What seasonal vegetables are best to eat in summer? Seasonal vegetable recommendations

The summer weather is hot and humid, so a reasonable diet is key. Summer eating should be light, and eating more vegetables is good for your health. So what seasonalvegetables are there in summer? Which vegetables are best to eat?

1. What seasonal vegetables are there in summer?

1. Gourd vegetables

(1) Bitter melon: Although bitter melon is bitter, it is a bitter “medicine” that does good. In summer people easily get internal heat and lose their appetite. Bitter melon has the effects of detoxifying, cooling down and preventing heatstroke. Eating bitter melon can increase appetite, refresh the mind, and aid digestion. It is the gourd vegetable most suitable for eating in summer, and also a seasonal vegetable of summer.

(2) Luffa: Summer is when luffa is abundantly on the market. Luffa is highly nutritious, containing protein, fat, starch, sugars, vitamins and other nutrients. Traditional Chinese medicine holds that luffa is sweet in flavor and cool in nature, with the effects of clearing heat and resolving phlegm, relieving cough and calming asthma, and cooling the blood and detoxifying. Therefore, you can also eat more luffa in summer.

(3) Cucumber: Cucumber is also in peak season in summer. Cucumber has the highest water content of all foods. In addition, cucumber is cool in nature and has the effects of removing heat, promoting urination and detoxifying. It is very suitable for serving as a cold dressed dish in summer.

(4) Winter melon: Winter melon is a gourd vegetable that is both food and medicine, and an indispensable vegetable in summer. Eating more winter melon in summer can quench thirst, relieve summer heat, reduce internal heat and remove dryness.

Summer is the peak season for gourd vegetables on the market. Besides the several kinds mentioned above, there are also pumpkin, chayote, and so on. Gourd vegetables can be served cold dressed, stir-fried plainly, or made into soup. Moreover, they have a high water content and the characteristic of being high in potassium and low in sodium, making them suitable for replenishing water and the inorganic salts lost after people sweat heavily in summer.

2. Leafy vegetables

(1) Cabbage: Cabbage is rich in vitamin C, vitamin E, carotene and so on, and is also one of the main vegetables of summer. After cooking it is rich in potassium and folic acid. Pregnant women as well as children and adolescents in their growth and development period should eat more of it.

(2) Water spinach: Water spinach can be found in all four seasons, but it is most abundant in summer. Eating it in summer can clear heat and detoxify, and moisten the intestines to relieve constipation.

In addition, there are also red amaranth, Shanghai bok choy, sweet potato leaves, rapeseed greens, Ceylon spinach, Chinese chives, and so on, all of which are suitable for eating in summer.

3. Fruit vegetables

(1) Eggplant: Summer is also the season when eggplant comes on the market, and it contains protein, fat, carbohydrates, vitamins and various nutrients such as calcium, phosphorus and iron. When eating it, it is best not to remove the skin, but to eat it directly together.

(2) Tomato: Tomato is a vegetable that often appears on the summer dining table. Its nutritional value is extremely high, containing multiple vitamins. Eating it in summer can also effectively prevent heatstroke.

(3) Cowpea (long bean): Beans planted in the open field generally mature from June to September. People often eat some cowpea in the hot season. Not only is the taste fresh and fragrant, it can also promote gastrointestinal peristalsis, strengthen the stomach and replenish qi. In addition, the beans must be cooked thoroughly before eating; undercooked beans can easily cause diarrhea and poisoning.

Besides those introduced above, there are also green beans, hyacinth beans, edamame, and so on. These are all seasonal vegetables of summer and are suitable to eat more of.

2. Which vegetables are best to eat in summer?

Because of the hot weather in summer, the summer diet should be light. Nutrition experts believe that in summer it is best to eat cool-natured vegetables, bitter vegetables, gourd vegetables and “sterilizing” vegetables.

1. Cool-natured vegetables

Appropriately consuming cool-natured vegetables in summer helps to promote fluid production and quench thirst, remove restlessness and relieve summer heat, clear heat and drain water, and detoxify and relieve constipation, such as bitter melon, cucumber, watermelon, muskmelon, tomato, eggplant, celery, lettuce, asparagus, and so on. These vegetables are in their peak production period, so you might as well eat them often.

2. Gourd vegetables

Summer is the peak season for gourd vegetables on the market. For example, the gourd vegetables introduced above, such as cucumber, luffa, bitter melon, pumpkin and winter melon, can all be eaten.

3. “Sterilizing” vegetables

Summer temperatures are high and pathogens spread quickly, and it is also the peak period for digestive tract diseases. To ensure the health of the gastrointestinal tract, you must eat more sterilizing vegetables in daily life. These are mainly onion and garlic vegetables, such as garlic, onion, Chinese chives, Welsh onion, scallion, green garlic, garlic sprouts, and so on.

4. Bitter vegetables

Bitter vegetables have the effects of relieving heat and dispelling summer heat, and refreshing the mind and removing restlessness. In summer, when the weather is hot, it is easy to lose appetite. Eating some bitter foods can stimulate the digestive capacity of the spleen and stomach and increase appetite, such as bitter melon, celery, celtuce, and so on. The best way to eat them is cold dressed, but you must not eat too much at one time.

Summer is the peak production period for fruits and vegetables, and all kinds of vegetables can be eaten in moderation. In summer the temperature is high and the dampness is heavy, people sweat a lot, and physical energy consumption is relatively large, so they often lose their appetite. You must eat more vegetables and fruits to get through the summer comfortably.