Bottle Gourd

Reasons Why Lauki Is Healthy.

The bottle gourd a.k.a (calabash, opo squash) is a vine grown for its fruit. It can either be harvested in the young stage to be used as a vegetable or harvested in the mature stage, dried, and used as a bottle, utensil, or pipe.

The bottle gourd is yellowish-green in colour and usually in the shape of a bottle. The vegetable has a white pulp, with white seeds embedded in the spongy flesh. It is cultivated in the humid weather of Sri Lanka, India, Indonesia, Malaysia, Philippines, China, tropical Africa and South America. It is also locally known in many places as bottle squash, white gourd, trumpet gourd, lauki, doodhi, ghia and calabash gourd.

When lauki is cooked or juiced, it has proven to have sedative and anti-bilious properties. Eating lauki gives a relaxed feeling.

Bottle gourd – Calorie content

100 g of bottle gourd contains 15 calories.

100 g for edible portion contains 1 g fat. Its water content is 96%.

It is low in saturated fat, cholesterol, high in dietary fibre, Vitamin C, riboflavin, zinc, thiamine, iron, magnesium and manganese.

Health benefits of including bottle gourd in your diet:

 Bottle Gourd has multiple health benefits, few of them are:

Bottle gourd is rich in dietary fibre, both, soluble and insoluble. Hence, it helps in curing constipation, flatulence and even piles. It is also easy to digest.

It promotes weight loss. The vitamins, minerals and dietary fibre in lauki keep the body well-nourished and curb unnecessary appetite, especially if you drink its juice in the morning on an empty stomach.

Its fat and cholesterol content is extremely low.

It consists of approximately 96% of water and is therefore a great thirst quencher. It also prevents fatigue and keeps the body cool and refreshed during summers.

Apart from the iron content it is also rich in vitamin B and C, and helps in anti-oxidative actions.

It also contains sodium, potassium, essential minerals and trace elements, which regulate blood pressure and prevent the risk of heart ailments.

High in sodium and potassium, bottle gourd is also an excellent vegetable for people with hypertension.

It is a suitable vegetable for light, low-calorie diets as well as for children, people with digestive problems, diabetics and those recovering from an illness or injury.

Bottle gourd is recommended by Ayurveda physicians for balancing the liver function, when the liver is inflamed and unable to process food efficiently for nutrition and assimilation.

Benefits of Bottle Gourd Juice:

Bottle Gourd Juice has a lot of health benefits such as:

Drinking a glass of bottle gourd juice in the morning helps in treating grey hair.

Mixing the juice with sesame oil provides an effective medicine for insomnia. Massage the scalp with this preparation every night.

Bottle gourd juice is very helpful in treating insanity, epilepsy, stomach acidity, indigestion, ulcers and other nervous diseases.

The bitter variety of calabash gourd is considered as a cardiac tonic, an antidote for poisoning and a tonic for alleviating bronchitis, cough, asthma, and biligenic infections.

A glass of bottle gourd juice, mixed with a little salt, helps in preventing excessive loss of sodium from the body.

Bottle Gourd Juice acts as an alkaline mixture which relieves burning sensation in the urinary passage.

The juice extracted from the leaves of bottle gourd is beneficial in jaundice. 

How to prepare Lauki Juice:

Following steps will teach you how to prepare Lauki Juice:

First what you need to do is cut off a piece from the end and taste it. It is better not to use a lauki that tastes bitter.

Then peel off off the entire skin from the lauki and cut it into pieces. Blend those pieces in a blender.

Add black pepper and salt according to taste. Adding mint leaves can also enhance the taste.

You can also add some pieces of lemon to make the lauki juice taste better and rich in antioxidants. 

It is not advisable to mix other vegetables with Lauki juice, as it might have a more negative affect on your health. 

Worldwide, more and more people are accepting bottle gourd in their lifestyle after realising its health benefits.

Bitter bottle gourd is particularly good for alleviating bronchitis and asthma. One gets a feeling of relaxation after consuming it because it is light and low in calories. An infusion of seeds cures chills and headaches. However, bottle gourd should not be eaten in a raw state as it may prove harmful for stomach and intestines.

In short, bottle gourd is great for good health body and mind. Adopt it in your lifestyle to feel a world of difference.

