Health Benefits of Lady’s Finger (Okra or Bhindi)

Lady’s Finger or Okra is commonly famous by the name Bhindi all over India. It is a very cheap and simply found green vegetable having great source of the vitamins, minerals, dietary fibres and other healthy nutrients required for the normal growth and development of the body. It is widely cultivated in the tropical, subtropical and other warm regions of the world. Some people like it eating raw as it tastes good. It is widely known for its availability of high level soluble and insoluble dietary fibres.

BENEFITS OF LADY FINGER / OKRA / BHINDI VEGETABLE

Lady’s finger or bhindi is an amazing health nourishing green vegetable beneficial for weight management, cholesterol and blood sugar level regulation, flawless skin, bone strength, cancer protection and so many. It is a vegetable of high importance because of its high fibre content, folates, antioxidant property and cheap availability at affordable price in the nearest market. Some of its amazing health benefits are discussed below:

Benefits of Lady’s Finger for Cancer Prevention

It contains high amount of insoluble dietary fibres which helps in cleaning out the whole digestive system especially the intestinal tract thus it plays a great role in preventing from the colon cancer. It also reduces the risk of occurrence of other type of cancers in the body.

Benefits of Lady’s Finger for Diabetes

• Its availability of high level dietary fibres makes it able to help diabetic people by managing the level of blood glucose as it delays the sugar absorption in the intestine.
• It contains a special substance called eugenol which helps in fighting with the diabetes and its complicated symptoms.

Benefits of Lady’s Finger for Digestive System

• It is considered as the most cheaply found vegetable with best source of dietary fibres which is very essential for the healthy functioning of digestive system.
• Regular consumption of it helps in getting relief from the chronic constipation problem as soluble fibres found in it have tendency to absorb water which makes stool soft and painless while passing.
• It improves digestion process by regularizing the bowel movements.
• It helps digestive system to function well by improving the number of beneficial bacteria in the intestine.
• Its mucilaginous content develops safety coat to the digestive tract thus protects from the stomach ulcer.

Benefits of Lady’s Finger for Weight Loss

• Dietary fibres found in it play a great role in the weight management especially for the people who are overweight and obese.
• It contains very low calorie and low sodium which are very much beneficial for the people tending to lose weight.
• It makes stomach feel full for longer period of time thus helps in weight loss by reducing the frequency of eating habits.

Benefits of Lady’s Finger for Heart Disease

• It contains soluble dietary fibres which help in lowering the serum cholesterol level thus reduces the risk of various heart diseases.
• Its high pectin level also helps in reducing the blood cholesterol level by regulating the bile production through intestines.

Benefits of Lady’s Finger for Skin and Hair

• As it contains good amount of iron and folates which enhances the production of haemoglobin which is very good for skin health. It enhances blood circulation to the whole body which provides glow, shine and natural pinkness to the skin.
• It enhances blood circulation to the scalp which speeds up hair growth and removes the problem of dandruff, dryness, hair loss and hair fall.
• Washing hair with the lady’s finger water provides help from the hair problem. Lady’s finger water can be prepared by boiling pieces of lady’s finger into water and let it cool after straining. Add half lemon juice to it and use to rinse hair.
• It prevents skin from the acne, black spots, psoriasis and other skin problems.
• It provides younger look to the skin by preventing from the skin pigmentation and repairing damages caused due to sun rays.

Benefits of Lady’s Finger during Pregnancy

• High amount of folates availability in it provides healthy environment for the foetus growth and development during pregnancy.
• It improves the foetal brain development, proper neural tube formation and other developments during first trimester of the pregnancy.
• It prevents pregnant women from the iron deficiency anaemia during pregnancy by managing haemoglobin level.
• It fulfils all the loss of vitamins and minerals if eaten regularly and helps women in getting pregnant or conceive a baby.
• It prevents from the miscarriage and foetal birth defects.

Benefits of Lady’s Finger for Men

• It helps in improving the sexual health among men if eaten regularly as it is the rich source of vitamins, antioxidants and zinc.
• It helps in treating the erectile problems and enhancing the sexual stamina among men by fulfilling the zinc deficiency.
• Taking 1 tsf powder of lady’s finger root with a glass of milk in the night helps in treating impotence among men.
• Taking lady’s finger water (dip cut lady’s finger pieces in a glass of water for whole night) in the early morning regularly for one and half month provides help in treating male infertility.

Benefits of Lady’s Finger for Women

• It is also great vegetable maintaining female sexual health. It is beneficial for the women suffering from excessive bleedings during periods or endometriosis.
• Dip some lady’s finger pieces in a glass of water for whole night and drink early morning with empty stomach provides relief from cystitis, leucorrhoea and etc.

Benefits of Lady’s Finger Juice

• Okra juice helps in treating sore throat, coughing problems, diarrhoea, abdominal pains, fever, inflammations and etc.
• Juice of lady’s finger leaves helps to treat urinary problems like painful urination, gonorrhoea, syphilis and etc.
• It keeps skin free of itchiness and dryness as it is a good moisturizer.
• It helps in treating spontaneous discharge of semen among men.

Benefits of Lady’s Finger Seeds

• Roasted lady’s finger seeds help in promoting sweating.
• It is also beneficial for treating and preventing muscle spasms, fever, arthritis and headache.

Other Health Benefits of Lady’s Finger

• It contains good amount of iron and folates which helps in maintaining the blood haemoglobin count as well as preventing from the iron deficiency anaemia.
• Vitamin K found in it prevents from the unnecessary blood loss by enhancing the blood coagulation process during accidental cases.
• It contains high level of vitamin C which helps in fighting with common cold, cough and etc infectious problems by improving health of immune system.
• It also contains various essential and healthy minerals (magnesium, selenium, manganese, calcium, copper, iron and etc) which provide help to fight against harmful free radicals.
• It improves the eyesight and prevents from the age related eye problems as it has vitamin A and beta carotene which are very essential for the healthy eyes.
• It is the richest source of antioxidants and phytonutrients (vitamin C, beta-carotene, xanthin, lutein and etc) thus prevents from the early ageing.
• It is good for getting relief from the respiratory problems especially asthma as it is rich source of antioxidants and vitamin C.
• It helps in strengthening bones by increasing bone density and preventing from age related bone problems like osteoporosis, arthritis and etc.
• It helps in improving the memory level by regulating the mental functions as it contains folate which plays great role in producing some important compounds required for brain functioning.