Cool As A Cucumber

Cucumbers are among the top five most cultivated vegetables in the world.  The cucumber is a highly under rated food, or perhaps superfood, as it is known to be one of the best foods for your body’s overall health.  We want to give you some impressive reasons to eat more cucumbers.  And one very delicious one…..Cucumber Mint Sorbet 🙂Because they are often sprayed with pesticides when commericially grown, it is important to buy certified organic cucumbers whenever you can.  Here are just some of the benefits of cucumbers according to NaturalNews.com :

1.Quick pick-me-up – Cucumbers are a good source of B vitamins. Put down your sodas and coffee and eat a cucumber slice.

2. Rehydrates body and replenishes daily vitamins – Cucumbers are 95 percent water, keeping the body hydrated while helping the body eliminate toxins. Cucumbers have most of the vitamins the body needs in a single day. Don’t forget to leave the skin on because the skin contains a good amount of vitamin C, about 10 percent of the daily-recommended allowance. *

3. Skin and hair care – If you don’t like to eat the skin, it can be used for skin irritations and sunburns as aloe would be used. Place a slice over puffy eyes and its anti-inflammatory properties help reduce puffiness. The silicon and sulfur in cucumbers help to stimulate hair growth.

4. Fight cancers – Cucumber are known to contain lariciresinol, pinoresinol, and secoisolariciresinol. These three lignans have a strong history of research in connection with reduced risk of several cancer types, including breast cancer, ovarian cancer, uterine cancer and prostate cancer.

5. Home care – Eliminates a foggy mirror. Before taking a shower, rub a cucumber slice along a mirror and it will eliminate the mirror fogging up. Instead of WD40, take a cucumber slice and rub it along a squeaky hinge and your door will stop squeaking.

6. Relieves bad breath – Take a slice of cucumber and press it to the roof of your mouth with your tongue for 30 seconds, the phytochemcials will kill the bacteria in your mouth responsible for causing bad breath.

7. Hangover cure – To avoid a morning hangover or headache, eat a few cucumber slices before going to bed. Cucumbers contain enough sugar, B vitamins and electrolytes to replenish many essential nutrients, reducing the intensity of both hangover and headache.

8. Aids in weight loss and digestion – Due to its low calorie and high water content, cucumber is an ideal diet for people who are looking for weight loss. The high water content and dietary fiber in cucumbers are very effective in ridding the body of toxins from the digestive system, aiding digestion. Daily consumption of cucumbers can be regarded as a remedy for chronic constipation.

9. Cures diabetes, reduces cholesterol and controls blood pressure – Cucumber juice contains a hormone which is needed by the cells of the pancreas for producing insulin which has been found to be beneficial to diabetic patients. Researchers found that a compound called sterols in cucumbers may help reduce cholesterol levels. Cucumbers contain a lot of potassium, magnesium and fiber. These work effectively for regulating blood pressure. This makes cucumbers good for treating both low blood pressure and high blood pressure.

10. Promotes joint health, relieves gout and arthritis pain – Cucumber is an excellent source of silica, which is known to help promote joint health by strengthening the connective tissues. They are also rich in vitamin A, B1, B6, C & D, Folate, Calcium, Magnesium, and Potassium. When mixed with carrot juice, they can relieve gout and arthritis pain by lowering the uric acid levels.

* Cucumbers to be eaten rather than pickled are primarily of two varieties.  If the cucumbers are organic and if they are of the English or hot house variety you can leave the skin on.  Regular garden cucumbers commonly sold in the grocery store, usually have a thicker skin that is waxed to help them retain their moisture.  Thus peeling of this type is necessary.

 

Now for a tasty way to incorporate more cucumbers in your diet …..very refreshing….

Cucumber Sorbet

1 cucumber – sliced*
1/4 cup fresh mint leaves
3/4 cup sugar
3 cups water

Place sugar and 1 cup of water in a saucepan and add mint leaves.  Bring water to a boil and simmer until sugar is melted completely.  You are creating a minty simple syrup.  Turn off heat. Leave mint leaves in in sugar water until cool.  When thoroughly cooled, discard mint leaves from syrup.

In a blender or food processor add sliced cucumbers and remaining 2 cups of water and blend until smooth.  Add minty simple syrup and blend again.  Chill for about 1 hour.

Process mixture according to your ice cream maker’s directions.  When finished, remove from ice cream maker and place in a glass container with a lid or a paper ice cream carton. Here in California I find these at Smart and Final, but they are available at most restaurant supply stores or at Amazon.com.

Allow the sorbet to sit in your frezer for at least 1 hour before serving or up to a week if you can wait that long.  This is amazingly refreshing and  enjoyable 🙂  It is perfect served with shortbread.  Eating cucumbers this way will no doubt lead you not only to better health, but more love, joy and abundant living!