What To Eat In The Heat

By Matt Bush

The long, hot summer continues to drag on in the D.C. region, with high temperatures expected over 90 degrees all week. Water is not only important to drink in the heat, but to eat too.

The water you eat comes from fruits and vegetables, and that's why Dr. Jamie Futterman, a dietitian at Washington Adventist hospital in Takoma Park, Maryland, says they're so important this time of year. And Futterman adds, to get the most out of them, buy locally.

"If you get something from close to your own backyard, it tends to have a higher vitamin and mineral content because it hasn't lost it in transportation because of light, air, and that sort of thing," she says.

When it comes to eating cooked food in this heat, Futterman says if you can handle it, go for it.

"Any type of eating we do raises our body temperature a little bit, because our metabolism is revving up to burn things off," she says. "But it is not substantial enough that, if you were comfortable eating hot foods, go ahead and do it."

Futterman says the biggest thing people should avoid when it's this hot is alcohol.