How to Make Sweet Cucumber Milk

SERVINGS: 1

PREP TIME: 5 MINUTES

COOK TIME: 0 MINUTES

MEAL: DRINK

STYLE: AYURVEDIC

PREPARATION: RAW, SMOOTHIE, PUREE

EAT IN: SUMMER

How Does This Ayurvedic Recipe Improve Wellness?

CLINICAL AYURVEDIC REVIEW

The Desert Oasis

On the hot, dry days of summer, a parched throat and exhausted mind requires deep rejuvenation to combat the sweltering summer sun. When work doesn't let up, even though your mind is frazzled and fried, the cooling refreshment of a chilly, sweet beverage may be just what the doctor ordered. Imagine taking a sip of lush, creamy cucumber milk and watch as your mind cascades into dreams of wading through a cooly, refreshing mountain stream. Its smooth texture and watery nature restores moisture to your mouth instantly, while its heavy groundedness satiates and rejuvenates a tired mind.

While studying Ayurveda in the vast, dry deserts of New Mexico with my old friend Cheng Liu, Sweet Cucumber Milk was the only drink that could cool our overworked minds and collect our thoughts. After a taste of this nourishing beverage, our mental batteries were recharged despite the draining, arid climate.

Grounding & Hydrating

Cream-top milk, rich in nourishing ojas, replenishes vitality and bring your racing mind back to earth. When paired with cooling cucumber and a little raw sugar, this beverage becomes a heavy and richly hydrating nectar, bringing peace and calm to your overworked mind. Cucumber's gentle downward action combined with stabilizing and satisfying milk immediately soothes nerves and cools an overactive, frenetic mind. Dry, nervous Vata will especially benefit from its oily, lubricating qualities and sweetly satisfying taste.

Food Combining

Although Ayurveda famously contraindicates drinking cold milk with with fruits like cucumber, Sweet Cucumber Milk is an exception to the golden rule. The synergistic combination will not create toxins or ama in the body, as other poor food combinations can. Be sure to use organic, cream top, whole milk to get the satisfying, full-bodied effect of the beverage. Conventional homogenized milk always creates ama, no matter how fool-proof the formula or recipe. Please take a look at our article on milk for more information on homogenization.

Perfect on Hot Summer Days

Sweet Cucumber Milk is an especially perfect tonic for a hot & fiery Pitta personality on an overheated afternoon. Since this recipe is a refrigerant, it may be too cold for Vata even on the hottest days, so proceed with caution. A highly Vata imbalanced person should drink this beverage at room temperature and may benefit from adding a pinch of cayenne pepper to warm things up. This recipe is contraindicated for Kapha dosha, who reacts poorly to rich, watery foods & cold substances like dairy and cucumber. For Kapha, this recipe may create too much mucus in your sinuses, so its best to avoid.

Hypertension and Gout

As they calm your eyes and cool down your liver, you may feel the pressure in your arteries decreasing - cucumber's diuretic nature has been used to reduce blood pressure, water retention and detoxify the blood. Those who suffer from gout will be pleased to know that cucumbers aids removal of uric acid from the blood.

Balm for your Nerves

Imagine that your nerves are like electric wires. What always surrounds a live wire? A rubber sheath. Similarly your nerves are protected by their own sheath made of cool fat which keeps your electrical system from "shorting out." Rich, nutritive milk fats cool and soothe the nervous system, increasing your buffer to handle stress and agitation. This is important any time of year, but the demanding heat of summer quite literally fries your nerves. Pitta people who run hot and never stop thinking are especially vulnerable to sizzled nerves in the summertime. Sweet Cucumber Milk is an excellent remedy for this fried feeling, restoring your capacity to deal with stress from grounded rationality.

Inflammatory Conditions

Sweet Cucumber Milk cools and calms inflammation in the gastrointestinal tract. Add this recipe into your diet if you suffer from ulcers of the stomach, duodenum, esophagus. Other conditions caused by too much sharp heat are hyperacidity, migraine headaches, a stressed liver, sharp appetite, and even a sharp tongue. If these conditions are ringing bells for you, Sweet Cucumber Milk may be your medicine.

AYURVEDA'S GUIDE TO VITALITY & WHOLESOME NOURISHMENT

Your Ayurvedic diet is tailored to your individual body and your specific imbalances. With an Ayurvedic diet you feel joy and satisfaction because what you are eating truly nourishes and balances you. Disease results from diets and lifestyles that are incompatible with your nature. By eating a personalized diet matched to your body, you experience optimal health. See How it Works.

See a complete list of all biocharacteristics.

