How to survive summer, according to Chinese medicine

According to Chinese medicine, we have fire in our bodies, and certain foods will increase your fire (let's call it "heating," for the sake of not sounding ridiculous), some will decrease it ("cooling"), and some are extremely cooling ("winterizing"). Consuming too many heating foods will make you do things like break out, lose your voice, and develop mouth sores. Excessive intake of cooling and winterizing foods, though, will give you diarrhea. Although you always want your fire to be balanced, during a hot, humid summer, you want to eat more cooling and winterizing foods, because they are generally soothing and cooling to your body. Here are some foods that will help you feel less miserable during the summer:

Green grass tea/cooling tea 青草茶/涼茶
This is a kind of herbal drink that looks almost black. There are a lot of variations of it, but in general, it has a astringent, green flavor that is actually really refreshing. Because it doesn't contain any part of the tea plant (only herbs), it is technically what Merriam-Webster calls a "tisane." You should by no means drink this in place of water (you will feel really, really ill) but it's nice to have a couple of sips after a cold shower.

Green bean and mung bean soup
Even if you don't believe in Chinese medicine, this is a really refreshing dessert. Basically, you boil both beans until they're cooked, and eat it chilled. It's also known to be really good for skin--I can't speak to how well it works for acne-prone people, but my skin just looks so good after I've eaten this for a few weeks. I find that it's also good if you have dry, itchy skin.

Pick the right fruits!
Unfortunately, all summer fruits are heating, such as mangoes, coconut, peaches, cherries, lychee, and durian (not that anyone would ever eat it, but isn't it nice to know?). Cooling and winterizing fruits include dragonfruit, pears, grapefruit, kiwis, and tomatoes. There are absolutely no patterns or similarities between these, so it's a matter of memorization.

Not everyone believes in this, and for good reason--there is no scientific evidence of any of this, because, as my dad says, Chinese people are scientifically unspirited. But somehow, it works and it happens, and that's why Chinese people have followed this advice for centuries.