Surprising Foods That Toy With Body Temperature | TIME.com (2024)
It’s summertime, and while you’re probably craving ice cream and cold beers in the hot sun, ultimately, you’ve got to add heat to what you eat to stay cool. Yep, that means choosing curries over Coolattas.
We talked to Barry Swanson, a professor and food scientist at Washington State University, about which foods can spike your body temperature, and which ones keep it down. “Cold foods are perceived as cooling down the body, and often they do, but spicy foods do the same. Spicy foods and cool foods just work in different ways and do different things,” says Swanson.
Foods That Make You Hotter Ice cream: It turns out the fat content in ice cream actually makes your body warmer. “Foods that contain more fat, protein, and carbohydrates often heat the body up a little bit while digesting food,” says Swanson. “The sheer temperature difference gives a cooling sensation, but when your body starts to digest, you feel warm because your body has to provide energy to digest that food product. Fat is notorious for moving slowly through the digestive system so it takes more energy to digest that fat. Anytime you are putting more energy through the system, whether it be digestion or weight lifting, your body has a tendency to heat up.”
Brown rice: Complex carbohydrates like rice and other whole grains are also harder to digest, making the body warmer during the process. “Anything with a lot of complex carbohydrates and processed foods like rice and cereal products can be more warming than cooling,” says Swanson.
Beer: Alcohol can dehydrate you and make your body flushed — a process called vasodilatation, which is caused by the widening of blood vessels. This can cause your skin to heat. “When the body starts to vasodilate, you can flush pretty heavily. It is going to be warming, especially in the surface capillaries in your face, so it is going to feel like it’s warming,” says Swanson. This also depends on how much alcohol you consume in one sitting. The more alcohol someone drinks, the more flushing will occur.
Foods That Make You Cooler Watermelon: As a general rule, the higher the water content in a food, the more likely it will keep your temperature down. Watermelon is chock-full of water, which slows down digestion and takes less energy from the body.
Leafy greens: “Most raw fruits and vegetables are 80-95% water, and anything that contains a lot of water is very easy to digest and goes through the digestive system very quickly, giving you a cooling sensation,” says Swanson. Easy digestion means less energy and heat.
Peppers: Spicy foods can make you sweat, which provides a cooling sensation. “Peppers are often consumed in countries close to the equator because they are perceived as cooling foods primarily because they influence the body when you perspire, and through evaporative cooling, you feel cooler,” says Swanson. “It doesn’t cool you to the core, but it cools the skin.”
There really might be something to the saying “cold hands, warm heart.” In a study published in the Lancet, researchers at the University of Utah in Salt Lake City found that women's core body temperature is, on average, 0.4 degrees higher than men's (97.8 vs. 97.4).
As implied by their name, spices will spice up your body temperature. Our favorite for winter includes ginger, nutmeg, clove, black pepper, and cinnamon. They not only boost the metabolism and promote warmth, spices also reduce inflammation.
Warm beverages like herbal teas, hot water with lemon, or ginger tea can temporarily raise our body temperature due to their warmth and specific properties. Read on as we list beverages you can add to your winter diet to keep your body warm.
Fruits with heating effect: are generally fruits with a lot of sugar and high calories like ripe mango, durian, grapes, longan, lychee, rambutan, ripe jackfruit, ripe banana, western-type bananas, ripe papaya, orange, passion fruit, red pomegranate, sweet tamarind, guava as well as any kind of fruits that are processed ...
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Drinking cool liquids like water or iced tea can help reduce body temperature by cooling the body internally. The regular intake of fluids can also prevent dehydration, which can increase body heat.
Spicy foods, such as chili peppers, and spicy curries, can increase body heat and cause sweating. These foods may exacerbate feelings of warmth and discomfort in hot weather.
Take a warm bath: A quick way to raise your temperature is by soaking in warm water, or taking a warm bath. Change into warm clothes: If you come in from outside, your clothes may get wet or wet due to winter weather.
Moving around when you feel cold so you can increase your body temperature. Eating and drinking warm foods and beverages. Wearing appropriate clothing outdoors, including hats, mittens, coats and footwear. Taking regular breaks and coming inside to warm up whenever spending time outside.
Drinking cool liquids like water or iced tea can help reduce body temperature by cooling the body internally. The regular intake of fluids can also prevent dehydration, which can increase body heat.
Drink plenty of fluids, particularly water. Avoid alcohol, tea and coffee as these drinks can cause slight dehydration. Sponge exposed skin with tepid water. To boost the cooling effect of evaporation, you could try standing in front of a fan.
Citrus fruits, such as oranges, lemons, and grapefruits, contain high levels of flavonoids and vitamin C. These decrease inflammation and boost immunity, which may help to fight a fever.
Introduction: My name is Greg O'Connell, I am a delightful, colorful, talented, kind, lively, modern, tender person who loves writing and wants to share my knowledge and understanding with you.
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