Diet to stay cool this season

With temperatures already touching 40 degrees Celsius in March, it's important to change your food habits to guard against dehydration, heat boils, dry skin, vomiting, diarrhoea and other summer ailments.

Hot and spicy foods should be replaced by cooling and less spicy dishes. Bottle gourd, green leafy vegetables, green beans and pulses such as green mung dal, barley, sago, ragi and sabja seeds (tikmuriya) soaked in water, are cooling foods.

Nutritionist M Gayatri suggests some innovations like ragi powder, available in the market now, to make buttermilk.

A combination of barely with lemon juice, mint water with ginger, buttermilk with jeera and fresh ginger are other cooling options.

Stick to fruits such as water melons, musk melons, coconut and other water

based fruits and fresh juices.

In many homes, sweet curd mixed with rice is refrigerated and small portions can be had during the day.

Not a good idea for diabetics, though, caution experts, as too much white sugar is a no-no. This is the season for indigenous drinks — aam panna, mango murabbas, both sweet and spicy. The direct heat affects the head and hence massaging the body or head with

gingely or coconut oil helps to improve blood circulation and lowers body temperature.

Gingely oil is said to improve metabolism, skin and hair texture, and also the digestive tract, including the colon.

The American Nutrition Association recommends eating rice cooked the day before as it has been found to contain beneficial bacteria and neutralises excessive body heat. It also helps those with constipation and maintains body energy.