In balance in the summer heat

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23/06/2023 

How wonderful, this beautiful weather and we have only just begun summer. The coming days will be very warm. How do you stay in balance?

According to Chinese medicine, summer is the most yang season of the year, filled with abundant energy, long days, and lots of sunshine. Summer is about development, growth, activity, and creativity. Sounds wonderfully positive, you would say. But not everyone feels so great at the moment, right? People complain about the extreme heat, feel incapable, sleep poorly, are tired, and so on. It would be wonderful to still get that positive feeling.

Fire element
The Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM) teaches us that summer belongs to the Fire element. Fire is symbolic of maximum activity of yang aspects, which means it is a time of heat, of going outward, both in nature and in ourselves. The fire element regulates the heart, the mind (memory and thinking ability), emotions, and our consciousness. So, to stay balanced and healthy in this hot summer, top priority should be given to the heart, the mind, and our consciousness. But how do you do that, how do we stay in balance?

Balance
When the fire element is in balance, our heart is calm, our mind is peaceful, and we sleep well. When the fire element is out of balance, you may experience depressive feelings or an excited (manic) feeling. Indications of an imbalance of the fire element include nervousness, palpitations, or poor sleep. Summer heat can give us a similar feeling.

Tips to stay balanced in the summer
To stay balanced and in harmony with this extreme weather, the wise Chinese advised the following:

• Get up early, go to bed later, take a nap, avoid anger, stay calm and steady
• Put pieces of lime or cucumber in your water bottle
• Eat small amounts at a time
• Eat cooling and moistening 'yin' foods (see the tips below)
• Spend time with your friends and loved ones. The fire element is also about joy and communication with others.
  
• ENJOY everything this season brings!

Yin food
In summer, digestive problems can easily arise. That's why it's wise to eat light and less fatty foods. Summer is the perfect season to add cool YIN food to your diet. Chinese nutrition divides food into energetic qualities of temperature and nature, taste, and the ability to moisten or strengthen the body. Food with a cool and cold nature can dispel heat and maintain moisture levels in the body. A cool nature does not mean that the food must be chilled or frozen.

In general, cooling foods are green, such as lettuce, cucumbers, watercress. Fish and seafood are also cooling, while most meats are warming. It's wise to add sharp flavors to your food, such as cayenne pepper. These flavors have the power to make us sweat and bring heat outwards.

Grocery List
Finally, a few tips for your grocery list. These products help your body adapt and protect itself during these hot summer days:

Apricots, watermelon, lime, peach, orange, asparagus, Brussels sprouts, bamboo, bok choy, broccoli, Chinese cabbage, radish, corn, cucumber, white mushrooms, snow peas, spinach, pumpkin, watercress, seaweed, coriander, mint, and dill.
Enjoy your meal!

With thanks to Madelèn Vernooij, acupuncturist in De Meern and IJsselstein
www.acupunctuur-demeern.nl

Acupuncture and a disturbed fire element
If you naturally have difficulty maintaining the fire element in balance, with symptoms as you can read above, it is useful to see an acupuncturist. By choosing the right acupuncture points, the body is brought back into balance or maintained. The acupuncturist also discusses what is specifically important for your diet and lifestyle. Then you keep your cool, whether it's summer or not.