Bottle Gourd vegetable offers nutrients, energy, protein, dietary fiber, carbohydrate, minerals and also rich in Water. It contains Minerals such as calcium, iron, magnesium, phosphorus, potassium, sodium and zinc and Vitamins including Vitamin C, Thiamine, Riboflavin, Niacin, Vitamin B6, Folate and Vitamin A. Being rich in water content, this vegetable is usually consumed during the summer season as it is effective in keeping your stomach cool and reduce the excessive body heat.

 Incredible Benefits of Drinking Bottle Gourd (Lauki) Juice.

Highlights:-

• Bottle gourd is around 92% water.

• It is one of the healthiest vegetables around.

• Among other things, it helps lower bad cholesterol levels too.

Let’s be clear. Juicing is not as bad for your health as you may think, especially when coupled with a well-balanced diet. Fresh juices give you a radiant and energetic life and help in cleaning your system. Yes, they shouldn’t be substituted for your daily meals but every once in a while it’s good to give your system a break. Moreover, there are some vegetables and fruits like those rich in Vitamin C that tend to lose their nutrients on cooking and therefore, it’s best to consume them raw or better still, juice them up. 

By now, a lot of studies have shown that eating seven or more servings is what is required for a healthy lifestyle and overall well being. There’s a lot that nutrition scientists around the world don’t agree on, but most of them seem to advice that you should consume more vegetables than fruits. Bottle gourd has always been regarded as one of the healthiest veggies. This very versatile vegetable is full of water (about 92%) and minerals and keeps your body hydrated. Also known as Lauki or Doodhi in India, it definitely doesn’t get as much attention as it deserves. “Bottle gourd is a vegetable high on water and is a rich source of vitamin C, K and calcium. It helps in maintaining a healthy heart and brings down bad cholesterol levels. The juice is also beneficial for diabetic patients as it stabilizes the blood sugar level and maintains blood pressure. The best time to have it is in morning. A small glass would just be perfect. Also, one needs to consume the juice immediately as it oxidizes quite fast,” shares Bangalore-based Nutritionist Dr. Anju. 

 Still not convinced? Perhaps, these incredible benefits of drinking bottle gourd juice will change your mind:-

1. Cools your body. Bottle gourd juice has a cooling effect on your body and keeps your body hydrated especially during summers. It keeps your stomach cool and reduces body heat. Since you tend to sweat a lot during summers, drinking bottle gourd juice regularly helps in replenishing the water loss.  In her book, Back to Nature with Ayurveda’, Asha Devi suggests that bottle gourd juice is a great remedy for any kind of heat related ailment like nose bleeding, pimples or ulcers.

 

2. Helps in weight loss. Bottle gourd juice is widely used for weight loss. It is packed with fiber which helps in keeping you full for longer and it is also low in calories. In her book, ’25 Fat Burning Juice Recipes’, Asha Thorat explains that bottle gourd has been prescribed in Ayurvedic medicine to reduce flab. “Fiber is the key to weight loss. Bottle gourd contains less calories with no fat. It also contains essential vitamins and minerals like Vitamin C Vitamin B, Vitamin K, Vitamin A, Vitamin E, Iron, Folate, Potassium and Manganese,” she says.

 

3. Treats urinary tract infections.

Drinking freshly squeezed bottle gourd juice mixed with some lime juice is one of the bets natural remedies to treat urinary tract infections. 

4. Cures tummy troubles. Bottle gourd juice helps in curing constipation and also treats diarrhoea. The water and fiber content help in cleaning your digestive track and allows easy bowel movement.  To treat diarrhoea, drink bottle gourd juice with a pinch of salt. This concoction helps in maintain the electrolyte balance of the body.  According to Ayurveda, bottle gourd juice is great for digestion.   

5. Keep your heart healthy. Regular consumption of bottle gourd juice on an empty stomach every morning helps in lowering your blood cholesterol levels and maintains healthy heart functions.

6. Relieves stress. Bottle gourd contains a good amount of choline – a kind of neurotransmitter that helps in improving the functions of the brain and helps in preventing stress, depression and other mental disorders.

  

7. An excellent post workout drink. Bottle gourd juice acts as a natural post workout drink due to the presence of natural sugars in the vegetable which help in restoring the glucose levels and also replace the carbohydrates lost during your training session. Being rich in protein and other nutrients, bottle gourd juice also improves the efficiency of your muscles. Quick tip:Bottle gourd juice should always be consumed fresh. Peel and gourd and try a bit of flesh before blending, it shouldn’t taste bitter.  If it does, discard it. Also, it is advised to have bottle gourd juice alone and not mixed with other vegetables. However, you can add amla, ginger, fresh mint leave and some rock salt to spruce up the flavour.