When it’s this hot, what should you eat? As I sweltered through another humid city day, I wondered whether there are certain foods, or diets, that are better to eat during heat waves. So I consulted some nutrition experts who specialize in understanding how food can serve as medicine, to better understand if there are foods that biologically make more sense to eat when the temperatures soar.

And it turns out, there are, including some that—counterintuitively—actually make you feel hotter and sweat more. But sweating is what you want to do in hot weather, because that’s the way the body cools itself down. Here are a few of the experts' insights:

• It's important to stay hydrated by drinking plenty of water and eating fruits like watermelon that have a high water content.
• Eating spicy foods—seasoned with chilis, garlic, and ginger—can trigger a physiological response that makes you sweat, which in turn cools the skin and body.
• Even non-spicy foods like durian and pineapple can help cool the body down by slowing digestion and generating less heat.