Staying hydrated in the summertime warmth could be difficult, nevertheless it’s additionally vital. After all, roughly 50% to 60% of your physique weight is water, and shedding an excessive amount of of it may possibly result in fatigue, dizziness, and different dehydration signs. We typically give attention to what to drink to remain hydrated (with plain water being the plain selection), however easy methods to keep hydrated isn’t nearly drinks. What you eat can considerably enhance your hydration too. In truth, an estimated 20% or extra of our day by day water consumption comes from meals. This implies that incorporating hydrating meals into your summer season weight loss plan can assist you meet your fluid wants whereas additionally offering nutritional vitamins and electrolytes.
Kellie Lunday, MS, RD, LD, and AFPA’s Nutrition Content Lead, shares: “If I’m slacking on my water intake during the summer, I know that my summer produce has my back! It’s the perfect time of year to focus on my vegetable and fruit intake, with the added benefit of hydration.”
In this text, we’ll discover a few of the most hydrating meals to take pleasure in throughout summer season, clarify how these meals with excessive water content material help your physique’s fluid steadiness, and provide tips about together with hydrating vegetables and fruit in meals. From juicy watermelon (ever surprise how a lot water is in watermelon?) to crisp cucumber (spoiler: it’s nearly all water), these meals could make staying hydrated straightforward and scrumptious. Let’s dive into easy methods to get hydrated and keep that manner utilizing nature’s personal refreshing components.
Hydration Is More Than What You Drink
When the solar is blazing, it’s straightforward to gulp down a chilly glass of water. Yet many individuals wrestle to drink sufficient fluids all through the day. Maybe you neglect to sip usually or don’t really feel thirsty till you’re already considerably dehydrated. The excellent news is that you may make up a few of the distinction with meals. Eating water-rich meals primarily helps you to “drink” by way of your meals. This is a helpful technique, particularly for many who discover it difficult to drink sufficient water every day.
Our our bodies consistently lose water by way of sweat (particularly on humid summer season days), in addition to by way of respiratory and urine. If you’re not replenishing these losses, you threat dehydration. And dehydration isn’t only a minor inconvenience—it may possibly sap your vitality and even impair temper and focus. While what to drink to remain hydrated ought to nonetheless be a precedence (plain water, natural iced teas, and different low-sugar drinks are nice decisions), do not forget that meals that hydrate you may contribute considerably to your day by day wants. In truth, a balanced weight loss plan can present as much as about two cups of water per day simply from meals. Eating the really helpful day by day servings of vegetables and fruit (for instance, two servings of fruit and three of greens) may provide you with roughly 15 ounces of water – that’s almost a pint of fluid simply from produce!
Hydrating meals are significantly useful should you’re energetic or spend a variety of time outdoors in summer season. They not solely provide water but in addition typically include fiber, electrolytes, and antioxidants. This mixture helps your physique soak up and use the water successfully. In different phrases, munching on meals that assist with hydration can truly be extra environment friendly at rehydrating the physique than water alone in some instances. Next time you’re serious about easy methods to improve hydration on a sweltering day, don’t simply attain on your water bottle – head to the fridge as properly.
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Juicy and Refreshing: Hydrating Fruits
When it involves fruit for hydration, nature has a knack for packing water into candy, moveable packages. The hydrating fruits of summer season should not solely scrumptious but in addition loaded with water. A standout instance is watermelon.
As its identify suggests, watermelon is generally water – about 92% water, to be actual. If you’re questioning how a lot water is in watermelon, think about every chunk as nearly all water with a little bit of vitamins. No surprise consuming watermelon on a sizzling day feels so satisfying. It’s like ingesting water, however with the bonus of taste, nutritional vitamins A and C, and the antioxidant lycopene. So is watermelon good for dehydration? Absolutely. Watermelon is among the finest meals for hydration you will discover, because it helps quench thirst and replenishes you with minerals (like potassium) on the identical time.
“Slice it up for a snack, blend it into a smoothie, or toss it with some mint and feta for a hydrating summer salad. With watermelon on the menu, how to stay hydrated becomes a far more enjoyable endeavor,” says Kellie Lunday, MS, RD, LD.
