The benefits and harms of cucumbers for a woman's health and methods of their use

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

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

Cucumber - green fellow

Cucumbers are low in calories, they have a rich vitamin and mineral composition. The vegetable helps to fight many diseases, gently affecting the body. It is widely used in dietary nutrition and cosmetology.

reference... Cucumber is an annual herb of the Pumpkin family. India is considered the homeland of the vegetable. In the region of the Himalayan mountains, it still grows in its natural environment.

What useful cucumber contains

The green fruits of the cucumber are rich in 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 to remove sand and kidney stones;
• cleans blood vessels from cholesterol plaques;
• helps to strengthen the immune system;
• gently cleanses the intestines, serves as a laxative;
• removes uric acid, which is important for gout;
• cleanses the body of toxins and toxins.

Do no harm

Despite the seeming harmlessness, a cucumber can cause:

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

About Calories, Proteins, Fats, and Carbs

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

The benefits of cucumber for ladies

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

Firstly, the cucumber is low in calories, helps to digest fatty foods and evacuate its remnants in time, improves metabolism. All this has a positive effect on the 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 strengthen hair, stimulate hair growth, add 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 all skin types. In multicomponent folk remedies, everything depends on additional ingredients.

Pregnant women can

A woman carrying a baby should be attentive to everything that drinks and eats. In such a delicate position, the best counselor is a pregnancy supervisor. In the absence of contraindications, cucumber is an excellent addition to the diet of the 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 in this;
• prevents anemia - contains iron;
• enhances the protective properties of the body due to ascorbic acid;
• strengthens the bone tissue of the mother and the developing baby due to the calcium content.

Caution - baby

For nursing mothers, cucumbers are also a useful product, but here you need to take into account the baby's reaction. Although rarely, vegetables are allergic. Often a cucumber causes colic in a child, a stool disorder.

It is better for mothers to introduce it into the diet when the baby is three months old. The child's digestive system by this age will already be stronger. Try to eat just a few slices for a start and carefully observe the condition of the baby.

Cucumbers in cooking

Cucumbers are ubiquitous in cooking. They are found in an exotic cuisine for our latitudes, for example, in Japanese rolls, Korean spicy snacks. And there are a lot of salads with cucumber.

In traditional Russian 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 as much as possible taste and benefit.

It is interesting! In the etymological dictionary of Vasmer there is information that the name of the plant "cucumber" comes from a similar Latin word "immature". Indeed, this is one of the few vegetables that is eaten only unripe, green, in contrast to a close relative - pumpkin.

Application in traditional medicine

In the recipes of traditional medicine, they use not only the fruits themselves, but even tops, leaves and flowers.... The use of the fruits themselves is very extensive. For example, from bleeding with hemorrhoids, candles are cut out of cucumber pulp. They are used in the same way as regular suppositories, put them for several hours or at night. Such suppositories stop blood and relieve pain. Cucumber gruel compresses are applied to the hemorrhoids.

Cucumber is also very useful for bronchopulmonary diseases. 100 ml of juice is mixed with a tablespoon of honey. They take this medicine up to four times a day. It helps even with a strong cough.

Fresh cucumber juice is an excellent helper for ulcers and gastritis. With high acidity, they drink 100 ml of juice in the morning and in the evening. It is useful for ulcers to mix cucumbers chopped into gruel with buckwheat honey - 150 g for 1 tbsp. l.

Cucumber broth is taken from edema and diseases of the gallbladder:

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 the same amount is insisted.
3. Use the product in 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 does not lose its relevance. It helps with acne and minor inflammations. The cucumber is chopped on a grater, the gruel is applied to the face for 10 minutes and covered with gauze on top.

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

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

Cucumber juice for women

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

Pure juice application

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

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

Noted! Cucumber juice has the same composition as the vegetable itself and the set of usefulness is also identical. But the juice is absorbed easier and faster 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 remedy. In a duet with him, the cucumber becomes even healthier, and the taste of such a dish is pleasant, although a little unusual. Cucumber and honey dishes are especially beneficial for the immune system.

Healthy drinks are prepared on the basis of these products. You can just mix 1 tsp. honey and 100 ml fresh cucumber juice or make a smoothie:

1. Take 2-3 small, preferably young, cucumbers, 1 tbsp. l. honey, ½ water, 1-2 tbsp. l. lemon juice.
2. Rinse cucumbers, peel, cut.
3. Mix honey with lemon juice.
4. Send all this to a blender, add half the prescribed volume of water and beat.
5. Finally, add the remaining water and beat until creamy.
6. Add ice cubes to the drink if desired.

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 also eliminate inflammation in the oral cavity. In addition, the drink is effective in combating hypertension, iron deficiency anemia, urinary and cholelithiasis. Take the remedy before meals, 200 ml 4 times a day.

Preserves health and beauty

Cucumbers will preserve youthfulness of the skin and beauty of the figure. If you are overweight, it is useful to spend cucumber fasting days. Prepare 2.5-3 kg of cucumbers. They are divided into 4-5 servings - this is the only food that is consumed during unloading. Water is not limited. Try to avoid emotional and physical overload on this day.

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

1. Peel the cucumber, rub on a fine grater, drain the juice that has come out. If there is a lot of it, the mask will be too liquid.
2. Add 1 tsp to the puree. honey.
3. Keep the mask on the face for 15-25 minutes. depending on the sensitivity of the skin.

It is optimal to do unloading once, in case of urgent need 2 times a week, no more. An unbalanced diet will cause serious harm to the body.

Not everyone can do it!

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

For large stones in the kidney and gallbladder with cucumbers, too, be careful, they can provoke the movement of stones and aggravate the condition. It is not recommended to use the vegetable for intestinal infections or a tendency to diarrhea, as it has a mild laxative effect.

And one more contraindication is individual intolerance. Rarely, but there are people whose body does not tolerate cucumbers in any quantities.

Conclusion

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

The benefits of cucumber for the body are multifaceted: it will help to 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, cucumber makes it easy to prepare many dishes that will delight any gourmet.