Ever wish that you could find a magical elixir that would improve your health and solve your toughest beauty blues? Try drinking cucumber juice. Made from the same veggie used to de-puff your eyes, cucumbers do even more good when working from the inside out.
Hydrate Your Whole Body
Made of 95 percent water, cucumbers are among the most economical vegetables to juice, providing the most liquid for your dollar. Because of their high water content, cucumbers boost your body's hydration, flushing toxins, cooling the body, aiding in weight loss and assisting in digestion.
Reduce Your Risk of Disease
Cucumber juice provides the body with a whole slew of minerals, hormones and compounds to fight disease. Silica helps to promote healthy joints, keeping you mobile for longer in life. Potassium and magnesium help to regulate blood pressure, protecting you from high and low readings. Meanwhile, the trifecta of lariciresinol, pinoresinol and secoisolariciresinol lignans reduce your risk of breast, ovarian and uterine cancers.
A New Kind of Energy
As an excellent source of B vitamins, your daily glass of green could replace your morning coffee. B vitamin deficiencies often present themselves in the form of fatigue, irritability and poor concentration. Ensuring your body is in good supply of these vitamins helps to alleviate the likelihood of such symptoms, making that morning caffeine fix so passe.
Clarify Your Skin
Cucumbers have been used topically for years to reduce the puffiness of eyes and to alleviate skin irritations. Internally, they work just as well. Actress Liv Tyler swears by drinking cucumber juice to keep her porcelain skin flawless. No surprise, since herbalist have been recommending it to clear acne for years. This is perhaps due to the cucumber's high antioxidant levels, which help to calm inflammation in the body, reducing the likelihood of redness, puffiness and unsightly blemishes.
References
- Natural News: 10 Health Benefits of Cucumbers
- Gardening Channel: The Health Benefits of Cucumbers
- Psychology Today: Vitamin B -- A Key To Energy
- NYTimes.com: Face Time -- Liv Tyler
- The World's Healthiest Foods: Cucumbers
- NCBI: Antioxidants and Inflammatory Disease: Synthetic and Natural Antioxidants With Anti-Inflammatory Activity
Writer Bio
Michelle Shea Walker is a certified holistic health coach, wellness writer and vegan/gluten-free blogger. Her health coaching business, Health Happiness & Hula Hoops, has been featured on Fitness Magazine’s website and boasts some of Chicago’s hottest burlesque starlets as clients. Based on her life-styling motto that “Health is beauty,” she specializes in helping young women increase their energy, decrease their stress and discover a healthy glow.