Watermelon isn’t the one fruit that may enable you to beat the warmth. In truth, many frequent fruits are made up of 80-90% water or extra. Strawberries, for instance, are about 91% water, they usually provide a burst of vitamin C. Cantaloupe and honeydew melons rival watermelon with round 90% water content material as properly. Oranges and grapefruit, these juicy citrus fruits, are round 86-88% water – and as a bonus, they supply electrolytes like potassium. Peaches, pineapples, and apricots are different fruits good for hydration, every brimming with watery juice. Grapes are about 81% water.
In normal, if a fruit is plump, juicy, or simply yields liquid if you chunk into it, it’s probably a watery fruit that may assist maintain you hydrated. These fruits not solely ship water to your system but in addition provide pure sugars to offer you fast vitality and fibers that enable you to really feel glad.
One perk of selecting hydrating fruits is that they typically attraction to the urge for food even when the warmth may uninteresting your want for heavier meals. A chilly slice of melon or a bowl of berries could be extra engaging than a wealthy meal when the temperature soars. To maximize hydration from fruits, take pleasure in them uncooked and contemporary – assume fruit salads, smoothies, or simply entire fruits eaten as snacks.
Freeze grapes or mix watermelon right into a slushy for a cooling deal with. By making fruit part of each summer season meal, you’ll naturally improve your fluid consumption. The sugar in entire fruit comes with fiber and water, which means it’s typically digested extra slowly and hydrates you with out the extra excessive blood sugar spike you’d get from a sugary drink. But each physique is totally different, and it is best to seek the advice of with a health care provider who is aware of your distinctive well being wants, significantly when you’ve got metabolic considerations.
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Crisp and Cool: Water-Rich Vegetables
Vegetables could be simply as spectacular as fruits within the hydration division – in some instances, much more so. The greens for dehydration aid are usually the crisp, watery ones you may discover in a summer season salad or crudité platter.
Take the cucumber, for example. Ever puzzled what share of cucumber is water? It’s about 95% water (some sources say as excessive as 96%!). That makes cucumber some of the hydrating meals on the planet. Crunching on a cool cucumber stick is sort of like sipping water, and it comes with a pleasing crunch besides.
Cucumbers are so water-based that they’ve earned the nickname “water vegetables.” Besides water, in addition they present a little bit vitamin Ok and potassium, particularly within the pores and skin. Try including cucumber slices to your ingesting water for taste, layering them in sandwiches, or mixing diced cucumber into yogurt with mint for a refreshing raita. It’s an ideal method to improve hydration whereas having fun with a tasty snack.
Lettuce is one other unsung hero amongst meals with excessive water content material. Iceberg lettuce, typically maligned for being much less nutrient-dense than darker greens, is definitely over 95% water – mainly a crunchy car for hydration. Romaine lettuce isn’t far behind, at about 95% water as properly.
So sure, that massive summer season salad filled with lettuce, cucumber, and tomato is doing double responsibility: feeding you and hydrating you on the identical time. Speaking of tomatoes, they clock in round 94% water. Bite right into a ripe tomato and you’ll virtually really feel the juice hydrating your mouth. Cherry tomatoes make a straightforward hydrating snack on the go, and slices of tomato in your sandwich add moisture (and vitamin C).
Other water-based greens to place in your grocery checklist embody celery (about 95% water), zucchini (round 94% water), radishes (95%), inexperienced bell peppers (94%), and even cauliflower and cabbage (each round 92% water).
These percentages aren’t simply trivia – they clarify why these veggies really feel so mild and crisp. For instance, celery sticks or bell pepper strips on a sizzling day could be as thirst-quenching as a handful of grapes. They’re primarily strong water with bonus vitamins like folate and antioxidants. In truth, meals that hydrate you resembling cucumber, lettuce, celery, and others are sometimes referred to in diet guides because the “superstars” of water-rich meals.
