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A sauna is a great place to work up a sweat, and a popular post-workout option amongst health fanatics everywhere, but it’s also very possible to overdo it. For most people, 10 minutes at a time is long enough to get the full benefit of the sauna without the adverse effects of dehydration, but if you spend longer in the heat, it’s a real possibility.
In any case, it’s important to rehydrate your body after sweating it out, and eating fruit is, without a doubt, one of the best ways to do that. If you’re a sauna fanatic looking for a healthy snack post-sweat session, you’re in the right place! Read on to discover five of the best fruits for rehydration.
Watermelon
At 96% water content, it’s hardly surprising that watermelon is at the top of the list – but there’s more to everyone’s favourite summer fruit. Doctors believe that watermelons can help prevent or treat several health issues, including cancer, heart problems, and inflammation, while the antioxidants combat free radicals.
Watermelon is also a very versatile fruit that makes a great addition to many different meals. It makes a tasty snack when eaten fresh, but you can also grill it or add a pinch of spice to bring out the subtle flavour. It’s also a great addition to savoury dishes and salads, but if you really want to up the hydration points, simply add it to a jug of water or freeze the juice into watermelon ice pops.
Strawberries
Strawberries are a crowd-pleaser, and when you combine the burst of flavour with the many health benefits they bring, it’s easy to see why. Not only do strawberries pack a fibre, vitamin C, and antioxidant-rich punch (with one serve containing more vitamin C than an orange), but they also deliver several big-picture health benefits. Strawberries are great for heart health, blood sugar regulation, cancer prevention, and weight management, to name a few key focus areas.
For all of those health perks, you might expect the bran cereal of fruits in the flavour department, but not strawberries. They’re compact enough to make the perfect post-sauna rehydration snack or feature in any number of fruit skewer lineups, salad mixes, smoothie recipes, breakfast bowls, and of course, desserts.
Peaches
There’s a reason why the word “peachy” is used as an expression for all things good and right in the world: for health benefits, peaches are one of the best fruits around. Rich in Vitamin E, they’re great for gut health, digestion, bone health, weight maintenance, and healing.
Like the hard-working fruit they are, peaches are also perfect additions and companions to a range of post-sauna-friendly dishes. You can throw them into your morning smoothie, use them to freshen up your salsas and chicken dishes, or add them to desserts like parfait and crumble. It sounds peachy, and it is.
Oranges are the backbone of the ultimate post-sauna platter (Source: https://unsplash.com/photos/aIr_AzTfTpE)
Oranges
Oranges may be the quintessential after-sport snack, but they’re not just for school kids and athletes – there are plenty of reasons for people of all ages to enjoy a slice. Famous for their vitamin C content, oranges come with a host of vitamin-rich benefits, including increased iron absorption and collagen production.
Once you start integrating a few of the many different (and delicious) orange dishes into your regular meal prep repertoire, you’ll love them for more than just their health benefits. Oranges are great fresh or juiced, but you can also work them into dinner recipes in the form of orange salsa or punchy salad additions.
Tomatoes
Despite the common vegetable misconception surrounding tomatoes, they beat many popular fruits for one of the top spots in the water concentration tables. This alone makes them the perfect post-sauna snack option, but these red beauties are much more than H2O. They are also rich in a range of vitamins and minerals, including vitamin C and K, potassium, folate, and the cancer-fighting antioxidant lycopene.
In case you need another reason to grab a bag of tomatoes at the grocery store, a quick look at a recipe book will do it – because there are literally hundreds of delicious ways to eat tomatoes. Whether you eat them fresh in salads, sauces, and salsas, grilled in a salad, or oven-roasted for maximum flavour, tomatoes always pack a punch.
There’s nothing better than a fresh hit of fruity goodness after a stint in the sauna, and when you choose one of these water-rich options, you’ll get to enjoy full hydration benefits as well. You don’t even need a sauna to get the perks – just add one of these options into your daily routine whenever you feel under the weather and you’ll perk up in no time.
