49 - Summer Nourishment

Summer is a season of sunshine, adventure, connection, and abundance but it can also be a season of burnout if we aren't intentional.

In this episode, we're exploring how to nourish your body, regulate your nervous system, and protect your energy throughout the summer months. From seasonal foods and hydration to movement, sleep, cozy summer rituals, and chakra support, you'll learn simple ways to embrace everything summer has to offer while staying grounded and energized.

In This Episode, We Cover:

•  How to enjoy the season without ending it feeling exhausted 
•  Summer fruits, vegetables, and herbs to nourish your body 
•  Signs you may be dehydrated (that aren't just thirst!) 
•  Fun outdoor movement ideas that feel energizing not depleting 
•  Nervous system practices to stay calm during a busy season 
•  Cozy summer rituals that encourage rest and presence 
•  Sleep habits that protect your circadian rhythm despite longer days 
•  Essential oils for energy, focus, relaxation, and after-sun support 
•  Solar Plexus and Heart Chakra practices to support confidence, joy, and connection 

Remember...

The healthiest summer isn't the busiest one.

It's the one where you have the energy to fully enjoy it.

Give yourself permission to say no when needed, protect your peace, and support your body with nourishing foods, joyful movement, quality sleep, and moments of intentional rest.

Summer Affirmation

"I allow myself to enjoy this season without rushing through it. I welcome joy, play, rest, and abundance while staying grounded in what my body needs."

Loved This Episode?

If this episode encouraged you to slow down and care for yourself this summer, I'd love for you to:

•  Subscribe to the Nourished Living Podcast 
•  Leave a review 
•  Share this episode with someone who could use a little more nourishment this season

Follow Courtney on Instagram: @healthywithcourtneyy

Grab her FREE Empowering Affirmations HERE! 

