Stay cool when it’s hot!

If you’re like me, even though it’s hot as Hades around South Louisiana in the summer, we still do lots of outdoor activities. Whether it’s practicing sports with my kids or swimming laps in a pool for exercise, it’s not just hot outside. It’s hot inside, too. Actually, it’s hot inside you.

According to SportsDoctor.com, exercise “increases internal heat production 15 to 20 times more than at resting levels.” Our brain—specifically, the hypothalamus—does what it can to regulate the temperature increase by opening our sweat glands and dilating surface blood vessels. But there’s only so much heat a body can take before the dangers of hyperthermia set in. Beyond the obvious tips—drinking fluids before and after exercise, avoiding caffeine and alcohol, exercising in early morning or late evening—what else can we do to exercise in extreme heat and remain healthy?

Dr. Curtis Chastain, director of Our Lady of the Lake’s executive wellness program, stresses drinking fluids as the crucial key to staying safe in summer.

It’s about hydration, hydration, hydration!

Here are some of the good doctor’s tips:

• At least 30 minutes before exercise, drink diluted electrolyte-containing fluids. If you will be playing sports outdoors, you should pre-hydrate until your urine is almost clear. Chastain recommends low-calorie Propel or diluted Gatorade.

• Make sure you can freely perspire so the body can cool via evaporation of sweat. Don’t hamper your body’s heat-loss mechanism: sweat evaporation. Rather than cotton, which holds moisture and clings to skin, wear workout clothes made from synthetic fabrics which wick away perspiration.

• Towel off frequently. This helps your body to evaporate sweat, its primary method of cooling itself.

• Exercise in a cool, non-humid room.

• If you have to exercise outdoors, wear white fabric, which reflects the sun and reduces heat absorption.

• Continue to hydrate and eat fruits even after you workout. This will replace potassium and other important electrolytes you lose when you perspire.

Dr. Chastain adds that lengthy exposure to heat is worse than a brief, intense period of exercise. The more stress you put on muscles, the more dangerous the activity is in the heat.

And perhaps the best tip of all for getting the most out of your body during a hot, South Louisiana summer is as basic as a grade-school admonishment: Use your brain.

Third-annual Best of 225 awards

We asked and you chose!

You are not only holding the third edition of the Best of 225 awards, it’s also the biggest issue we’ve ever published, at 132 pages.

We recently asked our readers to identify the best of everything in more than 40 categories. From attractions and restaurants to local personalities and art galleries, the response was overwhelming.

We tallied up tens of thousands of nominations then turned things over to independent research firm Survey Communications Inc.

S.C.I. conducted a random survey within the 225 area code.

The results are in. While we might have been able to predict some of the winners (they include plenty of long-standing local institutions and iconic places), there were plenty of surprises and new faces.

We thank our loyal readers who participated in the survey. We suggest you hold on to your copy of this issue and use it as a resource to explore and discover some of the true gems this community has to offer. Click here to find a list of all the winners and the top two runners-up in every category.

The walk-on no one could stop

Keithen Valentine grew up in Scotlandville as an athletic, resilient kid who enjoyed playing football. He wasn’t exceptionally tall, or fast, or strong, and few colleges—certainly no major ones—were interested in him after high school. So he enrolled at a junior college in Mississippi. There he worked on his body in the weight room and his game on the field. He kept improving so he could chase his dream: to play football for a major school in a BCS Conference.

He walked on at Kansas State without a scholarship. In the spring he stunned fans and media alike by out-rushing all other running backs in K-State’s spring game. Now Valentine is poised to shine as a prominent back in the K-State offense.

Sports writer Lee Feinswog tells the story of Valentine and all that he had to overcome to earn his way toward his dream. Click here.

Home is where the club is

They call themselves the Home Club, and together they’re renovating, updating and improving each other’s houses, one Saturday morning at a time. A group of friends decided they were tired of waiting for their procrastinating husbands to tackle home improvement jobs, so they established their private little club to take turns fixing their homes. The club actually provides its members more than home improvement: They bond and support each other through life. Read Sarah Young’s refreshing story here.