirst and cool you down. You should also exclude sweets, a variety of candies, cookies and all kinds of pastries. What you won’t do for the beautiful figure of your dreams! Organizing proper nutrition for the summer for weight loss
is very simple, because it is in the summer that it is much easier to give up all your favorite sweets, isn’t it?

How to eat in the heat: 4 main rules

Raise your hand if you are ready to eat only dew (or, so to speak, cherries) all summer, but you force food into yourself, since everyone around you says that you need to eat strictly 5 times a day. Let's say right away: this is not true. We asked blogger and certified nutritionist Arina Nikiforova (@arina_iz_magazina) about how to properly adjust your diet in the heat. And here are 4 main secrets that will help you feel comfortable even at the highest air temperatures.

If you don't want to eat, don't eat

A very small percentage of people can eat a full meal on the hottest days - and there is no appetite, and heaviness will follow, and apathy will attack. What are we doing?

Be sure to have breakfast before it gets hot. And even if you don’t like breakfast, then, believe me, with the proposed meal option, you will really like it and, most likely, will become one of the most comfortable meals. You definitely need to eat carbohydrates (both complex and simple) in the morning, and also supplement them with fats and proteins. For example, homemade shawarma made from whole grain flatbread with avocado, cream cheese, fish/chicken and herbs will be an excellent summer breakfast option.
Be sure to have dinner (with carbohydrates, proteins, and vegetables). And the rest of the day we just snack on fruit or drink cool smoothies. Salads (for example, with tuna, eggs, seafood, legumes) and protein foods (cottage cheese, thick curd drinks, cheesecakes, casseroles) will also come to the rescue. Small bruschettas can also be easily digested.
Your main task is to get energy from complex carbohydrates in the morning and evening, so that there is no hunger during the day, you have strength and there is no overeating at night.

Photo: @_jeanettemadsen_

Eat vegetable fats

2/3 of all fats consumed in summer should be vegetable. They will keep the skin moisturized, help the body more easily endure critical days in the heat, and all other elements are easily absorbed in the intestines. And the brain will work at an adequate speed (yes, its functioning is improved not only from carbohydrates).

Don't give up sweets

If you are the type of person who puts on more than 2 kilograms every winter and tries their best to lose them by summer, then your option for a summer afternoon snack is something tasty, but not necessarily filling. It can be:

pears and apples baked with cottage cheese and honey;
milkshake (without ice cream) based on fruit, milk, yogurt, fermented baked milk (or their plant-based alternatives). You can also add honey and seeds;
a salad of colorful vegetables with a healthy dressing (vegetable oils, balsamic, lemon or orange juice, yogurt with garlic, and so on);
banana ice cream;
homemade jelly from berries, fruits and gelatin;
yogurt, chia and fruit pudding;
avocado with whole grain bread;
fermented milk drinks with dried fruits (mix in a blender).

Photo: @deborabrosa

Drink more

Sometimes we confuse thirst with hunger and eat instead of drink. Or we drink so much that we don’t quench this thirst at all. I think you've heard that warm water or hot tea helps combat the heat in summer. But in fact, in order to quench your thirst, it is enough to drink any drink at room temperature. You can also drink cold options, but they will not relieve your thirst instantly, as will happen with drinks at room temperature.

How to properly organize your diet?

The most important thing is that all the products you eat are fresh. And not just fresh, but the freshest. Temperature, weather conditions, and indeed the climate as a whole is changing and approaching tropical, and no matter how problematic and difficult it may be to provide yourself with healthy and fresh foods, try to cope with this, treat the preparation and consumption of food responsibly and then your body will certainly say Thank you too. On the Internet and on television you can find dozens of programs and articles about making the right food choices and many interesting recipes that harmoniously combine freshness and low-calorie composition with a pleasant and refined taste.

To avoid food poisoning in the summer, you should adhere to the following rules:

Pay close attention to the manufacturing date of the products you purchase. You should not buy a product if its expiration date is almost or has already expired;
Pay special attention to the choice of fermented milk products, eggs, meat and sausages. Do not buy little-known products, use only products from well-known manufacturers that you have already verified;
pay attention to the storage conditions of products in the stores where you are going to purchase the product: cleanliness, order, availability of refrigerators, presence of expiration date labels;
Do not hesitate to avoid eating products whose quality you doubt. Treating intestinal infections and poisoning is much more expensive than buying fresh kefir or cheese;
buy vegetables and fruits in their season: strawberries in May, watermelons in early summer, zucchini in winter - these are all fake products that have nothing healthy;
cook at home, reduce your intake of processed foods, store-bought salads, and dairy products. You can cook all this yourself. Thus, you will not only be proud of yourself and your successes, but also be confident in the freshness and quality of the dishes you prepare. Please your child not with store-bought “Rastishka” or “Mashenka”, but with homemade yogurt with fresh berries using a yogurt maker and starter cultures, which can easily be purchased at any store;
use thermal bags or buy a cooler bag, because not only proper storage, but also proper transportation leaves its mark on the quality and freshness of the goods you purchase.