INCREASES Increases These Biocharacteristics (Gunas) Functional Ayurveda helps you assess imbalances through 20 main biocharacteristics (gunas). Aggravating these characteristics weakens your body and causes imbalance. By knowing which characteristics are habitually imbalanced in your body, you will be able to identify and correct imbalances before you get sick. Every characteristic has an opposite which balances it (i.e. hot balances cold). You restore balance by favoring diet and lifestyle choices that increase the opposite characteristic. Learn More	MOBILE ABOUT MOBILE BIOCHARACTERISTIC Mobile refers to anything that stimulates the nervous system, muscles, or activity. LEARN MORE ABOUT MOBILE COLD ABOUT COLD BIOCHARACTERISTIC Cold refers to anything that reduces body temperature, metabolism, and blood flow. LEARN MORE ABOUT COLD HEAVY ABOUT HEAVY BIOCHARACTERISTIC Heavy is identified by sedation, sluggishness, or increased weight. LEARN MORE ABOUT HEAVY
TASTES The 6 Tastes Taste is used to sense the most basic properties and effects of food. Each taste has a specific medicinal effect on your body. Cravings for food with certain tastes indicate your body is craving specific medicinal results from food. Taste is experienced on the tongue and represents your body's reaction to foods. Sweet taste causes physical satisfaction and attraction whereas bitter taste causes discomfort and aversion. Kapha should use less sweet taste while Vata and Pitta would benefit from using more sweet taste. One of the first signs of illness is that your taste and appetite for food changes. The six tastes are sweet, sour, salty, pungent, bitter, and astringent. Do you crave foods with any of the tastes below? Learn More	SWEET ABOUT SWEET BIOCHARACTERISTIC Sweet refers to anything builds tissue, including macronutrients such as carbohydrates, proteins and fats. LEARN MORE ABOUT SWEET
DOSHAS The Three Doshas / Body Types According to the biocharacteristic theory of medicine, people tend to get sick, over and over again, due to habitual causes and imbalances that are unique to the person. Your body type summarizes this tendency, showing you the 'type' of conditions and imbalances that frequently challenge your health & wellness. Using body type, you can also identify remedies likely to improve your strength and resiliency. Your body type identifies physical and mental characteristics as well as your personal strengths and weaknesses. The calculation of your body type is based on your medical history. The 3 functional body types (doshas), are Catabolic (Vata), Metabolic (Pitta), and Anabolic (Kapha). Catabolic individuals tend to break down body mass into energy. They are easily stimulated, hyperactive, underweight and dry. Metabolic individuals tend to burn or use energy. They tend to be rosy-cheeked, easily irritated, focused, driven, and easily inflamed. Anabolic individuals tend to store energy as body mass. If they store too much energy, they could gain weight easily and have congestion. Anabolic people tend to be stable and grounded. Learn More	PACIFIES AGGRAVATES
HAS THE FOLLOWING	Subtaste: Bland BLAND Bland means doesn't have much taste. In Chinese medicine, bland taste refers to afood without little macronutrients, such as cabbage, radish or bok choy. SEE ALL 'BLAND' FOODS / HERBS
HERBAL ACTIONS (see all)	Medicinal Benefits, Uses & Herbal Actions of Sweet Cucumber Milk Experiences are Personal Experiences vary according to the person and constitution. Individual results may vary. The list of herbal-actions below has not be approved by the FDA and should not be used to treat a medical condition. Digestion: Quenches Thirst QUENCHES-THIRST An herb or substance that relieves thirst. SEE ALL 'QUENCHES-THIRST' FOODS / HERBS Mind, Stress & Sleep: Makes You Tired MAKES-YOU-TIRED Induces drowsiness and promotes sound sleep. SEE ALL 'MAKES-YOU-TIRED' FOODS / HERBS , Makes Jittery, Wakes You Up WAKES-YOU-UP Invigorates the body and nervous system, increases energy. SEE ALL 'WAKES-YOU-UP' FOODS / HERBS , Nerve Relaxant Grounding NERVE-RELAXANT-GROUNDING Encourages feelings of stability and heaviness. Makes you feel settled, mentally relaxed. Mildly sedates the nervous system to ease stress. Can bring a spacey or anxious person back to earth. Reduces agitation, irritation, stress and racing thoughts. SEE ALL 'NERVE-RELAXANT-GROUNDING' FOODS / HERBS Energy Vitality: Satisfies Stomach SATISFIES-STOMACH Provides a sense of gratification and fullness in the stomach. SEE ALL 'SATISFIES-STOMACH' FOODS / HERBS , Nutritive NUTRITIVE An herb that is strengthening and nourishing. SEE ALL 'NUTRITIVE' FOODS / HERBS , Tonic TONIC A tonic herb restores function through strengthening tissue. This can happen through a combination of nourishing the tissue, and invigorating tissue metabolism. The tonic should not be withering, as in caffeine. SEE ALL 'TONIC' FOODS / HERBS Skin Care & Beauty: Soothing SOOTHING Calms and alleviates irritation, discomfort or pain in a particular region. SEE ALL 'SOOTHING' FOODS / HERBS Respiratory-Health: Soothes Throat SOOTHES-THROAT Soothes throat discomfort, including from a sore or ticklish throat. SEE ALL 'SOOTHES-THROAT' FOODS / HERBS Immune System: Anti Inflammatory ANTI-INFLAMMATORY Reduces inflammation in the body. Different herbs and carriers target different body systems. SEE ALL 'ANTI-INFLAMMATORY' FOODS / HERBS Heart & Circulation: Refrigerant REFRIGERANT An herb or substance that strongly cools the body. Can be helpful in cases of heat conditions. SEE ALL 'REFRIGERANT' FOODS / HERBS Kidney & Urinary: Diuretic DIURETIC Herbs that promote urine formation, thereby flushing the kidneys and urinary tract while eliminating any excess water retention. As diuretics reduce water retention, they are often used to reduce blood pressure. SEE ALL 'DIURETIC' FOODS / HERBS Bone & Joint: Bone Tonic BONE-TONIC An herb that strengthens the bones and joints. SEE ALL 'BONE-TONIC' FOODS / HERBS Constituents: Carbohydrate, Nitric Oxide NITRIC-OXIDE Improves circulation by dilating blood vessels. Protects blood vessels from damage. Improves athletic performance, libido, immunity, and brain health. SEE ALL 'NITRIC-OXIDE' FOODS / HERBS , Vitamin K, Vitamin D, Phosphorous, Fats, Melatonin, Calcium CALCIUM Calcium nourishes bones and muscles. A muscle cell is activated when calcium enters the cell. It relaxes when the calcium is secreted. SEE ALL 'CALCIUM' FOODS / HERBS

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Joyful Belly is a recognized school of biocharacteristics medicine.