9 AMAZING HEALTH BENEFITS OF CUCUMBERS

Cucumbers belong to the same plant family as pumpkin, and watermelon (the Cucurbitaceae family). Like watermelon, cucumbers are made up of mostly (95 percent) water, which means eating them on a hot summer day can help you stay hydrated.
However, there's reason to eat cucumbers all year long. With vitamin K, B vitamins, copper, potassium, vitamin C, and manganese, cucumbers can help you to avoid nutrient deficiencies that are widespread among those eating a typical American diet.
Plus, cucumbers contain unique polyphenols and other compounds that may help reduce your risk of chronic diseases and much, much more.

9 Reasons to Eat Cucumbers
1. Protect Your Brain
Cucumbers contain an anti-inflammatory flavonol called fisetin that appears to play an important role in brain health. In addition to improving your memory and protecting your nerve cells from age-related decline, fisetin has been found to prevent progressive memory and learning impairments in mice with Alzheimer's disease.

2. Reduce Your Risk of Cancer
Cucumbers contain polyphenols called lignans (pinoresinol, lariciresinol, and secoisolariciresinol), which may help to lower your risk of breast, uterine, ovarian, and prostate cancers. They also contain phytonutrients called cucurbitacins, which also have anti-cancer properties. According to the George Mateljan Foundation:
"Scientists have already determined that several different signaling pathways (for example, the JAK-STAT and MAPK pathways) required for cancer cell development and survival can be blocked by activity of cucurbitacins."

3. Fight Inflammation
Cucumbers may help to "cool" the inflammatory response in your body, and animal studies suggest that cucumber extract helps reduce unwanted inflammation, in part by inhibiting the activity of pro-inflammatory enzymes (including cyclo-oxygenase 2, or COX-2).

4. Antioxidant Properties
Cucumbers contain numerous antioxidants, including the well-known vitamin C and beta-carotene. They also contain antioxidant flavonoids, such as quercetin, apigenin, luteolin, and kaempferol, which provide additional benefits.
For instance, quercetin is an antioxidant that many believe prevents histamine release making quercetin-rich foods "natural antihistamines." Kaempferol, meanwhile, may help fight cancer and lower your risk of chronic diseases including heart disease.

5. Freshen Your Breath
Placing a cucumber slice on the roof of your mouth may help to rid your mouth of odor-causing bacteria. According to the principles of Ayurveda, eating cucumbers may also help to release excess heat in your stomach, which is said to be a primary cause of bad breath.

6. Manage Stress
Cucumbers contain multiple B vitamins, including vitamin B1, vitamin B5, and vitamin B7 (biotin). B vitamins are known to help ease feelings of anxiety and buffer some of the damaging effects of stress.

7. Support Your Digestive Health
Cucumbers are rich in two of the most basic elements needed for healthy digestion: water and fiber. Adding cucumbers to your juice or salad can help you meet the ideal of amount of fiber your body needs — 50 grams per 1,000 calories consumed. If you struggle with acid reflux, you should know that
drinking water can help suppress acute symptoms of acid reflux by temporarily raising stomach pH; it's possible that water-rich cucumbers may have a similar effect.
Cucumber skins contain insoluble fiber, which helps add bulk to your stool. This helps food to move through your digestive tract more quickly for healthy elimination.

8. Maintain a Healthy Weight
Cucumbers are very low in calories, yet they make a filling snack (one cup of sliced cucumber contains just 16 calories). The soluble fiber in cucumbers dissolves into a gel-like texture in your gut, helping to slow down your digestion. This helps you to feel full longer and is one reason why fiber-rich foods may help with weight control.

9. Support Heart Health
Cucumbers contain potassium, which is associated with lower blood pressure levels. A proper balance of potassium both inside and outside your cells is crucial for your body to function properly.
As an electrolyte, potassium is a positive charged ion that must maintain a certain concentration (about 30 times higher inside than outside your cells) in order to carry out its functions, which includes interacting with sodium to help control nerve impulse transmission, muscle contraction, and heart function.
Cucumbers Make a Great Base for Vegetable Juice
There are many ways to enjoy cucumbers, such as fermented or raw in vinegar-based salads. If you're looking for something different, cucumbers make an ideal base for your vegetable juice due to their mild flavor and high water content. In fact, a simple juice of cucumber and celery is ideal for those new to juicing.
From there you can work your way up to red leaf lettuce, romaine lettuce, spinach, and escarole, along with parsley and cilantro. Juicing is actually an ideal way to consume cucumbers.
When you drink fresh-made green juice, it is almost like receiving an intravenous infusion of vitamins, minerals, and enzymes because they go straight into your system without having to be broken down. When your body has an abundance of the nutrients it needs, and your pH is optimally balanced, you will feel energized and your immune system will get a boos

WHAT'S THE STORY ON COCONUT?

