The benefits and harms of cucumbers for women’s health and methods of their use

Humanity has been cultivating cucumbers for more than 6 thousand years. It is not only tasty, but also a healthy product with many medicinal properties. For his qualities, he was especially loved by women.

Read about the benefits for women, composition, calorie content and contraindications of cucumber in our article.

Cucumber is a green fellow

Cucumbers are low in calories and have a rich vitamin and mineral composition. The vegetable helps fight many diseases, having a gentle effect on the body. Widely used in dietary nutrition and cosmetology.

Reference. Cucumber is an annual herbaceous plant of the Cucurbitaceae family. India is considered the birthplace of the vegetable. In the Himalayan Mountains region it still grows in its natural environment.

What benefits does cucumber contain?

Green cucumber fruits have a rich composition. The content of nutrients per 100 g is shown in the table below.

So, what are the benefits and harms of cucumber for a woman’s health?

About the benefits of cucumber

The vegetable has the following properties:

• strengthens the heart and nervous system;
• has a mild diuretic effect, helps remove sand and stones from the kidneys;
• cleanses blood vessels from cholesterol plaques;
• helps strengthen the immune system;
• gently cleanses the intestines, serves as a laxative;
• removes uric acid, which is important for gout;
• cleanses the body of waste and toxins.

Do no harm

Despite its apparent harmlessness, cucumber can cause:

• increased blood pressure;
• allergic reaction (in rare cases);
• stool disorder;
• increased acidity of gastric juice.

About calories, proteins, fats and carbohydrates

There are only 14 kcal per 100 g of cucumbers, so the product is considered dietary. How much BZHU is in the vegetable is shown in the table below.

Benefits of cucumber for ladies

The vegetable is good for everyone, but it has several qualities for which women especially value it.

Firstly, cucumber is low in calories, helps digest fatty foods and evacuate its remains in time, improves metabolism. All this has a positive effect on overall well-being and figure. Therefore, the vegetable is often used in dietary nutrition.

Secondly, cucumber is an excellent cosmetic product. Its juice and pulp in masks and lotions according to folk recipes strengthens hair, stimulates its growth, gives shine and silkiness. They also improve the condition of the skin. They are used to treat acne and open comedones (blackheads).These components maintain skin tone, reduce fine wrinkles, and whiten.

Suitable for everyone! Mono-component cosmetics with cucumber are suitable for any skin type. In multicomponent folk remedies, everything depends on additional ingredients.

Pregnant women can

A woman carrying a baby should be careful about everything she drinks and eats. In such a delicate situation, the best adviser is the doctor observing the pregnancy. In the absence of contraindications, cucumber is an excellent addition to the diet of an expectant mother.

Its beneficial effects:

• eliminates puffiness due to structural water in the composition;
• normalizes blood pressure thanks to potassium;
• improves digestion, eliminates constipation - natural fiber helps with this;
• prevents anemia - contains iron;
• enhances the body's protective properties due to ascorbic acid;
• Strengthens the bone tissue of the mother and the developing child due to its calcium content.

Caution - baby

For nursing mothers, cucumbers are also a healthy product, but here you need to take into account the baby’s reaction. Although it is rare, allergies do occur to vegetables. Often, cucumber causes colic and stool upset in a child.

It is better for mothers to introduce it into the diet when the baby is three months old. By this age, the child’s digestive system will be stronger. Try to eat just a few slices to begin with and carefully monitor your baby’s condition.

Cucumbers in cooking

Cucumbers are ubiquitous in cooking. They are found in cuisine that is exotic for our latitudes, for example, in Japanese rolls and Korean savory snacks. And there are a great many salads with cucumber.

In traditional domestic cuisine this is salty And pickled cucumbers, cold soups for the hot season, everyone’s favorite okroshka.For the winter, the vegetable is even frozen to preserve it as much as possible. taste and benefit.

This is interesting! Vasmer's etymological dictionary contains information that the name of the plant “cucumber” comes from a similar Latin word for “unripe.” Indeed, this is one of the few vegetables that is eaten only unripe, green, unlike its close relative - pumpkin.

Use in folk medicine

In traditional medicine recipes, not only the fruits themselves are used, but even the tops, leaves and flowers. The use of the fruits themselves is very extensive. For example, to prevent bleeding from hemorrhoids, candles are cut out of cucumber pulp. They are used in the same way as regular suppositories; they are placed for several hours or overnight. Such suppositories stop bleeding and reduce pain. Compresses made from cucumber pulp are applied to hemorrhoids.

For bronchopulmonary diseases, cucumber is also very useful. 100 ml of juice is mixed with a tablespoon of honey. Take this medicine up to four times a day. It helps even with a severe cough.

Fresh cucumber juice is an excellent help for ulcers and gastritis. For high acidity, drink 100 ml of juice in the mornings and evenings. It is useful for ulcer sufferers to mix crushed cucumbers into a paste. with buckwheat honey – 150 g per 1 tbsp. l.

