 |
| Photos Credit - Karthik Ganapathy. |
Summer. Wah! OK, not so wah, when you consider Chennai’s heat! I remember the time, in Germany, a scene that I will never forget. There was small pond, almost a puddle. There were at least 8 people, men in shorts and women in bikinis, sunbathing. Yes, sunbathing next to a puddle err pond. Any way, grass is always greener on the other side, but I believe the hot summer is much better than a cold winter!!!
During my childhood, my grandmom's house had a nice mango tree from which raw mangoes were plucked out as and when required, but during summer, ripe mangoes were a staple. It fact only in summer did we even set eyes on ripe mangoes and watermelons and tender coconuts! Which is why I was shocked when a patient of mine told me last summer that watermelon is bad for health because somebody apparently told her that it produces ‘heat’ in the body. Ditto with mango. Who told her? A friend who read about it in some website. I asked her to ask her alternative medical doctor if she should stop eating mangoes and apparently he said that it was alright to eat mangoes. "I'm confused, doc," she said! So this is an attempt to 'unconfuse' you if you have ever read something like this before! If you haven't, then I'm glad!
Now, the concept of heat and cold is very different in the alternative medical world and should not be confused with the literal meaning, so I am going to try and explain that. Yes, try. What happens when you have fever? You feel cold, don’t you? How do we make you not feel cold? Either, we reduce your body temperature by giving you medicines or your folks will turn down the air conditioner/fan/whatever is making you cold! So essentially, your body’s temperature must be brought down or the environmental temperature must be increased. Now in summer, the environment is hot. In Chennai’s case, very hot. In Dubai’s case, very very hot. So what are the ways to make you not feel hot? Either the surrounding temperature must be brought down, which is done by switching on the air conditioner or air conditioners as the case may be, or body’s temperature must be increased.
So, foods like watermelon and mango do raise your body’s temperature, albeit marginally. Very marginally. When this system fails completely, we end up in hyperthermia, which is very different from fever, but we will not get into any more medical jargon. So when Ayurveda talks about foods that ‘heat the body’, they refer to this concept. Which means, it is not a bad idea to have foods that ‘heat your body’ during summer. It will make you feel slightly more comfortable.
Or simply trust God. Nature did not bring in fruits like watermelon or mango during summer without a reason. Nature’s reasoning is usually perfect, but you have to see the bigger picture. Not get stuck by ‘Oh my God, this food heats the body, so I won’t have it in summer.’ Because more often the not, the bigger picture is much bigger than what our brains can understand so half knowledge can be detrimental as always.
The take home point is, eat fruits that are seasonal, the most. Eat other foods that are not so seasonal as you normally do. If you don’t eat fruits, then summer is a good time to start. Drink plenty of water. Your normal thirst mechanism will indicate how much, but if you are the one who has suppressed thirst for a long time, then your body will not react the way it should, so you should consciously drink a lot of water depending on your body weight. The best temperature to gulp down water is not the ice cold water, which will give you a very temporary relief, but cooled water. Trust nature again, the pot cooled water is considered to be the closest to the ideal water temperature for summer! Not our high technology patented refrigerator.
Till next time!!!
No comments: