We are used to the fact that vegetables are healthy. This is considered almost an axiom, and few people think about the fact that garden gifts also pose a potential threat to health. Of course, everything is relative: for a healthy person, eating any vegetables in reasonable quantities will not cause the slightest harm. But which of us is absolutely healthy? And how to determine a “reasonable” amount?
To avoid unpleasant surprises, it’s a good idea to know what side effects and in what cases we can expect. As they say, I would have known where to fall, I would have laid straws. So let’s stock up on this “straw”. As a precaution…
Acquaintance with the useful and harmful properties of familiar vegetables I suggest starting with cucumber. That’s what we probably can’t imagine a vegetable garden without. Fresh, salted, pickled cucumbers are welcome guests at any table. Since up to 97% of fruit is water, many believe that this vegetable is completely harmless, and therefore it can be eaten as much as your heart desires. Is it so?
Benefits of cucumber
In fact, cucumbers have a noticeable effect on the body with regular use. However, the effect is mostly purely positive: improved digestion; elimination of excess cholesterol and toxins; regulation of metabolism. Fresh cucumbers are recommended for dietary and therapeutic nutrition for obesity and cardiovascular diseases, chronic kidney and gastrointestinal tract diseases (except periods of exacerbation); cucumber juice is useful for liver diseases, chronic fatigue and high physical activity.; use it externally — to get rid of acne and freckles, narrow enlarged pores, clean and refresh oily skin.
- Cucumber mask for normal and mixed skin
Grated cucumber on a fine grater, mix with the protein of 1 egg and mix well, beating the mass. Apply to the face, avoiding the eye area, leave for 10-15 minutes, then rinse with water. This remedy improves the complexion and helps to get rid of wrinkles.
Cucumber masks are useful for any skin
- Cucumber mask with blueberries for sensitive skin
Grate the cucumber on a fine grater, add the juice of several blueberries to the resulting mass, mix well. The finished composition has a pale purple color. The mask is applied to the face and held for 15-20 minutes, then washed off with warm water and rinsed with cold.
- Cucumber mask for oily skin
Grate the cucumber on a fine grater, add 1 teaspoon of white clay and mix thoroughly. Apply to the face and leave to dry, then rinse. Regular use of this product eliminates the shine of oily skin and expands pores.
- Cucumber water
Slice a fresh cucumber (along with the peel). 4 tablespoons of vegetable mass pour 0.5 liters of boiling water, insist 4-6 hours, strain. Use this cleanser for problem facial skin.
Cucumber water and cucumber lotion are popular skin products
- Cucumber lotion
Grate the cucumber with the peel on a coarse grater. Take cucumber mass and vodka in equal parts (by volume). Pour the cucumber with vodka, insist for 2 weeks, strain. For oily skin, you can use the resulting product immediately, for dry skin – pre-dilute with water in a ratio of 1:1 and add glycerin (1 teaspoon per 100 ml/3.4 fl.oz of lotion).
A mixture of cucumber and carrot juice with regular use helps to get rid of skin problems caused by metabolic disorders. Cucumber juice mixed with salad juice is useful for heart diseases. Cucumber juice with honey is recommended by folk medicine for bronchitis and other diseases of the upper respiratory tract.
Cucumber juice has many useful properties
Cucumber seeds have a diuretic effect, as do fruits in general. Powder from dried cucumber seeds is considered useful in the treatment of pulmonary tuberculosis and spleen tumors. Cucumber flowers are used to prepare a decoction for the treatment of malaria, and a decoction for liver diseases is prepared from a mixture of overripe fruits and dried cucumber lashes.
Dangers of cucumber
What contraindications does this vegetable have? In acute gastrointestinal diseases (gastritis, enteritis, colitis, enterocolitis), exacerbations of gastric ulcer and duodenal ulcer, it is recommended to limit the use of fresh cucumbers (and sometimes completely exclude them from your diet).
Cucumbers have a pronounced laxative effect, so they should not be used for any digestive disorders accompanied by the use of liquid. And vice versa – with chronic constipation, it is very good to eat cucumbers or drink cucumber juice with honey.
Pickled cucumbers and pickled cucumbers should not be eaten in acute and chronic (in the acute stage) hepatitis, cholecystitis and cholelithiasis, nephritis, chronic renal failure. Do not get carried away with such a snack and those who suffer from cardiovascular diseases, and especially hypertension (fresh cucumbers, on the contrary, will be useful to them: the potassium contained in the greens has a beneficial effect on the heart muscle and helps reduce swelling).
Pickled cucumbers and pickled cucumbers are contraindicated in many diseases
For those who want to lose weight, it is recommended to exclude pickled cucumbers and pickled cucumbers from the diet: they excite the appetite, and salt retains fluid in the body. But fresh cucumbers for weight loss are very useful. For the prevention and treatment of obesity, practice (in the absence of contraindications) cucumber fasting days — they help normalize metabolism, promote the removal of excess fluid and salts.
Little tricks with cucumbers
Believe it or not, but people say that:
- Inhalation of cucumber helps to calm the nerves
This is done as follows: cucumbers are sliced and poured with boiling water; then you need to bend over the container (carefully!) and inhale cucumber steam for a few minutes.
- A slice of cucumber relieves bad breath
It is enough to chew a piece of fresh cucumber for just half a minute and you will feel the effect no worse than from chewing gum.
Cucumber turns out to be a real lifesaver
- Fresh cucumber saves you from a hangover
But unlike cucumber pickle, this “medicine” should be taken before the problem manifests itself. If you happen to drink a little too much, and you know that in the morning you will have a headache – eat a fresh cucumber. Not as an appetizer, but rather as a “continuation of the banquet.” Ate and went to sleep. Cucumber will help neutralize toxins and restore the metabolism disturbed by alcohol — as a result, you will feel much better in the morning.
- Cucumber solves the problem of fogged mirrors
If you wipe the bathroom mirror with a piece of cucumber, it will no longer fog up. True, the effect will last for a relatively long time, but the procedure is simple — it can simply be repeated as needed.
- Cucumber peel can replace an eraser
If you happen to make a mistake, the peel cut from a fresh cucumber will help to gently erase the extra letter – they claim that it is even able to remove old ink.
Do you use cucumbers as a medicinal, cosmetic or household product? Share your useful recipes and tips!