To incorporate extra of those hydrating greens into your summer season weight loss plan, get artistic with meal prep. Start lunch or dinner with a salad loaded with high-water-content veggies (cucumbers, lettuce, tomatoes, radishes, and so forth.). Swap out frequent sides for water-rich veggies – for instance, serve dip with carrot and cucumber sticks as a substitute of crackers.
Chilled soups like gazpacho or cucumber-yogurt soup are mainly blended greens you could sip, delivering hydration in a flavorful type. Even steaming or frivolously sautéing greens retains a lot of their water (although you’ll lose a bit to cooking). The secret’s to have loads of these water greens readily available, pre-washed and minimize in your fridge, so that they’re simply as straightforward to seize as a bottled drink. By making veggies available, you may naturally eat extra of them all through the day, effortlessly boosting your hydration.
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Beyond Produce: Other Hydrating Foods and Drinks
Fruits and veggies steal the highlight once we speak about hydrating meals, however they’re not the one choices. Many different on a regular basis meals have a excessive water content material and may contribute to your fluid consumption. For instance, yogurt and cottage cheese are about 80-85% water, so a serving of yogurt at breakfast not solely provides you protein and calcium but in addition a good quantity of water.
On a sizzling morning, a bowl of plain Greek yogurt topped with juicy berries (assume hydrating fruits like strawberries or peaches) makes for a hydrating, nutritious begin to the day. Smoothies are one other implausible method to drink your meals – mix water-rich fruits (berries, melon, mango) with some yogurt or milk and ice, and also you’ve bought a hydrating snack or meal in a glass. Even milk itself is about 90% water and accommodates electrolytes, which is why analysis has discovered it may be as efficient as sports activities drinks for rehydration in some instances. If dairy isn’t your factor, plant-based milks like almond or oat milk additionally contribute fluid.
Don’t underestimate the hydration energy of soups and broths. A steaming bowl of soup may not be your first craving in summer season, however you may go for chilled variations like gazpacho or fruit soups. And even heat hen broth can hit the spot. One of the standard advantages of ingesting hen broth if you’re dehydrated (resembling throughout sickness or after intense sweating) is that it gives not solely fluid but in addition sodium and different electrolytes. Those electrolytes assist your physique retain the water you drink and may alleviate signs of dehydration like headache or muscle cramps.
Sipping broth or consuming soup replenishes salt losses and helps you get hydrated extra successfully than water alone in sure conditions. Just be aware of soup’s temperature; if it’s highly regarded outdoors, a lukewarm broth or cooled soup could go down simpler than a piping sizzling one.
Speaking of what to drink to remain hydrated, do not forget that plain water isn’t the one selection. Unsweetened natural teas, iced or sizzling, are one other nice possibility. Coconut water (the liquid from inside younger coconuts) has develop into a well-liked pure rehydration drink as a result of it accommodates potassium and magnesium – it’s a refreshing choice to rotate into your fluid plan. Even average quantities of espresso or tea contribute to hydration; opposite to delusion, caffeinated drinks should not dehydrating when consumed in regular quantities.
In quick, easy methods to keep hydrated in summer season comes all the way down to a mixture of sensible ingesting and sensible consuming. Make water your go-to beverage all through the day, however bolster its results with a weight loss plan wealthy in meals that assist with hydration. By doing so, you’ll provide your physique with water steadily and keep away from dehydration signs. Plus, you get the opposite advantages of these meals – vitamins, fiber, and taste – all of which help general well being.
Tips for Incorporating Hydrating Foods into Your Summer Diet
Knowing which meals and drinks can maintain you hydrated is one factor; truly becoming them into your day by day routine is one other. The excellent news is it may be each easy and scrumptious. Here are some sensible, easy methods to keep hydrated ideas utilizing meals:
- Start early: Begin your day with hydration in thoughts. Drink a glass of water upon waking, but in addition embody a water-rich meals at breakfast. For occasion, have a bowl of oatmeal cooked with milk and high it with hydrating fruits like sliced peaches or berries. Or make a morning smoothie with spinach (sure, leafy greens include water too), frozen fruit, and yogurt. This manner, you front-load fluids and vitamins to start out the day.
