You must be aware of the notion stating “an apple a day may keep the doctor away”. But have you ever heard of how a cucumber can keep all your extra fat away? While fruits like apple are overall healthy for your entire body metabolism, cucumber does a great job in acting as the most important ingredient of your fat loss regime.
Cucumbers are mostly used not as an entire meal, but as a side addition in many forms. Their most popular version is the ones we see in salads. However, they are also used in various other preparations. Whether it is consumed raw or prepared, the fruits help retain the water content of our body in many ways. It contains various essential nutrients. Even the peel of cucumber is very healthy. The main ingredients are vitamin C which helps boost our immune system to fight against deadly diseases such as cancer It also has fiber which helps with digestion. Other ingredients are silica that keeps our skin healthy and glowing.
The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has recognized cucumber as a carrier of fat-free, saturated fat-free, cholesterol-free and sodium-free nutrients. It is also considered to be low in calories.
But, how does it helps in losing fat? how do you have to take it to get the desired effects? And will the effects be all long-lasting enough? Brace yourself as we shall now answer all these questions.
Cucumber and weight loss
If you are following a strict diet regime for losing pounds, you should never miss the low-calorie food like cucumber. It will surely help you lower down your calorie intake and shed that extra weight. The low-calorie content can be consumed with a cup of sliced cucumber. It will give you only 14 calories with enough water to go on for hours. This calorie amount is less than 1 percent of the daily calorie meter on the scale of a weight-loss-friendly diet. So what does it means? you can simply satisfy your diet while consuming cucumber and you won’t have to get that extra calorie burden that is difficult to burn later.
If you wish to consume more, you can even go for eating a large portion size that won’t pack your pounds. A medium-sized cucumber comes with around only 20 calories. A large unpeeled one, the maximum size, has only 45 calories. Since the fruit is low in calories, it is a very low-energy-density food. Filling your regime with such fruits are highly beneficial in weight loss.
Cucumber is a boost to your hydration
When we workout, we tend to shed more pounds as we sweat a lot. Also, when we drink boiled water daily empty stomach, our fat cutting progress increases. These facts show that if you stay hydrated and continuously drink water or sweat, you tend to lose weight easily. This is where cucumber helps you as it boosts our body’s hydration.
Cucumber is one of the rare fruit which has the maximum number of water content, giving a tough competition to citrus-rich fruits such as lemon or amla. We know how essential water is to our body and our body is 70% liquid. When you consume cucumber, you increase the water content which then plays numerous important roles like metabolism, digestion, ingestion, and excretion. Water from cucumber also regulates our temperature and helps the transportation of nutrients to different parts of our body. This also increases your stamina and physical performance. Cucumber acts as a good source of water in your diet and can account for as much as 40% water intake in the overall diet. Made with 96% water, cucumber effectively promotes hydration and helps lose weight easily.
Adopting the cucumber diet
Having cucumber rin its raw form can help, but it does not match the organized cucumber diet. Yes, there is a diet based on this essential fruit that can help you in weight loss program. The diet you will adopt will be a weight-loss short-term diet. The different versions of the diet can be followed for 7-14 days and it may lead to 15 pounds weight loss.
So, you might wonder what does the diet contain? The answer is simple, cucumber and some protein-rich foods. You might look to indulge foods such as fish, nuts, chicken or other whole protein items. The diet mainly focuses on substituting most foods with cucumbers. This means that you will be seeing the green more on the plate in the place of other colorful fruits you used to eat. The vegetable content in the diet should be kept to a minimum.
The diet might be helpful to shed pounds, but we can’t deny the fact that it lacks variety. This is the reason that it is not recommended to be continued for more than 2 weeks. This is why it is a short term regime. Many fitness enthusiasts agree and tout the effects of this diet and it has become an important part of various fitness routines.
Diet guidelines
As of such, there exist no such rules for the diet. The only guidelines are to eat cucumber during regular meals daily. The diet helps us by guiding a healthy way out to hunger. The path is such that you won’t have to carry the extra burden of calories when you satisfy your appetite with the cucumbers. Since the fruit is low in calorie content, you can easily consume it as much as you want. You will not be a calorie deficit.
Another rule is that since cucumber is deficient in protein content, you should compensate for the protein content of your body with some protein-rich food. You can do this by not going all-in for protein, but still incorporating some healthy protein-filled foods. This will create a perfect balance and you will not only see a great weight loss but can also see the difference in your skin health, digestion, muscle strength, and other aspects too.
