In Chinese, watermelon is called 西瓜 (pronounced she gua). 西瓜 translates as western melon. In Chinese medical thought watermelon can be used to treat or prevent mild summer heat disease. Now you might be asking, what is summer heat disease? Summer heat disease usually manifests as a general aversion to heat, irritability, sweating, headache, scanty-dark urine, thirst, rapid pulse. The tongue tip and sides may also be red. The summer heat pathogen enters the body and cooks off the fluids in your body. One of the easiest ways to prevent this problem is to eat watermelon or drink the juice                                                                                                    made from watermelon.

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According to the Chinese calendar summer started May 6th this year. Today in Mamaroneck it was actually very warm.  Many of the acupuncture clients were complaining about how hot it is outside.  So I thought it would be appropriate to write this post since the days are already getting longer and pretty soon it will be hot and muggy in the Northeast. As you have seen in my prior posts drinking cold water is not the best way to cool down in the summer months. Drinking cold water will initially make you feel cooler but it will actually make your body feel hotter because the cold will cause your pores to contract.

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