5 Reasons to Love Cucumbers: How Cucumber Health Keeps You Hydrated And Healthy
How does cucumber health keep you hydrated and healthy? This post will give you five reasons to love cucumbers and go into all the science into this under the radar superstar vegetable.
Cucumber health includes providing you with an excellent source of antioxidants, specifically flavonoids and tannins, potassium, and more into your diet! Pass the Tzatziki sauce please!
This post is all about 5 reasons to love cucumber health benefits!
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What’s All the Hype About Cucumber Health?
There is a lot of buzz about the amazing cucumber health benefits. This delicious and nutritious vegetable is packed with essential vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants that are essential for optimal health.
Cucumber Nutrition
Cucumbers contain hydrating properties that can help regulate blood sugar levels and can even aid in weight loss! With all these incredible benefits, it’s no wonder why so many people are talking about cucumbers health benefits!
Cucumber Side Effects You Won’t Regret
Cucumbers are an incredibly healthy and nutritious vegetable that are packed with numerous health benefits, but they also come with a few minor side effects that you don’t have to worry about. Try improved digestion, better hydration, and detoxification! Cucumber side effects can even help prevent disease and improve your overall health in ways you won’t regret!
Reason 1: Cucumber Uses Include Helping to Regulate Your Blood Pressure
Did you know that cucumbers contain a large amount of potassium, which can help regulate your blood pressure?
Dr. Kait, find all the details at the american heart association, 2022
Cucumbers are a great source of potassium. Potassium is an essential mineral that helps regulate your blood pressure, so adding cucumbers to your diet can have a positive effect on your health. Not only are they delicious and crunchy, but they also contain a large amount of potassium, which can help keep your blood pressure in check.
Reason 2: Cucumbers Health Benefits Include Detoxifying Your System
Cucumbers are a nutritious and delicious vegetable that can help you detoxify your body. They are packed with antioxidants and other essential vitamins and minerals that can help rid your body of toxins. Cucumbers also contain high levels of water, which helps flush out toxins from the body.
Specifically, cucumbers are high in antioxidants including flavonoids and tannins. Flavonoids and tannins are two important components of a healthy diet. By preventing the accumulation of harmful free radicals, flavonoids and tannins may reduce the risk of chronic diseases such as cancer and heart disease.
Flavonoids and tannins prevent the accumulation of harmful free radicals and may reduce the risk of chronic disease.
Link, 2017
Studies have shown that consuming foods rich in flavonoids and tannins can help reduce inflammation, improve blood sugar control, lower blood pressure, reduce cholesterol levels, and improve overall health. Furthermore, these compounds may also protect against oxidative damage caused by free radicals. Therefore, adding foods high in these compounds to your diet may help you achieve optimal health and prevent chronic diseases in the long run.
Remember hearing about tannins at that wine tasting? Yep, one and the same. Who knew tannins were in cucumbers too?!
Dr. Kait
Reason 3. Hydrate! Cucumber Health Benefits Include Quenching Your Thirst From the Inside Out
Staying hydrated is important, it supports maintaining a healthy weight and regularity in your (ahem) bowel movements (Popkin, D’Anci, Rosenberg, 2010). Most people are on board with this idea, carrying around a water bottle they may or may not drink all day. But, have you considered the water in your food?
Have you considered how the food you eat impacts your daily hydration?
Dr. Kait
Cucumber Water Health Benefits: A Vegetable That is 96% Water
We think a lot about drinking water, even counting our bottles or liters of water in a day. However, often we forget about the food we eat and how it supports, adds to, or takes away from our daily hydration.
Do You Have a Child in Sports?
Similarly, for parents or caregivers, thinking about how the food our kids eat relates to their hydration is key. Do you have a little athlete? Keep reading below on how to support their hydration and health.
In one study of 442 children ages 4-10, those that had increased vegetable and fruits in their diet had significantly greater improvements in hydration (Montenegro-Bethancourt, Johner, & Remer, 2013). This was accounting for all other sources of water!!
As a parent with a lot of kids in a lot of sports, this one is so important. Feeding your kids foods that will keep them hydrated will help them perform better on and off the insert [field, court, mat, stage, you get the point].
Bottom line, kids eating more fruits and vegetables, which are dense in hydration, had better hydration overall.
