Feeling hot in the summer time, or any part of the year for that matter, depends on the environmental temperature, as well as the internal one. If they both happen to be hot you’re in trouble. Most of us try to control the environment by turning up the AC or the fan, going to the mountains or cooling off in the water. It helps. If you want to turn down the internal feeling of heat there are also many options. This can be done through eating the right cooling foods. According to Chinese medicine digestion needs heat in order to function. Take the heat away and you’re digestion becomes sluggish. So how can you keep the digestion fire going and still cool off? First of all, adding ice to food or eating refrigerated foods is a bad idea. This will cool the digestive fire. Eating foods that have a cooling nature is a good idea. Examples: chrysanthemum, mint, mung beans, chamomile, watermelon, lemon, elderflower, asparagus, cucumber, tofu, pears, are a few examples, but the list is longer. Any recipe that has any of those will reduce the internal feeling of heat and make summer days more tolerable. Adding ginger to the mix will ensure that it is more digestible. If I feel inspired I will put up a recipe by the end of summer, fingers crossed.

If you have any questions or comments please feel free to post.