Transcript

0:00

Welcome to the Nourished Living Podcast, where we go beyond diets and quick fixes and reconnect with what it really means to feel good in your body. I'm Courtney Podany, nutritional therapist, personal trainer, energy worker, Type 1 diabetic, and mom, here to guide you toward health that feels simple, sustainable, and aligned. Each episode will explore how to nourish your body, balance your energy, and strengthen your intuition so you can thrive and actually understand what your body is telling you. So grab your favorite drink, take a deep breath, and let's jump into your new nourished life Welcome back to the Nourished Living Podcast. I am your host, Courtney Podany. Hello, hello, and happy summer. I know officially summer started like a week ago,- But this is the latest podcast drop since summer has arrived. So happy summer. And speaking of the summer season, today we are talking about summer nourishment. How we can best nourish our body during this new season. Every season asks something differently of us. So in winter, we rest and hunker down and hibernate. Then in spring, we begin to start waking up, leaving that hibernation, blooming like in nature. And then summer is all about expansion and vitality and being fully present. But it can also be a season where we tend to overbook ourselves, stay up way too late, and forget to slow down. So today, I will walk you through how to best support your body using nutrition, movement, hydration, nervous system regulation, sleep, and simple rituals. This will guarantee that you can fully enjoy everything summer has to offer, but not leave the season feeling completely exhausted and drained. So what is happening in nature during summer? Well, nature is at its fullest. Everything is growing. Gardens are overflowing. The sun is at its highest point, and there is more daylight than any other time of the year. So naturally, you may feel more energetic, more social, more adventurous, more creative, more spontaneous, more motivated, and wanting to be outside more. And this outward energy is beautiful, but it's also why many people end the summer feeling depleted. The longer days can often mean less sleep, more commitments, more travel, more alcohol, more eating out, and more heat stress. So our summer nourishment is about supporting our bodies so we can enjoy more but not burn out so as temperatures rise, your body naturally craves foods with higher Water content. So that's gonna be your fresh fruits and vegetables that are nice and colorful. You may naturally want smoothies, salads, fresh fruit, grilled proteins, fresh herbs, and lighter meals. Always continue to balance your meals with protein, healthy fats, and fiber-rich carbs. This helps prevent blood sugar crashes that leave you tired during those hot afternoons For our summer produce, for Fruit we have cucumbers, tomatoes, watermelon, cantaloupe, honeydew, peaches, nectarines, cherries, blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, strawberries, plums, and grapes. For our summer vegetables, we have zucchini, yellow squash, eggplant, corn, green beans, lettuce, arugula, spinach, and radishes. And for herbs, our summer herbs are basil, mint, cilantro, dill, and parsley. When it comes to hydration, it is vital during the summer to make sure you are hydrating properly. Because when we sweat, we don't just end up losing water. We actually lose some of our electrolytes like sodium, potassium, magnesium, and chloride. So that could be why sometimes even if you think you are drinking enough water, you actually still feel dehydrated. We need to support hydration by drinking consistently throughout the day. You know, lots of sips throughout the day is better than chugging large amounts only a few times throughout the day. You can add minerals or electrolytes or even just unrefined sea salt into your water to make sure that you are holding on to the water that you're drinking rather than it just flushing right through you. Eating hydrating fruits and vegetables, um, like I said earlier, fruits and vegetables naturally contain water, and that might be if you find yourself craving fruits and vegetables specifically, it might actually be your body asking for water because it is dehydrated. Um, coconut water is also good or even herbal iced teas. And other signs that you might need more hydration will include afternoon headaches, fatigue, muscle cramps, brain fog, dry skin or chapped lips, and increased anxiety or irritability Many people don't realize that dehydration itself can increase feelings of anxiety. So if you find yourself, a little more anxious than normal, drink some water with electrolytes. For movement, summer is already naturally a big season of movement with the nicer weather, so we should take advantage of being outside. Some outside movement could include hiking, swimming, paddleboarding, kayaking, walking, Pilates, strength training, bike rides, or beach walks. And instead of forcing, intense workouts every day, I would just see what your body is telling you. What kind of movement is your body asking for? What is it craving today? So you could even ask your body, "What sounds fun today?" Because joy is healthy too. If you are working out outside during the summer, you know, early morning or evening would be best for that, so we can avoid things like heat exhaustion, dehydration, all of that. For our nervous system, we don't wanna forget about regulating our nervous system just because our schedule is a little bit busier. Because summer can often become over-stimulating, right? We have more plans, so that means more noise, more people, more traveling, kids home from school, and more social gatherings. So we cannot forget about our nervous system. Some simple regulation practices that you can put into place: In the morning, try to get morning sunlight. It gets bright out early AF these days. So if you can go outside within, thirty minutes of waking up and just letting the sun hit your face, getting sun onto your eyelids, this helps to reset our nervous system and also helps with sleep because based on when our body wakes up, our body then knows later when to start producing melatonin to get y-you ready for bed. Grounding is helpful, so especially if you're already going to be outside getting that morning sunlight, you might as well just kick off your slippers and step your feet into some grass or dirt or sand, whatever you have access to, to connect with the Earth. And deep breathing is always a nice way to calm your body. You can inhale for four seconds and exhale for eight seconds. The longer exhale lets our body know that we are safe. In the evening, you could go for a sunset walk. Especially if that's after dinner, that will help to regulate your blood sugar as well. You could practice legs up a wall. So lying down with your legs up the wall, this helps with blood flow and signaling safety. You could read outside, since it does stay lighter longer, and it's still a very nice temperature later in the evening. You could sit outside with a good book. Remember, you don't need to earn rest. We are the only species on Earth where we think we need to earn our rest. But no, rest is absolutely vital for us to function and for us to recover and replenish for the day ahead some summer cozy rituals. Some people think that being cozy only belongs to fall, but I disagree. Summer has its own version of cozy, or maybe you wanna use the word comfortable or familiar or safe here, but I like the word cozy. So some cozy summer examples could be, uh, reading outside with iced tea, like I mentioned, watching sunsets, spending your morning on the porch with your morning coffee, hammock naps, having picnics outside, evening bonfires, stargazing, bringing fresh flowers inside, using linen blankets, or journaling outside. The summer cozy feels much lighter. There's less blankets and more breezes. For sleep, since there are longer days, this can easily throw off our sleep, so we need to protect our circadian rhythm. Some sleep tips would include getting morning sunlight, like I mentioned, dimming your lights at night, keeping your bedtime consistent. This is a big one, and actually things like consistency in your bedtime and your wake-up time also signal safety to your body and your nervous system. Um, you can make your bedroom cool. Avoid heavy meals right before bed. You know, allow a little bit of time in between your last meal and bedtime. Limit alcohol and reduce screens before bed. If it's, like, extremely hot, you could do a cool shower before bed. Make sure you're using cotton sheets, have a fan in your room, and hydrate earlier in the evening. And quality sleep helps us to also regulate our blood sugar, hormones, mood, and nervous system, like I said. For some essential oil aromatherapy, for energy you could use citrus, lemon, grapefruit, peppermint, or rosemary. If you are overstimulated from all of the social activities, um, for calming scents you could use lavender, bergamot, frankincense, or cedarwood. And for outside support, so if you are hot and you've been in the sun for a long time, you could use eucalyptus, tea tree, or lavender. And the summer season aligns beautifully with two chakras. Number one being our solar plexus chakra. And the color here is yellow. So our solar plexus represents confidence, purpose, personal power, and motivation. So we can support it with other things that are yellow, like sunshine, which should be easy. Since it is located in the core of our body, some core movement, core strengthening would support it as well. Yellow foods, the crystal citrine, which is yellow, or tiger's eye. And then also our heart chakra aligns with summer. So summer kind of continues expanding what spring began. To support our heart chakra, you could practice gratitude, spending time in your community, compassion, having compassion for others, connection with others as well, and time in nature. And some crystals used to support your heart chakra are rose quartz, green aventurine, and jade. And if you need an affirmation to get you by for summer, follow along with me here. I allow myself to enjoy this season without rushing through it. I welcome joy, play, rest, and abundance while staying grounded with what my body needs So in summary, summer is a beautiful time for being social, for being outside, for being adventurous and spontaneous and fully experiencing life. You might laugh more, move more, play more, connect more. But remember that the healthiest summer isn't the busiest one. It is the one where you actually have the energy to enjoy it. You're not depleting yourself, you're not draining yourself, and you're not walking around like a zombie exhausted. So remember to nourish yourself with seasonal foods that will be provided for you at your local farmers market, that could be another cozy ritual is visiting your local farmers market to pick up some summer produce. Um, hydrating well with minerals and electrolytes. Moving outside, protecting your sleep, regulating your nervous system and leaving room for rest and I'm also gonna add here setting boundaries because I know there are some weekends where we literally get invited to like four things. It's feast or famine, right? One weekend we won't have anything at all and then one weekend we have four events. But setting boundaries and saying no is okay as well. So I hope that based on this, you can support your body in the best way possible this summer and that you enjoy everything, anything and everything that your heart desires. And stay cool, stay hydrated and have fun. Thank you for tuning in with me today. I will see you in the next episode Thanks for hanging out with me today and tuning in to the Nourished Living Podcast. I hope you enjoyed today's episode and found something you can start implementing right away to kickstart your nourished transformation. If you loved this episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave a review, or share it with someone who could benefit from these insights. You can also connect with me over on Instagram for more resources and support. Until next time, stay nourished