To go that extra mile, you can even incorporate extra carbs like potatoes, brown rice, etc. The rules of diet may remain the same but anyone can use his own preferences while following this diet.
How effective it is?
If you are trying to find a scientific reason behind the impact of cucumber on weight loss, you might feel short of evidence. There is rarely any study that takes into account the cucumber diet in a specific manner. But, the weight loss effects and the reduction in calories seems like a good reason to trust the method.
One thing to note here is that the cucumber diet works only if you take it for 7-14 days period. If you go beyond this boundary, you might suffice yourself from some essential nutrients. In this case, it becomes unlikely that you will lose weight and then keep those extra pounds away when you resume your normal diet.
Though cucumber diet might seem difficult to work for a long-lasting purpose, it is very easy to implement and adhere to. It also yields better results in a short amount of time.
So, do you think it is effective? The answer can be yes. Imagine a person trying hard to lose weight, not able to do the workout or go to the gym, unable to walk for hours and simply isn’t able to cut out delicious food. It might be tough for him to change his routine but easier to change his diet. By simply indulging the cucumber in his food or following a cucumber diet, he will lose pounds before he can start expecting anything. Also, the results will be instantaneous, unlike those month-long fitness programs. And cucumbers has many essential nutrients to give us. It hydrates us, prevent us from diseases, increases immunity and is even good for our skin. Hence, we got nothing to lose when it comes to cucumber diet and plan.
For those wondering about the long-lasting effect of this diet, there is nothing permanent in case of diet plans. You get an advantage if you follow a plan and you come back to zero as soon as you leave it. It might be the case here but you can always get back to the cucumber diet after a break of month or two. The best part is that your body won’t have to suffice any side effects because you are simply involving a natural diet in your plan. Cucumber diet is effective and can work miracles for your weight loss initiative.
What can you eat and what you should avoid during cucumber diet?
Following the unique diet, you need to have cucumber at regular intervals and with meals. The diet is essentially low in protein and you can add sources of proteins as mentioned earlier. Some of the food items you may include are vegetables such as tomatoes, spinach, and celery. You may wish to fulfill the protein meter with direct sources such as lean beef, chicken, Greek yogurt, cottage cheese, cheddar cheese, fish, eggs, etc. If it comes to taste, you may add a bit of crab too. The popular inclusions are potatoes, whole-wheat bread, and brown rice. You may also add some healthy fats in the form of olive oil. For beverage lovers, they don’t need to go all empty during this diet. They can add recommended low-calorie drinks like green tea or water.
As with all diets, there are things you should look to avoid. And if you don’t, you might simply spoil the plan and won’t be able to take full advantage of cucumber. The first rule is to avoid most of the fruits as they contain sugar and high amounts of calories, mismatching the regime we are trying to adopt here. One may also look to avoid certain cooking techniques such as burning, deep frying or barbecue. These are very much harmful. One preferred method is roasting that can help effectively. The last thing to avoid remains high-sugar containing foods. Sweet candies, chocolates, desserts, soft drinks, artificial sweeteners, etc are a sure No here.
On an ending note
Adopting and staying on cucumber diet is not rocket science. Nor is it too advanced of a plan that you cant adopt it. To use it, you need to understand why cucumber is a miraculous fruit for our health. Belonging to the Cucurbitaceae family, this fruit is a direct storage house of essential water. Also, it is low in calories, cholesterol, sodium, and even fat. It is a health beacon and is easily available. When we make so many modifications in our diet to lose weight, adopting this simple and easy to digest fruit should never be a tough task.
Moreover, cucumber is usually consumed fresh and cold. It has a mild refreshing taste that fills your body with hydrated content. The refreshing and pleasant to consume fruit is ideal in hot weather conditions. It can be eaten savory, can be used in salads, can be used with yogurt or can act as the main ingredient in various vegetable preparations. You might feel amazed to know that cucumber is a powerful ingredient of various cosmetic products.
Though we are looking at the nutritional value of this fruit, you should never ignore its aesthetic values on humans. So, if you have never tried this fruit, its time you should give a thought to it. It can even be eaten by kids as it helps digestion and is easy to peel. Including one or two cucumbers in everyday diet might work to keep yourself fit. But if you are serious about weight loss, you should start considering the cucumber diet and start working on it right now.
Are you ready to take the cucumber diet challenge? Let us know your views in the comment section.
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