With the hotter weather upon us it can be hard to stay cool, but did you know there are actually “cooling foods” that can help to keep our body’s temperature down? Keep reading as we discuss cooling foods for summer and how they work in our body.
Sounds pretty cool hey..
In traditional Chinese medicine there are cooling foods, warming foods and neutral foods, which can be such a useful tool when adjusting your body’s temperature. It is believed that the type of a food a person should be consuming is based on their body’s constitution, which affects feelings, behaviour and response to illness. For example some who’s body is more yin (cold) can counter their constitution with more yang (warm) foods and vice versa (College of Naturopathic Medicine, 2023).
When things get heated
There are many signs of having too much heat in your body, here are some of the main ones to look out for:
- Cystitis
- Acid reflux, gastritis, ulcers and inflammatory bowel disease
- Redness in the face and body
- Sinusitis
- Constantly feeling overheated, hot and feverish
- Stress and anger management problems
- Autoimmune conditions such as rheumatoid arthritis and coeliac disease
- High blood pressure
- Migraines
- Acne, inflammatory skin diseases and infected wounds
How to cool things down
Rather than focusing on cooling down, the aim is to help the body balance the excess heat which can be achieved with dietary interventions. Some of the key points are reducing or eliminating chemical food additives, coffee, alcohol, hot foods and drinks that are higher in spices, red meats and oily foods. On the contrary, increasing raw food intake of green and bitter vegetables and herbs helps to naturally cool the body. Regularly detoxifying the body and having periods of fasting can also be beneficial (Zhou & Xu, 2021).
Some cooling foods include:
- Leafy green vegetables
- Raw vegetables
- Watermelon, strawberries and banana
- Bitter herbs such as dandelion, peppermint, spearmint, chamomile, lemon balm, lavender.
- Cold drinks
Is ginseng warming or cooling?
As you know, we love our ginseng at Hello Ginseng so felt it was only fitting to see which category ginseng falls into. Korean ginseng is considered a warming food, whereas American ginseng is considered a cooling food. Most commonly we consume Korean ginseng in Australia so it is a great superfood for winter and warming. However, there are plenty of body types that run cooler even during the summer and therefore taking Korean ginseng during the hotter months provides benefits too (Zhang et al., 2019).
Something we can all improve on
Whether your body runs warmer or cooler, we can all improve our overall health and wellbeing by tailoring our foods to our body’s constitution. If you feel like you’ve tried it all but your health is missing a puzzle piece, why not put this concept into play and see if it works for you? The best part about natural interventions is that there is never any harm done to your body in the process, so really there’s nothing to lose by giving it a go!
References
College of Naturopathic Medicine, (2023). The Energy of Foods in Chinese Medicine, accessed on 02/11/2023, <https://www.naturopathy-uk.com/news/news-cnm-blog/blog/2020/07/16/the-energy-of-foods-in-chinese-medicine/>
Zhang, L., Chen, X., Cheng, Y., Chen, Q., Tan, H., Son, D., Chang, D., Bian, Z., Fang, H., & Xu, H. (2019). Safety and antifatigue effect of Korean Red Ginseng: a randomized, double-blind, and placebo-controlled clinical trial. Journal of ginseng research, 43(4), 676–683. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jgr.2019.05.006
Zhou, Y., & Xu, B. (2021). New insights into molecular mechanisms of “Cold or Hot” nature of food: When East meets West. Food research international (Ottawa, Ont.), 144, 110361. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.foodres.2021.110361
