Cool as a cucumber...

What we eat and drink can have a big effect on how cool we are – or at least how cool we feel...  

Brian Clement, author of “Living Foods for Optimum Health,” has a list of food ingredients to help us chill on a hot summer day:

• Mint: Toss some in your salad or stick a sprig in your drink. It affects the nerves in the mouth and throat, creating a cooling sensation.

• Coconut water: It’s even more hydrating than water.

• Green tea: Drinking it hot cools you down by triggering the pores in your skin to open.

• Ginger: The compounds in ginger help regulate your internal temperature, making you feel more comfortable. It can cool you down in the summer and warm you up in the winter. And its effects can last for a few hours.