Dr Stephanie H. Lipnicki, DACM, LAc

Western nutrition (my undergraduate degree) is often focused on caloric intake and managing states of dis-ease. Eastern nutrition is more focused on eating seasonally.

I balance the two within my practice as best as I can. Eating with the seasons can help make the weather a bit more tolerable.

Given the sweltering heat, these are great foods for beating the summer heat and suggestions for how to incorporate them into your day. Some of them I love more than others and some I don’t but you might!

Cucumbers - naturally cooling, you can enjoy them in a salad or peel and slice a few sections and add them to your water for a refreshing AND hydrating treat

Watermelon - cooling AND hydrating with its high water content. This is another one you can add a few chunks to water to make hydrating even more amazing

Kale - salads are pretty cooling in their nature, but adding kale to your summer salad will help you beat that summer heat even more

Mint - I have a bittersweet respect for mint. I love it when hidden with other items, not a huge fan of it by itself. BUT if you are a mint lover, most definitely make yourself some chilled mint tea and sip to cool yourself down in the heat

Cantaloupe - this is categorized as a heat clearing fruit in Asian Medicine so it is the perfect addition to your stash of keep cool summer foods

Strawberries - with their ability to help promote body fluids, what better way to help counter all the sweat you are losing when you face a heat wave

In addition to adding cucumber, watermelon, or mint to your water to make it more refreshing, one of my favorite summer salads is included in one of my older blogs - along with some additional foods to add to your summer plate/ glass.

The additional foods, in case you don’t want to try my cucumber watermelon salad are:

Chrysanthemum tea

Spinach

Grapes

Raspberries

Blackberries

Lotus Root

Pear

Peppermint

Black beans

Eating to Beat the Summer Heat and my Cucumber Watermelon Salad

I tend not to recommend things like sports drinks unless absolutely necessary. My hope is that my patients will always choose foods first, so trying coconut water in the case of dehydration is a healthier alternative to commercial sports drinks.

Homemade electrolyte replacement recipe:

8 oz water (non carbonated)

2 TBSP lemon juice or orange juice

Pinch of salt (just a pinch is all you need)

If you need a little hint of sweet, a natural sweetener like stevia can be added

Premake so you have available to keep yourself well hydrated!

Refreshing Summer Hydrating Mocktails:

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Summer Mojito Mocktail (1 serving)

5 mint leaves

2 drops of coconut extract

1 oz fresh lime juice

8 oz of sparkling water or club soda

½ oz simple syrup or stevia

Lime garnish

Muddle your mint with the simple syrup or stevia

Add lime juice, coconut extract, and sparkling water or club soda

Stir together and serve over just a little bit of ice (too much ice is never great even in the heat of the summer)

Garnish with lime and enjoy a hydrating refreshing drink

Watermelon Mint Refresher (1 serving)

1 c of watermelon cubed (you can use fresh or frozen)

5 mint leaves

1 oz fresh lime juice

½ c of sparkling water or club soda

Lime or watermelon for garnish

Muddle the mint, watermelon and lime juice (if you want to blend the watermelon you can do that and add mint leaves and muddle once the watermelon is blended)

Choose your glass and pour over a little bit of ice, pour sparkling water over the mixture and stir

Serve with lime or watermelon garnish

Let me know what you’ve tried and how it helped you stay cool this summer!

See you on the treatment table or in a zoom meditation!

Dr Stephanie