Hot-Weather Food

ADVICE about eating in hot weather is given as below in the London Daily Mail (Continental edition) by Sir W. Arbuthnot Lane, English surgeon and president of the New Health Society. He writes:

“If you want to derive the maximum health benefit from the summer weather you must pay particular attention to your diet. With the altered climatic conditions it is unreasonable to expect your body machine to run smoothly on the same quantity and quality of fuel as is necessary during winter. If you do not change your diet with the season, you will find yourself listless, heavy, and inert—thoroughly unfit, in fact—during the hot spells.

“The basic principle of summer dieting is to eat an abundance of fresh fruit and vegetables, fortunately plentiful and moderate in cost at this time of the year, and to substitute as far as possible dairy produce for flesh foods. Fruits and vegetables in the form of salads are very palatable and supply valuable mineral salts and the indispensable vitamins which have been relatively lacking in our winter diet.

“For breakfast, coffee, wholemeal bread with butter and honey, an egg served attractively, and raw fruit salad make up a well-balanced and sustaining meal. For lunch, a large glass of milk with wholemeal biscuits and butter and a couple of apples or oranges are usually adequate, while a cup of lemon tea will be found very refreshing in the afternoon. Cheese, eggs, or ground nut dishes with fish occasionally, along with fruit and vegetable salads tastily prepared, should form the basis of dinner.

“Water should be taken abundantly between meals, as during the hot weather the skin is very active, losing large quantities of water to keep the body cool. Insufficient intake of fluid is liable to lead to intestinal stasis. In this connection it is well to remember that the cellulose or roughage present in fruits and vegetables is mildly stimulating to the intestinal function and is therefore the best laxative during spells of heat.”

Source: The Literary Digest for August 23, 1930

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