How Many Calories in a Cucumber

Would you like to discover the answer to the question “how many calories in a cucumber”? If so, keep reading, because on this website you’ll learn about nutritional value of cucumber and find out the answer to the question: “how many calories are in a cucumber?”.

Here we’ll teach you how to easily estimate calories you get from eating a cucumber. Furthermore, we’ll also show you how to calculate important nutrients such as vitamins and minerals you provide your body when eating a cucumber.

And that’s still not everything. We also write about important health benefits of cucumber. Last but not least, we share with you useful information related to cucumber and weight loss (because cucumber is one of the best foods for losing weight!).

Without further ado, let’s answer the most important and common question first:

How Many Calories in a Cucumber?

If you were looking for a website about “how many calories in a cucumber”, you probably wanted to read about calories which an average cucumber provides. A typical large peeled cucumber weighs about 300 grams (or 0.66 lbs). Here’s nutritional facts for a large cucumber.

Nutrition facts per one average large cucumber (300 grams or 0.66 lbs)

Energy: 34 kcal (141 kJ)

Carbohydrates: 6 g

  • Simple sugars: 3.0 g
  • Dietary fiber: 2.0 g
  • Starch: 0.2 g

Fat: 0.4 g

Protein: 1.7 g

Cucumber is one of the least caloric foods. As a result, it’s a perfect food for losing weight because even though it’s very low in calories, it still provides many important nutrients and makes you feel satiated.

And speaking of nutrients, now it’s time to learn more about nutrients which you can find in a cucumber…

Cucumber Nutrition Facts

Cucumber provides many essential nutrients for your body. Here are most important nutrition facts about a cucumber. Let’s start with macronutrients:

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Macronutrients (carbohydrates, fat, protein)

A typical large cucumber provides approximately 34 calories. This provides:

Carbohydrates: 6 g

  • Simple sugars: 3.0 g
  • Dietary fiber: 2.0 g
  • Starch: 0.2 g

Fat: 0.4 g

Protein: 1.7 g

As you can see, cucumber is fat-free and amount of proteins is negligible. Most calories found in a cucumber come from carbohydrates. However, 6 grams of carbohydrates per one large cucumber is close to nothing. Even if you eat 10 cucumbers (which is highly unlikely), you still won’t eat too many carbohydrates (even according to low-carb standards).

Cucumber is a relatively good source of dietary fiber (it provides approximately 10% of recommended daily intake) which increases satiety and helps your body in digestion. Fiber is also important for keeping your heart in good health because it can help reduce bad LDL cholesterol levels and triglycerides.

Now that you know that cucumber isn’t very rich in macronutrients, it’s time to speak about micronutrients.

Micronutrients (vitamins and minerals)

If you care about your health, you shouldn’t only search for “how many calories in a cucumber”, but also search for nutritional value of a cucumber and an amount of vitamins and minerals it provides.

The good news is that cucumber is very rich in many important micronutrients. Here are the most important ones, ordered by an amount you can find in one large cucumber and a percentage of recommended daily intake.

Vitamin K (25% of recommended daily intake in one large cucumber). Most important roles of vitamin K in your body:

  • Responsible for healthy blood clotting (important for healing wounds)
  • Keeps your bones healthy and strong
  • Protects against oxidative damage which can increase your risk of many diseases

Vitamin C (15% of recommended daily intake in one large cucumber). Most important roles of vitamin C in your body:

  • Helps absorb iron
  • Important for your eyes and your skin
  • Like vitamin K, protects against oxidative damage

Potassium (11% of recommended daily intake in one large cucumber). Most important roles of potassium in your body:

  • Essential for maintaining proper fluid balance
  • It’s an electrolyte – it conducts electricity in the body
  • Responsible for muscle contraction and nerve transmission
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Copper (10% of recommended daily intake in one large cucumber). Most important roles of copper in your body:

  • Helps produce red blood cells
  • Important for the production of collagen (important for your bones, skin and eyes)
  • It’s an antioxidant just like vitamin C or K

Folate (10% of recommended daily intake in one large cucumber). Most important roles of folate in your body:

  • Helps develop red blood cells
  • Helps maintain healthy circulation of the blood throughout the body
  • Important for neurological health

Manganese (10% of recommended daily intake in one large cucumber). Most important roles of manganese in your body:

  • Responsible for the utilization of several nutrients essential for your body such as ascorbic acid (vitamin C), biotin, choline and thiamine
  • Keeps your bones healthy and strong
  • Helps maintain normal blood sugar levels

And if you want to learn more about health benefits of cucumber, keep reading – now we’re going to talk about this interesting topic.

Health Benefits of Cucumber

Why should you eat cucumber? Here are five most important health benefits of this great vegetable:

1. Improve your immune system

Thanks to a high content of antioxidant minerals and vitamins (and especially vitamin C and vitamin K), cucumber is great for your immune system. Eating a cucumber on a regular basis can help you protect better against diseases, especially in winter when it’s very easy to get ill.

2. Healthy phytonutrients

Cucumber is a good source of healthy phytonutrients such as flavonoids and lignans. They provide both antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits as well as may reduce your risk of cancer.

3. Improve your digestion

Eat a cucumber with peel to relieve constipation and improve your digestion. Cucumber’s peel is a great source of dietary fiber which is very beneficial for your digestive tract. Moreover, dietary fiber is great for your heart and offers some protection against colon cancers.

4. May help reduce blood pressure

Cucumbers are high in potassium and water, both of which have a mild diuretic effect and which can help you reduce blood pressure. Some studies show that eating cucumbers can help lower your blood pressure by a few points. However, talk with your doctor first before making any decisions.

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5. Lose weight easily

Cucumbers are very low in calories, yet are packed with many essential vitamins and minerals. Consequently, eating cucumbers on a diet is a great idea. Thanks to a relatively high content of dietary fiber, cucumber can quickly make you feel satiated. Moreover, cucumbers have a mild diuretic effects due to a relatively high potassium content (as well as water).

Cucumber and Weight Loss

As mentioned before, cucumber is a great weight loss food. Why is that so? There are a few reasons:

1. First and foremost, cucumber is very low in calories. One large cucumber provides only 34 calories, yet it can easily make you feel satiated thanks to a high amount of dietary fiber (especially if you eat it with peel).

2. Even though cucumber is low-calorie, it’s packed with important minerals and vitamins which enable your body to function properly and help you reduce weight.

3. Eating cucumbers can help you reduce water weight which may make you look less bloated.

If you want to lose weight, cucumbers should be unquestionably one of your staple foods. For the best effects, eat them raw, without any additives (or you can eat them in healthy homemade salads).

Thank you for reading this article! We hope that our website has been useful to you and that it answers all your questions related to the search term “how many calories in a cucumber”.

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