Raw foods and hot weather--we like them when the temp soars!

[Guest guest]

I completely agree, Audrey!

 

    We have been fortunate (???) to have had VERY unseasonably COOL weather &

low

temperatures (and a bit too much rain, I feel) all the way into mid-June.  NOW,

it's kicking

out the heat and humidity here in central Illinois, and sweltering!  (DH and I

TRY to NOT turn on the A/C until we just can't stand it anymore.  When we get to

crabbing at each

other, then we know it's time!)  Today, however, there is a breeze and a little

less humidity,

so we manage in shorts and scanty clothing--Ha!  And plenty of stuff like cool

water and iced tea to drink!

 

     But as for food--both DH and I agree that this is the time we LIKE lots of

raw stuff.  I

will say I would totally miss things like cooked beans and rice, a few hot

foods, and, well,

I don't think eggplant and some winter squash taste good made raw...but when

it's so hot

out (and indoors), we dine just fine on meal-sized salads with " everything " on

it and served

chilled or cool.  We feel so much better!

 

     Come winter (or fall, when it gets cooler out), we seem to automatically

gravitate toward

lots and lots of soups.  Soups seem so satisfying when it's chilly out! 

 

     (So it's been written about...tomatoes, for example, are high in a nutrient

called lycopene, a very good antioxidant.  Lycopene DOES seem to be increasingly

available

to the body when, oddly, the tomatoes or tomato-containing food is COOKED.  This

seems

counter to conventional wisdom, such as " cooking/heating destroys many

vitamins " --some

times, though not always the opposite to this is true and cooking is actually

helpful.)

 

     The raw vs. cooked argument probably has many facets.  I like both kinds of

foods. Maybe cooking foods isn't always the best, but I think there's room for

both, and both can

be both healthy and satisfying.

 

    Peace and blessings!

--Laura B.