While the coconut is a mainstay in the diet of nearly one third of the planet, it's considered exotic in the Western world. Experts describe the coconut as not just a fruit, but a nut and a seed as well – a drupe. It has three layers: the outside layer is known as the exocarp, and the fibrous husk or mesocarp is inside of it. The thin, woody layer surrounding the actual coconut "meat" is the endocarp.

Since man inhabited the world, coconut trees were in existence. Coconuts have been used not only to produce fiber, fuel, and even musical instruments, but also as a traditional Asian and Pacific Island folk remedy.
For centuries, the coconut has been claimed as a potent cure for nausea, rash, fever, earache, sore throat, bronchitis, kidney stones, ulcers, asthma, syphilis, dropsy, toothache, bruises, and lice. And that's just the short list. While coconut milk is a wonderful base for all kinds of Thai dishes, coconut oil is becoming increasingly used in the U.S. for its nutritional benefits.
Modern medicine has also found coconuts nutritionally beneficial because:

1. They're loaded with naturally sterile electrolytes, which feed your pH and muscle function
2. They have a high fiber content, which makes you feel full longer and helps regulate elimination
3. They're rich in lauric acid, which converts to monolaurin. Monolaurin is the compound found in breast milk that strengthens a baby’s immunity, and a great deal of research has been done to establish the ability of lauric acid to enhance immunity. This medium-chain fatty acid (MCFA) actually disrupts the lipid membranes of offending organisms.
4. They offer high levels of manganese, potassium, and phosphorus.

The fats and oils in coconuts are, like those derived from other sources, made up of molecules called fatty acids. There are two ways to classify fatty acids; one involves saturation, i.e. saturated, monounsaturated, and polyunsaturated fats. The other is based on molecular size or the length of the carbon chain.
Each fatty acid consists of long chains of carbon atoms with hydrogen atoms attached - short-chain fatty acids (SCFA), medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA), and long-chain fatty acids (LCFA).
Coconut oil is composed predominately of medium-chain fatty acids (MCFA), or medium-chain triglycerides (MCT) 1 .
Nearly 98% of the fats and oils in our diets are composed of LCFA. That's significant, because the physiological effects of MCFA in coconut oil, which contains powerful anti-bacterial and anti-viral properties, are distinctly different from those of LCFA, which have a negative effect on your cholesterol levels. It's rare, and the reason why coconut oil is so sought after. Its health benefits are as hard to beat as they are to explain!
One of the coconut’s most important aspects is what its medium-chain fatty acids mean for the human diet. The good thing is that rather than the high-fat food it was once thought to be, coconut is a powerhouse of nutrition and healing.

HOW MUCH CAFFEINE DO YOU THINK YOUR BODY NEEDS?

Caffeine is a bitter substance found in coffee, tea, soft drinks, chocolate, kola nuts, and certain medicines. It has many effects on the body's metabolism, including stimulating the central nervous system. This can make you more alert and give you a boost of energy.
For most people, the amount of caffeine in two to four cups of coffee a day is not harmful. However, too much caffeine can cause problems. It can
•Make you jittery and shaky
•Make it hard to fall asleep or stay asleep
•Cause headaches or dizziness
•Make your heart beat faster or      
cause abnormal heart rhythm                                  
 Cause stomach upset
 Cause dehydration
•Make you dependent on it so you need to take more of it. If you stop using caffeine, you could get withdrawal symptoms.

Some people are more sensitive to caffeine than are others. If you're susceptible to the effects of caffeine, just small amounts even one cup of coffee or tea may prompt unwanted effects, such as restlessness and sleep problems.
How you react to caffeine may be determined in part by how much caffeine you're used to drinking. People who don't regularly drink caffeine tend to be more sensitive to its negative effects. Other factors may include body mass, age, medication use and health conditions such as anxiety disorders. Research also suggests that men may be more susceptible to the effects of caffeine than women. Pregnant and nursing women should reduce the intake of caffeine
Certain drugs and supplements may interact with caffeine and cause health problems. If you have questions about whether caffeine is safe for you, talk with your health care provider.

ADEQUATE NUTRITION, HEALTHIER SOCIETY.