Our temperate climate allows us to enjoy mostly great weather. Without humidity, heat can be easier to take. Dry hot air is fairly comfortable. BUT when the air becomes dry we have a few nutrition-related challenges.

First, we do lose water through sweat whether it's humid or not. In dry weather, perspiration is happening just as much as if it were humid, but since it's dry heat, there's an unfelt evaporation event going on. We're sweating but we don't know it.

Another concern is smoke and ashes from the fires. Try staying indoors as much as possible. Inhaling ashes and smoke from any source poses problems for throats, lungs and immune systems. The best advice I can provide for this is what I do myself on hot, dry, ashy days: Take an extra "booster" of antioxidant factors such vitamins C and E, beta carotene, selenium and NAC.

Maybe these nutrients help overcome the ash/smoke hazard and maybe they don't. My professional "best guess" opinion is that it may help. For sure, they are not expensive and are without harm as long as toxicity guidelines are respected. Dose levels are important here -- it's not do-it-yourself time -- get professional advice.

There's one place nobody wants to spend their summer: The Hospital. Still, about 40-50% of HIV-related hospital admissions are just for rehydration no matter what time of year; more so during summer. Aside from the luxury accommodations and gourmet food hospitals are known for, they also contain lots of sick people who may harbor nasty bugs presenting a possible health risk to an HIV/AIDS patient -- after all, hospitals aren't exactly germ-free environments!

Dehydration prevention needn't be difficult; drink yourself silly all summer long, especially when the weather's dry. Actually, it's not a bad idea to make this a priority custom to add to our overall personal nutrition care plan (you do have one, yes?).

What to drink doesn't have to be water; in fact, we don't have to drink water at all. Fruit nectars, fruit and vegetable juices, iced tea, and unending types of soft drinks and "punch-type" fruit mixtures are just fine for fluids. Also, high water content foods can be good fluid sources. Many fruits and vegetables can provide this. As always, a caution here if diarrhea is a problem -- fruits and vegetables in general tend to make it worse and staying away from these foods may be helpful.

Summer foods can be fun for those of us who can tolerate salad greens and fresh fruits without painful diarrhea. But as your nutrition information source, I cannot with good conscience allow one myth to remain "UN-busted"! Gotta do it.

As a graduate student at UCLA I took a Toxicology course on foods with naturally-occurring toxins. I chose "oxalate" (also called oxalic acid) for my own research. Spinach is full of it. Otherwise, oxalate isn't all that prevalent, the only other major sources being rhubarb, chard and, to a lesser degree, beets. (Evidently, in the early 1900s, there were fields of rhubarb growing freely, and from time to time someone would get a craving for it. Death was assessed to "rhubarb gluttony" -- and I'm not making this up.)

So oxalate isn't a casual matter. Now, the gluttons probably over-ate beyond anyone's imagination, truly binging -- but oxalate is an acid and it can erode the walls of the stomach and intestine if you eat enough to qualify for a binge. Otherwise, it's not particularly dangerous. But the Popeye question hasn't been resolved yet.

About 100 years ago I watched a black-and-white TV with Popeye gulping down a can of spinach and getting a big arm muscle from it. Then he went off to beat Brutus (or whatever his name was) and claim the lovely Olive Oyl (not a bad choice, nutritionally).

We all thought it was the iron in spinach that made Popeye strong, and so did he. Sadly, Popeye was only half-right -- spinach is loaded with iron and calcium and other valuable minerals -- but the oxalate in the spinach will engulf these minerals making it impossible for uptake during digestion. They'll end up in the toilet. Besides, spinach is a bitch to clean.

I've received many questions about where it's best to store supplements. The refrigerator, especially during summer, is a very good choice, especially for gels like vitamin E and beta carotene. Also, many B-complex vitamins can get stinky if left out, as can multiples that contain them. The cooler temperature will preserve freshness and potency.

Ms. Food Safety takes a nutrition break now to advise that you get an inexpensive refrigerator thermometer. The fridge should be between 34-38 degrees, and the freezer should be zero. Especially for the fridge, the temperature, for food safety reasons, is very important. At 40 degrees and higher, you'll get germs, molds and other nasty animals setting up reproductive cycles in your refrigerator.

On another matter, people aren't always sure what the difference is between vitamins and minerals. Besides chemical structure, vitamins and minerals act independently and together and both must all be present in adequate supply to prevent deficiencies. Especially minerals, which are not well known by the general public. They're as urgently important as vitamins. We need both as part of our daily food program.

This is one of my favorite topics. Though I have strong professional connections to The American Heart Association, I have always disagreed with them on the issue of margarine. (Heart health is almost always not an HIV/AIDS-related nutrition concern.)

When vegetable oils, all liquids at room temperature, are processed into margarine or shortening, they are hydrogenated which causes a really important chemical change. The so-called "trans fats" which result from hydrogenation are probably worse for most people than the fat in butter. Our bodies don't handle trans fats very effectively. And, importantly, there has never been a margarine that tastes as good as butter, and they have all tried! Butter -- it's natural, better, and safer to eat.

It never fails to amaze me that the world hasn't long seen HIV/AIDS for the nutritional challenges it really presents. Think of Africa where HIV/AIDS is called "slim disease." Around the rest of the world, the image of AIDS is that of wasting and emaciation. And nutrition is not addressed at international conferences about this disease!

Besides the disagreement on subjects covered at these conferences, I wonder about the priorities of doctors and scientists that causes them to see this disease as a medical/scientific challenge -- to heal or help repair the body -- without apparent concern for what nourishes that same body. After all, you can't get flowers to grow if you don't water the plant!

Good question. Consider California. Here, the term nutritionist is not defined at all. There is no state licensing available. Anyone is legal to call themself a nutritionist even if they didn't graduate kindergarten! In fact, there is no state law to prevent the display of impressive, unearned initials and credentials like Ph.D. (This really is true!)

Nutrition should be licensed and regulated here in California, and here's why: If you have HIV/AIDS, and you need to have your hair cut, you must go to a licensed professional. If you need nutrition advice, anyone will do -- there aren't any state licensed nutritionists. Here, you have nothing to qualify your choice in nutritionist other than the Registered Dietitian (RD) credential which means this person has at least a college degree and has had training in therapeutic nutrition.

Several years ago, my dog joined the American Nutritionists' Association (ANA) by telling them (fibbing a little!) that she was a graduate student in Nutrition at UCLA. She was admitted without question or delay. Two years later members of ANA were "grandfathered" into The American College of Nutrition, an important and respected group. The dog's still getting mail. (Welcome to my profession!)

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First do no harm. If any of this advice is, or seems to be related to adverse consequences, consult your physician, nutritionist, or nearest canine.

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Nutrition Power is a Registered Trademark of Health and Nutrition Awareness. Copyright 1994 Jennifer Jensen, MS, MBA, RD.

All Rights Reserved.

Other versions of this article have appeared with permission in Being Alive Newsletter and other newsletters.