It’s become a real trend among health conscious individuals to add fruits and vegetables to their water.
From lemon slices and lemon peel to whole raspberries, strawberries and blueberries, carrot and cucumber slices, there’s really nothing you can’t add to your drinking water.
Called infused water or flavored water, water with added fruit and vegetables is dubbed healthier than plain water.
What makes infused water healthier is its added nutritional value as fruits and vegetables bring in additional nutrients, not to mention important antioxidants.
The benefits for health grow exponentially if you also eat the fruit or vegetables.
Not just this, but the added flavor encourages drinking water which is in itself extremely good for health.
But what are the benefits of drinking water infused with various fruits and vegetables? Just how much healthy and nutritious is water with pieces of fruit and vegetables added to it? Are the pieces of fruit and vegetables a source of good enough nutrition that they contribute to daily nutritional values measurably? Read on and discover what are the benefits of drinking water infused with cucumber!
9 Cucumber Water Benefits For Health
1- Combats dehydration and side effects
Cucumber water is primarily water, but for those who struggle to drink more water, adding a few slices of cucumber, or as many as needed, can definitely motivate them to up their intake.
Because you end up drinking more water, you run fewer risks of getting dehydrated and experiencing side effects such as headaches, lethargy, low productivity, general weakness, muscle weakness or painful muscle cramps, fairly common during hot weather and heatwaves, and even fainting.
2- Cardiotonic, revitalizing action
What makes cucumber water energizing is the water itself. The added cucumber makes it more drinkable, but it’s the increased intake of water that adds to blood volume and hydrates, resulting in an energizing, revitalizing effect.
Not just this, but eating the cucumber you add to your water also provides small amounts of dietary minerals such as calcium, magnesium and potassium which act as electrolytes and exert a cardiotonic action.
Of course you can’t really quantify the content of electrolytes you are getting from cucumber water because everyone will add different amounts of the vegetable depending on taste.
3- Contributes to maintaining good blood volume and prevents fainting
If it’s hot outside, it’s fairly easy to get dehydrated and that means losing blood volume. If dehydration becomes more severe, sufficient blood volume is lost that it conduces to a drop in blood pressure, among other side effects.
A drop in blood pressure can lead to lightheadedness and fainting.
The simplest solution to prevent fainting due to dehydration is to drink more to restore lost fluid and increase blood volume. Cucumber water is a great option as there’s nothing better than drinking water when it’s hot outside. And flavoring your water, whether with cucumber or strawberries or lemon or grapefruit, helps you drink more and stay optimally hydrated.
4- Helps combat water retention and associated swelling
Did you know that drinking cucumber water can actively combat water retention and associated swelling such as swelling of the feet, ankles and legs, swelling of the hands and arms and face puffiness? Swelling in the body is caused by a too high a intake of sodium which makes the body retain fluid, or water. To correct water retention, both lowering your intake of sodium, primarily added salt, and drinking enough water is the solution.
Adding slices of cucumber to your water essentially makes it taste better which can motivate you to drink more and this helps flush out excess sodium. Additionally, plain water, and cucumber too, do not count towards your sodium intake measurably which is further good for water retention and associated swelling. If you also make sure to lower your sodium intake, then you’ll enjoy better health overall from healthier blood pressure numbers to less swelling and puffiness.
5- Lower high blood pressure numbers
Drinking cucumber water can help lower your blood pressure numbers if they are too high. For one, both still water and cucumber are not a significant source of sodium and do not count towards your sodium intake measurably.
This alone contributes to healthier blood pressure numbers. Flavoring your water with cucumber, or another fruit or vegetable more to your liking, can help your drink more and flush out excess sodium which directly contributes to a drop in blood pressure numbers.
6- Good for abnormally low blood pressure numbers too
Drinking cucumber water is a source of benefits for both high blood pressure and low blood pressure. Abnormally low blood pressure numbers can be caused, among other things, by dehydration. Dehydration causes a drop in blood volume which, in turn, causes a drop in blood pressure and side effects such as dizziness and fainting. Cucumber water can help you stay hydrated and maintain normal blood volume and blood pressure numbers by encouraging you to drink more water.
7- Benefits for low blood sugar (hypoglycemia)
Drinking cucumber water is good for low blood sugar, formally called hypoglycemia.
Low levels of sugar in the bloodstream predispose to generalized weakness and muscle weakness, lightheadedness and fainting.
To counteract the immediate side effects of low blood sugar, if food is not available right away, drinking plain water or flavored water such as cucumber water is the next best thing.
Water flavored with cucumber helps raise blood volume and, by extension, also blood pressure which counteracts weakness and prevents fainting. Just one big glass of cucumber water can keep up going for an hour or more which gives you plenty of time to eat.
8- It’s energizing, but not stimulating
One of the benefits of cucumber water is the fact that it’s energizing, but without being stimulating. Drinking cucumber water is hydrating and helps maintain a feeling of wellbeing, with added cardiotonic benefits.
What makes cucumber water energizing are the water itself which helps keep you hydrated and feeling good physically and mentally, and the small amounts of electrolytes and B vitamins from the cucumber which actively contribute to energy metabolism and support cardiovascular function.
9- It promotes a healthy lifestyle
Cucumber water, or any water flavored with fruits and vegetables for that matter, is a healthy dietary habit that encourages a healthier lifestyle. It’s healthier to drink cucumber water than soda or energy drinks, of having your third coffee of the day, whether black or topped with whipped cream and caramel sauce. Consistently picking up healthier habits helps you have an overall healthier lifestyle which is important for good health long term.