Monsoon Health Tips: Stay Fit And Healthy During Rainy Season

Okay so in the interest of full disclosure, meal guidelines through the monsoon don’t vary much from meal guidelines through the year. But because we take requests and suggestions as seriously as we do, a quick checklist for you for this season:

1. Summertime is behind which means that you won’t be feeling as thirsty as you did a few months ago. This means you could go without drinking water for several hours and feel ‘normal’ but please don’t do that. Thirst signals don’t work the same way as hunger signals do. Thus, best to keep sipping water continually through the day (but you knew this already)
2. Our immunity (or the immunity of a select few) does go for a bit of a joyride. To counter this, you need your daily dose of mid-meal fruits and the fresh, homemade sabzis with your roti. Fruits and vegetables provide us with antioxidants and act as anti-inflammatory agents which help kick infections and flus (but you knew this already as well)
3. Finally decent weather for a nice homemade soup with a dash of garlic. The West essentially worships garlic for it’s immunity boosting, anti-bacterial and cholesterol-lowering properties (probably didn’t know this)
4. Monsoon brings with it a queasy stomach. To soothe the tummy, have some homemade yogurt and eat meals which are light and easy to digest. For instance, khichdi with kadhi, rice with daal, pulao with raita to name only 3.
5. Okay, so you can’t go outdoors for a run/jog/bicycle ride and swimming isn’t really an option either. But don’t use monsoon as an excuse to skimp on your workouts. I don’t need to tell you this but you have ample indoor options too. Right?
6. The culture of eating fried unhealthy foods during monsoon came about from the fact that the act of frying kills all the germs from the food. So enjoy your fried treats once in a while during the season–but homemade please.
7. Sorry to end on a slightly unpleasant note but there are train delays, endless traffic jams and commuter woes. Thus, ensure you have ample emergency power foods in your bag/purse for these situations.

P.S. This is not an exhaustive list. Do you have anything to add?
Stay dry and enjoy the rains while you can!
(This article originally appeared on www.practo.com, authored by Ms. Tehzeeb, https://www.practo.com/healthfeed/monsoon-guidelines-for-your-health-18417/post )