Eat gazpacho during the day and rub your skin with ONION juice: The sun-beating tricks Britons can pinch from India and Spain to beat the heatwave
- Gazpacho, a cold veggie soup, is a Spanish dish famed for its rehydrating powers
- Onion juice on the skin is another food heat busting hack used by some Indians
- Britons have suffered days of 30C plus heat for but its going to get even hotter
Want to beat the heat?
Learn from the Indians and daub yourself with onion juice or steal the Spanish trick — cool off by eating gazpacho during the day.
That is, according to experts who think Britain should look overseas for inspiration amid the current heatwave.
Britons have sweltered in 30C-plus (86F) temperatures this week.
And the mercury is only set to soar further this weekend, with 39C (100F) expected from Monday.
Gazpacho is a cold soup made of blended raw vegetables including tomatoes and cucumbers is a summer staple in Spain and famed for its refreshing qualities
Rubbing onion juice on your skin is an alternative heat busting technique used in some areas of India but there’s no scientific evidence that it works
Europe has been hit even harder by the brutal heatwave, with temperatures hitting 46C (115F) in some areas. Wildfires have ripped through the parched landscapes of Portugal, Spain, France, Turkey and Croatia.
One piece of advice Spanish health authorities are issuing to help people keep cool is to enjoy one of the county’s national dishes, gazpacho.
Gazpacho is a cold soup made of blended raw vegetables. It is a common summer dish in Spain since it is refreshing and cool.
Jesús Aguirre, the health chief for Andalusia — Spain’s most southern region, said it had ‘everything’ people needed to prevent heatstroke.
The soup’s main ingredients are tomatoes, cucumbers and peppers.
In addition to rehydrating diners with its high water content, gazpacho also contains high levels of vitamins and minerals.
An ‘amber’ extreme heat Met Office warning covers much of England and Wales on Sunday, Monday and Tuesday. Experts says there could be a danger to life or potential serious illness, from the heat
Low water levels photographed today at Threipmuir reservoir in the Pentland Hills Regional Park, south of Edinburgh
Consuming gazpacho is an annual piece of health advice issued by health bosses in Andalusia during the summer.
Meanwhile, another heat-beating vegetable hack that has emerged in the past day is to rub onion juice onto your skin.
The bizarre tip came from Professor Russell Foster, a sleep expert at the University of Oxford.
He told The Times: ‘In rural India they will cut an onion in half and rub the juice on the skin. It is something you could try.’
Some followers of Ayurveda, an alternative type of Indian medicine, believe onion juice applied to the soles of the feet helps balance body temperatures and shield the body from the effects of hot summers.
There is no scientific evidence that this works, however.
Another general food tip to beat the heat is to eat spicy food.
Hot spices are a key component of cuisines from some of the hottest parts of in the world, including South Asia, Africa, and the Caribbean.
Despite seeming counterproductive, extra hot dishes actually cool you down.
Spicy food raises your internal body temperature, mirroring that of the weather.
This causes you to sweat, and once your body heat has been used to evaporate the moisture you start to cool off.
After almost a week of 30C plus temperatures Britons had a brief respite from today to Saturday with only highs of of 27C (81F) to 29C (84F) predicted.
However, an amber warning for heat will begin on Sunday with highs of 31C (88F) before the peak of the heat hits the country on Monday and Tuesday when temperatures are predicted to hit to 38C (100F) in London.
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Read more at DailyMail.co.uk