Summer nutrition principles

Since the body needs less energy in the heat, then food should be less caloric. That is why residents of hot countries exclude fatty, high-calorie foods from their diet in the summer, and limit meat consumption, replacing it with fish and other seafood. They also give preference to plant foods rich in vitamins and microelements.

In addition, summer requires a transition to a different summer diet

, which implies that 28% of fats will enter the body per day, 2/3 of which will consist of fats of vegetable origin; 55% proteins, both plant and animal 1:1; 17% carbohydrates.

itself in summer

should exclude eating during the hottest hours of the day, that is, it is better if you move full meals to the morning or evening, and during peak hours you drink more and give preference to vegetables and fruits.

In the summer, it is advisable to have breakfast at 6-7 o'clock in the morning, lunch should be before the hot afternoon - at 11-11.30, and dinner at 18 o'clock, when the heat has already subsided. For those who cannot sleep on an empty stomach, you can allow yourself a small snack around 20-21 hours.

The caloric content of breakfast should be 35%, lunch - 25%, dinner - 25%, and a late-night snack should not be more than 15% of the calories you consume per day.

“Gift” of the passing summer: the warmth decided to linger in Central Russia

“Indian summer will come to Moscow twice this year” – such encouraging headlines appeared in the media after weather forecasters predicted that good weather would continue until September 4, and on the 10th the warmth would once again return to the Capital Region and last a week. At the same time, in Siberia and the Volga region there is “cold migration”. Already on Thursday, cold temperatures will come to the Volga Federal District, then to Western Siberia, after which it will reach the Krasnoyarsk Territory. In some regions, daytime temperatures will drop to anomalous for this time of year plus 10 degrees. Where to expect Indian summer, and where you shouldn’t even hope for warmth – Vesti FM correspondent Marina Kostyukevich found out.

Sundresses and sandals can now be put away in closets until spring. But it’s too early to exchange windbreakers for autumn jackets – the warmth has decided to linger in Central Russia. Sunny, clear, dry - this is how you can describe the weather throughout this week. A pleasant surprise or a pattern? Most likely, this is a “gift” of the passing summer, says Daria Gushchina, professor of the Department of Meteorology and Climatology, Faculty of Geography, Moscow State University.

GUSCHINA: In the first days of September, such anomalous warmth, especially against the background of the fact that we did not have any severe cold, in fact, this is a continuation of summer processes, such a “delayed summer.”

Moreover, summer will once again try to return to the Capital Region in about a week. From September 10, we can again expect (according to weather forecasters) warm weather. This surprise was immediately dubbed “double Indian summer.” However, not all experts are ready to draw such parallels. Among them is Alexander Chernokulsky, a senior researcher at the Laboratory of Climate Theory at the Obukhov Institute of Atmospheric Physics.

CHERNOKULSKY: One Indian summer, two Indian summers – it’s not so important. This is not a stable term; it does not have a strict definition. This is just a stable anticyclone with an influx of southerly wind. People will call it “Indian summer”.

In fact, Indian summer is, although not a scientific, but a very stable folk term. This time is highly anticipated every fall. Because this is a “light” in a series of dull, slushy, gloomy days and hope for something joyful and comfortable, explains Daria Gushchina.

Alika Zhukova, beauty editor:

“I never regret the passing of summer, because I know that autumn will only be cooler. Because this is exactly the time when you can go to the sea (the velvet season has not been cancelled), and eat your fill of ripe watermelons, and go on a real hike with friends (though in rubber boots and a raincoat). And we are also waiting for museums, exhibitions, theaters, literary evenings, evening viewings of TV series, parties and a lot more.”

photo: @alika_zhukova

51. Finally, going out for yoga in the park, the last day of summer is not a reason to relax and skip training, but in nature, training will be many times more effective and fun.

52. Spend the last summer night with your best friends in the park, enjoying the starry sky and cool atmosphere (I sincerely hope that this night will be warm).

53. Buy a ticket to the sea in September to extend the summer days and swim to your heart's content!

54. And if you are as pragmatic as I am, then it’s time to go shopping in search of stylish boots that can be combined with silk dresses.

55. And finally, stop, exhale, pour a glass of natural lemonade and think about what a bright and cheerful summer you had. And if your plans were not implemented, move it to September!