The most hydrating fruit for a hot day
The sweltering heat of summer causes our bodies to sweat to keep cool which can result in dehydration. These are fruits to replenish your water reserves.
Staying hydrated during hot summer days is important as symptoms of dehydration can begin when you are as little as 2% below the recommended body water amount. Those can include “fatigue, confusion or short-term memory loss and mood changes such as irritability or depression,” according to the American Heart Association.
While men should ingest the equivalent of 13 8-ounce glasses of water per day, women should consume at least nine, pregnant and breastfeeding women more, says the National Academy of Medicine. Drinking water though is not the only way that we can replenish our body’s water, there are foods that are well over 90% water that have the added benefit of giving us valuable vitamins and minerals too.
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The most hydrating fruit for a hot day
A delicious ripe watermelon is probably the first fruit that comes to most people’s minds when they think of an especially good fruit for getting some rehydration on a hot summer day. The mainstay of many picnics and summertime backyard get-togethers is 92% water and contains plenty of antioxidants to help fight free radicals.
That would fit into line with what Georgia Jones, an associate professor in the nutrition department at the University of Nebraska in Lincoln, told the American Heart Association which is that you should “aim for fruits and vegetables that contain at least 85% water.” But there is another fruit that many consider a vegetable that has even more hydrating power.
Cucumbers contain 96% water in their flesh and make an excellent refreshing summertime snack. They also have essential nutrients like vitamin K, a serving contains 14% of your daily recommended value, which is “a big bonus for bone health” according to the Cleveland Clinic.
“The neat thing about fruits and vegetables is they bring with them some important nutrients in addition to water,” Penny Kris-Etherton, Professor of Nutritional Sciences at Penn State University in University Park told the American Heart Association. You should also “be willing to try new things,” says Jones. “Don’t stick with just one kind.”
Other fruits that we consider vegetables that can make easy snacks for keeping hydrated in the summer swelter are bell peppers which are 92% water. The sweet red variety has more vitamin C than oranges. Whipping up a salad with lettuce (96%), spinach (92%) or both along with tomatoes (94%), pepper and cucumber will also provide your body with much needed water as well as health benefits.
Snacking or wrapping up your meal with some sweeter fruits like, but not exclusive to, strawberries (92%), blueberries and blackberries (both over 85%), as well as cantaloupe (90%) or pineapple (87%) will satiate your sweet tooth and make a great substitute to less-healthy artificially-sweetened foods while helping your body stay hydrated.