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Refreshments with your meal: How to keep your cool even in the summer

Summer is here! And with it comes the heat. Light, airy clothing, swimming, air conditioning, ice cubes… there are many ways to make the high temperatures at least a little more bearable. Certain foods can also help. The organization Land schafft Leben explains how we can stay cool with food.

Beginner

5 minutes reading time

Have you had enough to drink today?

The number one rule in these temperatures: drink, drink, drink. It’s best to do so first thing in the morning after getting up. Especially now in the summer, it’s extremely important to drink enough water. At least 1.5 liters a day is recommended—more in intense heat. The body loses a lot of water through sweating—up to about one liter per hour, depending on physical exertion.

But it’s not just heat and physical activity—dry or cold air can also increase your fluid needs, partly because the body loses more moisture through breathing. This is also the case at higher altitudes. So on your next hike in the mountains, you should drink enough water not just because of the physical exertion.

But be careful: Often, you don’t feel thirsty until your body is already dehydrated. That’s why it’s important to drink steadily throughout the day and, so to speak, stay ahead of the curve. Non-alcoholic, unsweetened beverages are recommended; water is the best thirst-quencher. Very cold drinks may provide temporary relief from the heat, but they can cause stomach upset in some people. This can also happen if you drink too much or too quickly all at once.

Cooling Off with Food

Even foods with a high water content can have a refreshing effect and make an important contribution to daily fluid intake. Examples include cucumbers, tomatoes, bell peppers, peaches, apricots, cherries, and strawberries. The selection is huge, because right now in the summer, an enormous variety of local fruits and vegetables is growing in Austria. Important: We still can’t get around the need to drink enough fluids.

Dairy products can also be a pleasant way to cool off on hot days, since they’re usually enjoyed chilled anyway. Thanks to Austria’s thriving dairy industry, yogurt, quark, sour cream, and buttermilk are available in large quantities and high quality from regional producers—not just in the summer, but all year round.

Light Meals for Hot Days

When temperatures are high, many people avoid using the oven or stove as much as possible. But eating only cold food isn’t necessarily everyone’s cup of tea; however, you should avoid heavy, greasy meals. That doesn’t mean, though, that salads are the only thing on the table all summer long. There are plenty of meals that won’t make us feel bloated and sluggish on top of the heat. For example, you could have yogurt with berries instead of greasy pastries, flatbread stuffed with vegetables and grilled cheese instead of a hearty burger, or steamed vegetables with fish instead of pasta with cheese sauce. And if you do feel like having a salad, there are plenty more options than just a simple green leaf salad: Mixing different types of lettuce, combining them with potatoes, pasta, buckwheat, beans, lentils, chickpeas, vegetables, or fruit, or topping it all off with sheep’s or goat’s cheese, grilled cheese, chicken strips, or fish adds variety to your salad bowl.

With a water bottle always within reach and a few local foods that make it easy to add some freshness to your plate, hot days are a little easier to get through. And let’s be honest: You can enjoy summer so much more when you keep a cool head.

The Land Gives Life: Exploring Austrian Foods

For years, Multikraft has been a sponsor of the organization Land schafft Leben, which raises awareness of the value of Austrian food—for producers, habitats and the environment, health, and for all of us. From the field and barn to the plate, across the entire value chain, researched transparently and independently—Land schafft Leben is the knowledge platform for Austrian food. The founding duo, Maria Fanninger and Hannes Royer, provide realistic insights, free from sensationalism and whitewashing: through podcasts, on social media, in newsletters, at lectures, and in interviews. The scientifically grounded content, presented in text, image, and video formats, is freely available at www.landschafftleben.at.

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