Stay in Shape and Cool

Hello everyone~ It has been uncomfortably hot and humid in Philadelphia in the past few days. During this time of the year it is very easy for people to consume extra calories through ice creams, gelatos, frappechinos and other yummy frozen treats. 

I am not the healthiest person on earth, and I admit I have a sweet tooth, most of you would be shocked if you documented my weekly in take of chocolates.. however in the mid Summer heat, I am extra careful with what I eat, not only do I want to keep my body healthy, but also these foods actually helps your body endure the heat.

1. Watermelon,  this delicious juicy fruit is the perfect item to have when you are hot and thirsty. I find that watermelon crunches my thirst better than water, mainly because of the sugar (when we sweat we are not only loosing water, but sugar and salt from our body as well.) one wedge has 86 calories, less than 1 gram of fat, no cholesterol and less than 1% of your daily value of sodium. It provides us with 22 grams of carbs, 2 grams of protein and 5% of our daily value of fiber, a healthy recipe for fat burning and weight loss. With 18 grams of sugar, watermelon is a great way to curb a sugar craving (bye bye ice cream). The high water content of watermelon is part of what gives it fat burning benefits, helping to make your metabolism work more efficiently. With a healthy amount of fiber and protein, your body will still work harder simply processing watermelon. 

2. Radish soup, in Asia when it is scolding hot out instead of consuming ice cold beverages - which puts stress on our body, we drink hot salty radish soup. The heat will open our pours and cause us to sweat out the toxin in our body, and like I mentioned before when we sweat we loose salt and sugar in our body, we drink the salty soup to put all that salt back into our body. As for turnips, we like the taste and it is a good detox vegetable for our body.

3. Green bean soup, green bean bubble tea, green bean dessert etc, in the Summer we consume a lot of food related to green bean, because it *cools* our body down. Each coup of the soup has 6 - 11g of fiber, you need at least 20 g of dietary fiber per day. Eating the right amount of fiber can lower your risk of heart disease, and eating green bean soup is a tasty way to get more fiber in your diet. Green beans are also packed with vitamin A. Green beans also decreases the risks of anemia.

Last but not least, if you don't like eating fruits, then make them into yummy water! This way you consume the vitamins from the fruit, and you get plenty of water throughout the day. Simply combine your favorite fruits together in a jug, mix the fruits around to get the juice out, however do not break the fruits. Add ice, and let it melt away~ The juice is good up to 3 days. Watermelon rosemary and pineapple mint are my favorite!