Summer heat... what foods should I eat?

Surprisingly, summer heat causes more deaths from heat stroke in the U.S. than twisters, blizzards or floods.

Less surprisingly, what you eat and drink can help you cope more easily with the heat of summer.

It is essential to keep your fluid intake up during the summer heat. Water especially, is your friend, and it is easy to keep a supply of water in the fridge.

Foods with a high water content are ideal foods for summer. Reduce your consumption of protein (protein is hard to digest and the effort required for the process creates heat)  and increase your consumption of fruit and vegetables.

Fresh fruits and vegetables are the perfect summer food so as much as possible, increase the quantity of these in your diet. As a bonus, fruits and vegetables also supply your body with the nutrients it needs to help protect your body from the effects of the sun. Antioxidants help prevent and repair cells in the body. Vitamins and minerals can help protect you from skin cancer and wrinkles.

So which fruits and vegetables are ideal for those long hot summer days, and why?

Cucumbers and melons are ideal water-rich options. 

 A low calorie sweet treat, a large chunk of cold, thirst-quenching watermelon has to be the most perfect summer food. It is high in Vitamin C and Vitamin A, potassium and magnesium, nutrients that are invaluable in summer. Vitamin C helps the body physiologically during the heat of summer by improving the body’s response to heat stress. You are less likely to feel exhausted by the heat because the Vitamin C lowers your body temperature and helps shorten the length of time it takes for your body to adjust or acclimatize to the heat. Vitamin C has antioxidant benefits which are thought to help the body protect itself from cell damage by increasing the production of collagen, the growth of new tissue and repair of damaged cells. Vitamin C helps reduce the incidence of summer allergies, possibly by preventing the body from producing histamine.

Fruits that are particularly high in Vitamin C and also have sufficient Vitamin E and A to meet your summer requirements include black currents, guava, kiwi, mango, mulberries and papaya. Vegetables include butternut squash and swiss chard.

But most fruits contain Vitamin A, as do eggs and dairy. Additional foods high in Vitamin C are: grapefruit, lychee, orange, passionfruit, pineapple and strawberries, bok choy, broccoli, brussels sprouts and kale.

Vitamin A helps your body repair skin that has been damaged by exposure to the sun’s rays. Vitamin A is in most fruits, as well as eggs and dairy. Vitamin E also has antioxidant effects and can help reduce the severity of summer allergies and asthma by calming the immune system and the allergic response.

Green leafy vegetables provide the nutrients required for thermoregulation, the process of the body regulating its internal temperature. Calcium is the most important mineral for regulating body temperature.

Cranberries, pears, apples, pomegranates, grapes, quince, persimmons, broccoli, cabbage, cauliflower, and root vegetables are excellent summer foods due to their astringent properties. Astringent foods increase water absorption in the body. Other astringent foods are legumes, tea and coffee, and some herbs and spices (thistle, chamomile, jasmine).

High Fiber equals lower risks of Breast Cancer

Just under 12% of women in the US will develop invasive breast cancer at some point in their lives. This translates as about 226,870 new cases diagnosed in women in the U.S. this year. An estimated 39,510 women will die this year from invasive cancer. There will be additional incidents of non-invasive cancer.   There is also a smaller number of men who are diagnosed with invasive or non-invasive breast cancer.  

Recent overseas research has discovered that women who have a diet that is high in fiber from plants such as vegetables are less likely to get breast cancer.  However, when it comes to the incidence of breast cancer, the difference between being a high consumer of fiber and a low consumer of fiber is small, placed at 11%.

People who have diets high in fiber have lower levels of estrogen. Estrogen is a risk factor for breast tumours. This is thought to be the reason for the reduced rate of breast cancer in those who eat a high fiber diet.

In a study of 710,000 women over seven to eighteen years, researchers have found that 2.4% ended up with breast cancer. The difference between those with the highest fiber intake over this time period and those with the lowest fiber intake was 11%.

It is possible that those who consume a high-fiber diet could have lower risk factors overall as they have better overall health. While the researchers did allow for other risk factors such as a family history of breast cancer, use of hormone replacement therapies and other dietary factors, there may be other unknown factors at play that were not taken into consideration in the research.

The most significant risk factors for breast cancer are gender, i.e. being female, and age, i.e. growing older. One risk factor is being overweight or obese. This is because fat cells make estrogen and extra fat cells mean more estrogen in the body. Fat around the belly proves to be a greater risk factor than fat on the hips, buttocks or thighs.

The rate of breast cancer is decreasing in older women, this being the most at-risk group. It is possible this is as a result of a reduction in the use of hormone replacement therapy in recent years.