Amazing Secrets of the Cucumber

Guess everyone knows what a cucumber is, as they are in every grocery store. Besides eating, cucumbers can give the body an energy boost, prevent mirror fog, chase away garden pests, get rid of cellulite, and shine your shoes!

Cucumbers have long been known as the brunt of many jokes, but, hey, when you're good, you're good!

What Cucumbers Can Do For You:

1. Healthy Supplements: Cucumbers have most of the daily vitamins everyone needs. In fact, just one cucumber contains Vitamins B1, B2, B3, B5, B6 and C. Additionally a cucumber is loaded with Folic Acid, Calcium, Iron, Magnesium, Phosphorus, Potassium and Zinc.
2. Energy: When you get that mid-afternoon blahs, forget the caffeinated soda and grab a cucumber. The Carbohydrates and B Vitamins in a cucumber will give that quick pick-me-up energizer boost that lasts for hours.
3. Headache or Hangover: Did you party too hard? Before going to bed, eat a few cucumber slices and wake up headache free! Cucumbers contain just enough sugar, B vitamins, and electrolytes to replenish the body with essential nutrients, and avoid a hangover and headache.
4. Fog-Free Mirrors: Rub a cucumber along the mirror to eliminate fogged mirrors and freshen the bathroom with a spa-like fragrance.
5. Have an important business meeting and realize you don't have any gum or mints to freshen your breath? Take a slice of cucumber and use your tongue to press it to the roof of your mouth for 30 seconds. The phytochemicals in the cucumber will kill the bacteria that is responsible for bad breath.
6. Gardening: If you've got grubs and slugs eating away at flowers or veggies in your garden, put a couple cucumber slices in a small pie tin among the plants, and the garden will have no pests all season long! Chemicals in a cucumber react with the aluminum of the pie tin to give off a scent that drives garden pests crazy and they'll leave the area. The scent is, obviously, offensive to bugs, and other creepy crawlers, but it is undetectable to humans.
7. Cellulite and Wrinkles: Before heading to the pool, rub a slice or two of cucumbers over body areas that have cellulite. Rubbing the skin for a few minutes with cucumber slices allows cucumber phytochemicals to cause the collagen in the skin to tighten. This makes the skin's outer layer firm up and reduces cellulite visibility. This works great on wrinkles, too!
8. Shoe Shine: Going to a job interview and don't have time to polish those shoes? Rub a freshly cut cucumber over the shoe surface, and you'll get a quick, durable shine that looks good, and repels water!
9. Home Improvement: Got a squeaky door hinge? Take a slice of cucumber, rub it along/around the hinge and the squeak will be gone!
10. Stress: When you're stressed out and there's no time for a massage or facial, just cut up a whole cucumber and put it in a pot of boiling water. A soothing and relaxing aroma is released by the nutrients and chemicals in the cucumber reacting with the boiling water.
11. Clean the "Green" Way: A cucumber will clean faucets, sinks, and stainless steel. Just rub a slice of cucumber on the surface to be cleaned and years of tarnish will be removed. The shine comes back without any streaks, and your fingernails and hands will not be harmed by harsh chemicals.
12. Remove Ink and Crayon Marks: Were you using a pen and made a mistake? Or, did the kids write on the walls with crayons or markers? No problem, just use the outside of the cucumber to erase the ink from paper, or crayon scribbles from walls.