Cucumbers are nature’s miracle fruits (vegetables?) that seemingly exist solely to make life easier for us. These wonderful products keep us cool, radiant, and hydrated, aids in digestion, and are great for cosmetic purposes as well. A cucumber is ninety percent water, which makes it a great alternative if you don’t have a glass of water in sight. Apply them on sunburns and you will get instant relief. There are myriad other benefits of this easy to grow garden produce, which also makes them remarkably cheap in most parts of the world. In this article, let us find out how we can get the maximum benefit from them.
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After meals
Cucumbers contain a lot of water- almost ninety percent is water content- which makes them great for improving your metabolism. Drinking water after meals is a great practice, and you can boost the work water does by eating a few slices of this cool green vegetable. Besides, cucumbers are pretty fibrous as well, which will further help you along the way toward digesting your food. Eat a whole cucumber with the skin on, and you will have enough fiber to digest a full meal.
Snacking purposes
You must have felt those hunger pangs sometime between breakfast and lunch, and then again between lunch and dinner. Cucumbers are a great way of combating these hunger pangs. Studies show that it is during those times that people consume too many extra calories, sometimes enough to throw them off their diet track altogether. Cucumbers, on the other hand, pack in a lot of calories without being unhealthy in any way. They are filling, nutritious, and will help you stay fit and healthy without adding on any extra flab to your waistline.
At dinner
Dinner is ideally the lightest meal of the day. So, a light salad and soup are great items for the dinner menu. A whole cucumber, sliced, with tomatoes, lettuce, and some eggs or chicken for protein would act as a great dinner supplement. Cucumbers are filling and easily digestible, so they will not overly tax your metabolism which already slows down during the night, and you will not wake up hungry during the night either.
In summer
An average cucumber is almost 90 percent water. We tend to get dehydrated during the hot and dry summer months, and this is the time when cucumbers can really come in handy. Slice some up in a bottle of water with a slice of lemon, and you will be set with a really refreshing drink to keep you cool and hydrated during the long sunny days. Eating cucumbers every day is highly recommended during summer as it will balance the water level lost through sweating, and it also contains vital nutrients that will keep your replenished if you don’t feel like eating much because of the heat.
Cucumbers are some of the most versatile products of nature. You can eat them raw, as part of cold salads or dipped in yogurt, or simply sprinkled with some salt and lemon juice. Or, you can eat them cooked into curries like a vegetable.