For swelling and gallbladder diseases, take cucumber decoction:

1. 150 g of chopped vegetables are poured with 200 ml of water.
2. The broth is boiled for 4-5 minutes, the fire is turned off, covered with a lid and infused for the same amount of time.
3. Use the product 100 ml 2-3 times a day.

For beauty

Masks, lotions and creams with cucumber or its juice have long been known. The cucumber mask remains relevant. It helps against acne and minor inflammations.The cucumber is grated, the pulp is applied to the face for 10 minutes and covered with gauze on top.

If you get a sunburn, cucumber compresses will help. The pulp is crushed into a paste and applied to the affected areas. You can squeeze the juice out of a cucumber, soak a gauze or cotton napkin in it and make lotions. Such compresses relieve pain and inflammation.

Many products with cucumber extract can be found on the shelves of cosmetic departments. They are also quite effective, although many have quite affordable prices.

Cucumber juice for women

In addition to the listed beneficial properties, cucumber has several qualities for which it is especially popular among women. The vegetable improves metabolism, which helps maintain a beautiful figure and healthy skin, hair and nails.

Using juice in its pure form

Drink a glass of fresh cucumber juice in the morning. The drink perfectly refreshes and tones, reduces appetite, and promotes the breakdown of fat. Thanks to the cleansing properties of the juice, weight is reduced - it removes waste and toxins, and reduces cholesterol.

Fresh cucumber juice normalizes hormonal levels. It is also indicated for excessive discharge during menstruation. During menopause, cucumber juice reduces the frequency of hot flashes. The key to successful use of the drink is moderation. The recommended maximum consumption of cucumber juice per day is 1 liter. You should not exceed the dosage.

Spotted! Cucumber juice has the same composition as the vegetable itself and the set of benefits is also identical. But the juice is easier and faster absorbed by the body. Just half a glass of the drink, taken up to four times a day, will help cope with many problems.

Cucumber juice and honey

Honey is a natural healing agent.In a duet with it, cucumber becomes even healthier, and the taste of such a dish is pleasant, although a little unusual. Cucumber-honey dishes are especially beneficial for the immune system.

Healthy drinks are prepared based on these products. You can simply mix 1 tsp. honey and 100 ml of fresh cucumber juice or prepare a smoothie:

1. Take 2-3 small, preferably young, cucumbers, 1 tbsp. l. honey, ½ water, 1-2 tbsp. l. lemon juice.
2. Wash the cucumbers, peel and cut.
3. Mix honey with lemon juice.
4. Place all this in a blender, add half the required volume of water and blend.
5. At the end, add the remaining water and beat until foamy.
6. If desired, add ice cubes to the drink.

Combination with different juices

Cucumber juice mixed with beet and carrot juice in a ratio of 10:3:3 will not only saturate the body with vitamins and microelements, but will also eliminate inflammation in the oral cavity. In addition, the drink is effective in the fight against hypertension, iron deficiency anemia, urinary and gallstone diseases. Take the product before meals, 200 ml 4 times a day.

Maintains health and beauty

Cucumbers will keep your skin youthful and your figure beautiful. If you are overweight, it is useful to carry out cucumber fasting days. Prepare 2.5-3 kg of cucumbers. Divide them into 4-5 servings - this is the only food that is consumed during fasting. Water is not limited. Try to avoid emotional and physical overload on this day.

A cucumber-honey mask will help cleanse the skin and whiten freckles and age spots on the face:

1. Peel the cucumber, grate it on a fine grater, and drain the excess juice. If there is too much of it, the mask will be too liquid.
2. Add 1 tsp to the puree. honey
3. Keep the mask on your face for 15-25 minutes. depending on skin sensitivity.

It is optimal to do unloading once, if urgently necessary, 2 times a week, no more. An unbalanced diet will cause serious harm to the body.

Not everyone can!

There are few contraindications for using fresh cucumber. When consumed in excess, it promotes blood thickening. Therefore, the use of medicinal formulations with it is not recommended for varicose veins and other vascular diseases.

For large stones in the kidneys and gall bladder, also be careful with cucumbers, they can provoke the movement of stones and aggravate the condition. It is not recommended to consume the vegetable if you have intestinal infections or a tendency to diarrhea, as it has a mild laxative effect.

And one more contraindication – individual intolerance. It is rare, but there are people whose bodies cannot tolerate cucumbers in any quantity.

Conclusion

Fresh cucumbers are a great addition to your diet, especially if they were grown in your garden without the use of chemicals.

The benefits of cucumber for the body are multifaceted: it will help cope with a number of diseases, improve the condition of the skin of the face, hair, nails, cleanse and rejuvenate the body, allow you to lose weight and maintain a slim figure. Finally, it is easy to prepare many dishes from cucumber that will delight any gourmet.