7 Ways to Beat Summer Lethargy

As the summer makes an entry, we tend to lose our appetite. We all know that food is necessary for our body but during summer, we hardly feel hungry. The key reason being, we don't feel like being active at all. The rising mercury takes away all our will to be active and summer lethargy slips in.

However, summers don't have to be lazy and drowsy. You can beat the summer lethargy with a few simple to follow diet tips:

1. Keep yourself hydrated: It is a simple advise but most of the time not followed correctly. Most people drink lot of fizzy and sugary drinks. Over consumption of sugar in drinks leads to bloating, insulin fluctuations eventually leading to a feeling of lethargy followed by emptiness in the stomach. Some people prefer to have many cups of tea/coffee which leads to suppression of the thirst mechanism and dehydration. The best solution is to have watery fruits like watermelon (tarbooz), muskmelon (kharbooja) etc. You can also drink lightly salted coolers like chaach, fresh lime etc.

2. Eat small frequent meals: Many people feel uncontrollably sleepy after lunch. The best option is to eat small meals at frequent intervals to get energy but at the same time it should not fill your stomach as this will result in a surge of insulin along with feeling of sleepiness. Many naturopaths recommend that one must eat food only 1/3 capacity of the stomach; 1/3 capacity should be with fluids and the rest should have air for optimal functioning of the stomach. Small meals options can be roasted chana/murmura, boiled lentils, a spicy dal (pulses) soup, raitas, salads, fruits, cold soups, leafy vegetable rolls stuffed with paneer, boiled rajma (kidney beans), boiled potato etc.

3. Avoid high glycemic foods: For constitutions like pitta and kapha, it is best to avoid high glycemic index foods like maida (white flour), sooji (semolina), white rice, concentrated wheat chapati. These make the person drowsy and sleepy. A better option is to eat foods like mixed wheat chapati composed of chana atta (gram flour) + soya atta + wheat bran + whole wheat along with lots of green vegetables.

4. Eat enough green veggies: Many people have more of heavy foods like dals (pulses), meat, chicken, cereals and eat very less amount of fresh green salads and sauté vegetables as a result the stomach has to work on overload all the time. Many naturopaths have the opinion that heavy foods should be 50% of the diet and rest of the 50% should consist of salads, vegetables, beverages and soups.

5. Eat cooling or cool prakriti foods: Many foods are cooling in nature like brown rice, sattu, mung dal (green gram), all salads, spices like jeera (cumin), elachi (cardamom), pudina (mint), holy basil (tulsi), kheera (cucumber), kakdi (indian thin cucumber), watermelon, musk melon etc.

6. Eat for energy and not for calories: The fine difference between energy and calories is a very important one. For example a bowl of sprouts with greens and some dressing is moderate calories and very high in energy but a drink of full cream milk shake or white bread sandwiches is very high calorie but gives very little useful energy and creates lethargy!

7. Do not skip meals: Skipping meals leads to lowering of metabolism, a feeling of dizziness/weakness, overeating/binge eating at night, skin problems due to the fact that toxin build up on an empty stomach and contributes to lethargy.

And most importantly - water, water, water! Drinking water is more important than ever in the hot summer months. Make sure you are also getting enough salt to replenish that lost in sweat. Your body does a good job all on its own of regulating your temperature, so make sure it has the tools to do so. For a sedentary worker, 2 liters should be reasonable. You can add 10 tulsi leaves to each litre of water. This will give you a feeling of rejuvenation and will energize you for the rest of the day!