Tuesday 29 January 2019

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The Humble Cucumber

I used to look down on cucumber that I don't even have a proper picture of a cucumber in my blog library

I used to make a laugh at the Danes for including cucumber in their kids' lunch boxes. Why include such a nutrient poor vegetable (actually it is technically a fruit) that tastes like water? But I guess I now have to eat my words.

I know cucumber has a cooling effect, but I haven't given it much thoughts until now. It's cooling effect is actually very powerful, that no other vegetables can do, and not even the powerful spinach. Because of its cooling properties, it is anti-inflammatory. Because it's juice is alkaline, it is next to drinking negative ion water.

"The high water content and alkaline potassium in cucumber make it a mild diuretic that can ease bloating. Cucumber is high in alkaline magnesium, calcium, plus vitamin K1 — all essential for bone health." - Alkaway

Cucumber juice is the best water to drink, not tap water or distilled water. Drinking cucumber water is like drinking living water. Now I know why my mum has been urging me to eat more cucumber, since I was a child (without much success). She even uses cucumber for skin care and eye care by placing them around the eye area. Also now I know why God created the humble cucumber for us.

Although cucumber is not an expensive vegetable - it costs around 8 DKK (1.6 SGD) for an organic one. Assuming that we need 4 cucumbers to make up 1 litre of water to drink per person per day, and there are four of us in the family, it would means that we would need 16 cucumbers a day, 112 a week and 504 cucumber a month. This will add 4,032 DKK (800 SGD) a month to our grocery expenses, just on cucumbers!!! And if I want to use cucumber for skin care, it will add more cucumber costs into the monthly groceries expenses.

I don't think that we can afford it :-(. But then again, it all depends on how much value we place on drinking natural and living water, right? And for Danish families who are already spending a large budget on wine and other alcohol every month so that they can enjoy a glass of wine every day (next to Russia, Denmark is probably one of the countries that consume the highest amount of alcohol), this is only a fraction of the money, if they can cut down on drinking the health-detrimental alcohol and replace it with the health-promoting cucumber water instead. There won't be any pinch on the grocery budget. And of course I am sure that the Crazy Rich Asians in Singapore would probably have been drinking cucumber juice daily like drinking water, without batting an eye lid on the cost.

But for an ordinary family like ours, we can of course, still try to incorporate cucumber into our food and smoothies, and that is what I intend to do from now on.

And I am also going to include cucumber into our kids' lunch boxes, so that they can gradually acquire the taste bud for cucumber. So I will be following in the foot steps of the wise Danish parents after all... I am humbled by the Danes and the humble cucumber.

References:

https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/7-health-benefits-of-cucumber#section8

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