5 Benefits of Eating Cucumber at Night
When hunger strikes at night, you certainly shouldn’t choose snacks carelessly if you don’t want to gain weight. To be healthier, eating fruit can be the right choice. One of them is cucumber which is rich in benefits and can be eaten at night.
Apart from being refreshing, replacing your snack at night with eating cucumber also offers various benefits for your body’s health, you know.
Benefits of eating cucumber at night
Usually only used as a side dish for fried rice or eaten as a side dish, you might start to be interested in eating cucumbers as a snack after learning about the following benefits.
1. Cucumbers contain antioxidants
Cucumbers contain antioxidants, including flavonoids, tannins and triterpenes. Antioxidants are chemicals that will help protect body cells from damage caused by free radicals.
Please note, high levels of free radicals in the body will cause oxidative stress which can increase the risk of various diseases such as cancer and autoimmune diseases.
Therefore, consuming fruits and vegetables that are rich in antioxidants such as cucumbers will keep you away from this risk.
2. Cucumber keeps the body from dehydration problems
One cucumber consists of about 96% water. Water itself has a very important role in maintaining your body’s health.
Water helps facilitate the distribution of nutrients and the removal of unnecessary waste substances from the body. When the body is well hydrated, physical performance and the metabolic system can work more optimally.
3. Cucumber helps maintain weight
Maybe you are worried that the snacks you eat at night will increase your weight, but you don’t need to worry if what you eat is cucumber.
The reason is that even though it contains a lot of water, cucumbers only contain 14 calories, which takes up less than one percent of the total calories needed per day.
In fact, with its water content, cucumber can make you feel full longer. That’s why cucumbers help you to eat more limited portions.
In fact, because its energy density is relatively low, cucumbers can make it easier for those of you who want to lose weight.
4. Cucumber controls blood sugar levels
It turns out, cucumbers also have the potential to control blood sugar levels in the body. This can be seen in research published in Journal of Scientific Research.
The research was carried out by giving cucumber slices to a group of diabetic mice. As a result, mice that consumed more cucumbers succeeded in reducing glucose levels in the body.
Other research conducted with test tubes also shows the possibility of cucumber as a fruit that can reduce oxidative stress associated with diabetes complications.
However, further research still needs to be done to really prove it.
5. Cucumber improves digestion
Sometimes when you feel hungry at night, you may tend to want sweet or high-salt foods. Not infrequently these foods also make you stomach ache and make it difficult to defecate the next day.
Replacing your snack menu at night with cucumber not only reduces the desire to eat unhealthy foods, but also helps smooth digestion.
With its fiber content, cucumber will help bowel movements when digesting food which can then make bowel movements more regular.
Before eating cucumber which is rich in benefits at night
Cucumbers are refreshing and provide various benefits for the body. However, you should not consume excessive amounts of cucumber.
As already explained, cucumbers have a very high water content. Eating large amounts of cucumber at night may make you feel uncomfortable when sleeping because it can give rise to the urge to urinate.
To prevent this, you should not drink too much water after eating cucumber at night.
For those of you who are undergoing diabetes treatment, it is also not recommended to eat cucumbers. The reason is, cucumber can lower your sugar levels.
If you consume too much cucumber during treatment, your blood sugar levels may immediately drop, which will put you at risk of diabetes complications such as hypoglycemia.
Consult your doctor again to find out the right food menu if you have certain health conditions such as allergies and so on.
Eating cucumbers at night is healthy, but you still have to control it!
