Summer swelter makes hydration even more vital
Drink a variety of beverages
While water is the best choice for hydration, many types of drinks will help keep you hydrated. Good options include unsweetened iced tea, flavored water, low-fat milk, nondairy milk, sports drinks, coconut water and fruit-infused water. Keep a cup or bottle of your beverage of choice on hand at all times and take extra with you when you head out for the day. Steer away from sugarsweetened beverages and alcoholic drinks, which are not ideal for staying hydrated.
Consume water-rich, hydrating foods
It's not always easy to meet hydration needs with fluids alone. Foods with a high water content can also help you beat the heat. Load up on hydrating foods like cucumbers, watermelon, cantaloupe, grapes, celery, tomatoes, salads and yogurt, which are nutritious and full of water.
Move activity indoors
The heat can interfere with fitness goals. While Southern California is a hub for outdoor exercise enthusiasts, high temperatures can easily derail well-intentioned regimens. To stay on track, opt for indoor exercise including home workout video routines, gyms and fitness studios, air-conditioned recreation centers or yoga classes. If you prefer to get outside, cool down in a shaded swimming pool. Avoid working out during the hottest time of the day, which is typically between 10 a.m. and 3 p.m.
Set a daily hydration goal
On average, most people need half an ounce to an ounce of fluid for each pound of body weight daily. Physical activity and environmental factors that increase sweating will raise hydration needs. Pregnant and nursing mothers have increased fluid needs. Keep an eye on the color of your urine to help gauge if you are drinking adequately. Urine should be clear to pale yellow, and dark yellow urine can signal lack of hydration.
If you have a condition that makes it challenging to consume enough fluid or puts you at increased risk for dehydration, it is important to speak with your health care provider to discuss your concerns.
Either the heat has gotten to me or this is who I really am.
I have always wondered if there was any truth to the saying, “It's hot enough to fry an egg on the sidewalk.”
So what better time to try it out than in the midst of our Southern California heat wave? On a day when temps were soaring into triple digits, I decided the time had come.
Donning a floppy straw hat and large dark sunglasses, I set out to brave the heat of my driveway. The transition from air-conditioned kitchen to the outdoor inferno gave me momentary pause. But I was too far gone. Nothing could stop me now from a research project that had been on my mind since childhood.
Cold egg in hot hand, I searched for the perfect place to crack it. I selected a spot near the garden hose where the bougainvillea covering the courtyard fence spills onto the cement. At least my egg would have something pretty to look at while it fried. If it fried. Which it did not.
There was a glimmer of hope when a small patch of white squiggle invaded the yellow yolk and folded into a raggedy-edged ruffle.
“Look, it's starting to cook,” I gushed to the bougainvillea as it tilted its purple blossoms away from me, likely afraid it would catch whatever I had that provoked me to be squatting on burning cement on one of the hottest days of the year.
The sun momentarily seared the edges of the egg white but stopped short of fluffing the ruffle. While sweat glistened from every exposed spot of skin on my body, my egg did not even display a sign of heat exhaustion. The egg simply was not cooking.
I had read that frying an egg in a pan on the sidewalk would conduct the heat, making it more likely to fry, though at a much higher temperature than the average sidewalk gets from the sun. So I knew going in that the odds were slim. But it didn't matter. I just wanted to make it right with the child who promised herself she would try it someday.