- Snack sensible: Swap dry, salty snacks for contemporary produce. Keep a container of cut-up watery fruits (watermelon cubes, pineapple chunks, orange slices) within the fridge for straightforward entry. Baby carrots, cherry tomatoes, and cucumber sticks paired with hummus or a lightweight dip are way more hydrating than crackers or chips. They’ll fulfill your crunch craving and provide water. If you are feeling like one thing candy, frozen fruit pops (made 100% from fruit puree) and even only a chilly apple can refresh you.
- Salad and soup fixes: Make it a purpose to eat a salad or a vegetable-rich dish a minimum of as soon as a day. Remember these water-based greens – lettuce, cucumber, tomato, and so forth. – and cargo them up. Add juicy fruits to salads too; strawberries or citrus segments can flip a boring salad right into a hydrating summer season delight. When you want one thing extra substantial, think about a broth-based soup with greens. Even in summer season, a lightweight vegetable soup or a calming gazpacho is usually a hydrating meal or starter. And should you’re feeling adventurous, strive chilly soups comprised of blended melon or cucumber; it would shock you ways properly they cool you down.
- Hydrate when energetic: If you’re exercising or doing out of doors actions, plan for each foods and drinks. For instance, after a sweaty tennis match or an extended hike, munch on a chunk of watermelon or a handful of grapes together with ingesting water. The pure sugars in fruit can assist velocity up water absorption in your physique, and the act of consuming could encourage you to additionally drink extra. Some athletes even swear by snacks like oranges or bananas throughout exercises for the hydration enhance. Find what works for you – it may very well be so simple as packing an apple or some child carrots in your bag when you already know you’ll be out for some time. These meals that hydrate you could be actual lifesavers on a sizzling day.
- Make it enjoyable and flavorful: One motive individuals don’t drink sufficient water is that they discover it boring. Hydrating meals can assist by including taste and selection. But you can too jazz up your fluids with meals: strive infusing your water pitcher with cucumber slices, lemon, and a sprig of mint, or drop in some berries for pure taste. You could be shocked how far more you sip. Likewise, think about having fun with glowing water with a splash of fruit juice, popsicles comprised of diluted juice, or hydrating food-packed smoothies.
“With so many versatile produce options this time of year, I make sure to bring a hydrating dish to any summertime festivity. We can all enjoy the celebration with a bit of extra hydration in our foods or drinks,” says Lunday. The takeaway is that rising hydration doesn’t need to be a chore. By pairing water with tasty meals and making these meals available, you set your self up for achievement.
Stay Cool and Hydrated with Food and Drink
Summer is a time to benefit from the open air, take in the solar, and have enjoyable – nevertheless it’s additionally a season when dehydration can sneak up on us if we’re not cautious. Fortunately, staying hydrated is usually a scrumptious endeavor. By embracing essentially the most hydrating meals – from hydrating fruits like watermelon, oranges, and berries to water-rich greens like cucumber, lettuce, and zucchini – you give your physique a gentle provide of water all through the day. These meals enable you to keep hydrated not simply with fluid, however with vitamins that help your vitality and well being.
So, the following time you’re planning a menu or packing a snack for a day within the solar, take into consideration how one can embody some meals that assist with hydration. Your physique will thanks for it. Remember to drink water usually, but in addition benefit from summer season’s bounty of hydrating produce. With the precise steadiness of hydrating meals and fluids, you’ll keep refreshed, energized, and able to benefit from the summer season season.
Reviewed by
Kellie Lunday, MS, RD, LD
Kellie Lunday is AFPA’s diet content material lead and a registered dietitian with almost a decade of expertise in company wellness, well being training, and efficiency optimization. She obtained her MS in Nutrition from Texas Woman’s University and accomplished her dietetic internship at The University of Texas in Austin. Previously, she has labored in numerous roles at Exos and the University of Texas at Austin. She is captivated with journey, international cuisines, health, and advancing shopper well being by way of evidence-based training.
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