Dr. Kait
Reason 4: Lose or Maintain Your Weight with a Cucumber Healthy Snack
Doctors have found that people who eat cucumbers, and other foods with high water content (think leafy greens and more) are significantly more likely to lose weight and keep it off.
Cucumber Calories
Cucumbers are high in water, and therefore low in calories. In fact, one cup of cucumbers only amounts to 16 calories. I’m not even sure if I could take a bite of a Triscuit for less calories than that.
There has been quite a bit of research into the idea that a calorie is a calorie. And, it turns out that really is NOT the whole story. People who eat low energy dense foods, think higher in water content and energy that you get when you eat it (like cucumbers) lose weight and keep it off more often.
The 2010 Dietary Guidelines Advisory Committee concluded that strong and consistent evidence in adults indicates that dietary patterns relatively low in energy density improve weight loss and weight maintenance.
PEREZ-ESCAMILLA ET AL., 2012
The committee also found strong evidence of the opposite when examining foods with low water content. Think foods that are lacking water, like donuts. People who ate these types of foods showed a greater likelihood toward obesity (Perez-Escamilla et al., 2012). These results played out across multiple studies of kids and adults, over time (Perez-Escamilla et al., 2012).
Moral of the story? If your food has more water inherent within it, it’s likely better for your waistline and your energy levels.
Dr. Kait
Reason 5: Cucumber Gut Health Supports Your Digestive Health
Cucumbers are composed of water and contain antioxidants and quite a bit of fiber. Specifically, cucumbers are incredibly beneficial for our digestive health as they contain pectin, a dietary fiber that has been scientifically proven to help regulate your bowel movements, thereby promoting regularity (Gunnars, 2021).
A recent study conducted by doctors on 80 individuals with constipation issues revealed that consuming pectin was able to alleviate their constipation significantly. This important finding indicates that pectin is a safe and viable option for providing relief from constipation, making it a powerful remedy in the doctor’s toolkit (Xu et al., 2014).
It’s always best to get your fiber and vitamins through food, however, if you are still looking for a supplement for additional pectin and detox benefits, try Pectipure by Swanson for digestive and cellular health support.
Cucumbers Are Easy to Grow in the Garden
I am not sure there is an easier plant to cultivate than cucumbers. Plant by seed easily, just make a small hole in the dirt and place the seeds directly into the hole. Recover. Make sure you give yourself PLENTY of room between seeds planted, because cucumber seeds grow, and a lot!! You can find cucumber seeds below on Amazon and get them delivered right to your doorstep.
If you aren’t sure cucumbers will actually grow from a seed, or are starting your garden out a little later in the year, try planting cucumbers from a seedling plant.
This is especially fun if you like to watch the cucumbers grow in more of a bounded timeframe. Seriously, either way, cucumbers will thrive in your garden. They are super hearty!
A Couple Tips To Keep Your Cucumbers Healthy
Cucumbers grow a lot. Like, really a lot!! If you’re anything like me and read this but also still think that you have room for other plants nearby, think again. We had to move our cucumbers three times over the years to keep them from taking over the rest of the plants! Every time I move them, they still find a way to take over.
Use Garden Tape to Keep Cucumbers Growing Up Not Out
You can keep your cucumbers growing healthy and strong by keeping them somewhat contained with garden tape and garden stakes to allow the vines to crawl up rather than out. Find the garden tape here below on Amazon.
Honestly, the green plastic garden stakes might look nice and blend in better, but they do not hold the cucumbers. Try the wooden stakes like these here.
They work better and are better for the environment. Double win!
Wondering How to Eat Cucumber?
If you are looking for some more ideas to incorporate cucumbers into your life, check out a few of the recipes on Kait’s Cupboard like Tastes Like Summer Tzatziki Sauce or 7 Worth It Ways to Make Chickpea Cucumber Salad!
What Is Cucumber Health? It’s All the Benefits You Get From Cucumber Nutrition!
Cucumbers are a nutritious and delicious vegetable that can help you detoxify your body. They are packed with antioxidants and other essential vitamins and minerals that can help rid your body of toxins. Cucumbers contain high levels of water, which help flush out toxins from the body. Furthermore, they are nutrient rich and calorie poor keeping you healthy and helping you lose weight and keep it off!
Try one of the amazing recipes with cucumber health benefits today!
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