Opening: Many restaurants have a dish called "Great Harvest," which combines various vegetables like carrots, lettuce, tomatoes, and cucumbers to be eaten raw with a dip. While eating vegetables raw is indeed beneficial for preserving nutrients, the inclusion of cucumbers in this dish can significantly diminish its nutritional value...
Cucumbers are nutritious in themselves
On its own, the cucumber is a delicious and nutritious vegetable. In terms of texture, it is crisp, tender, juicy, sweet, and aromatic. Nutritionally, it contains protein, fat, carbohydrates, various vitamins, cellulose, and abundant components such as calcium, phosphorus, iron, potassium, sodium, and magnesium. In particular, the fine cellulose in cucumbers can lower blood cholesterol and triglyceride levels, promote intestinal peristalsis, accelerate waste excretion, and improve the body's metabolism. The malic acid in fresh cucumbers can also effectively inhibit the conversion of carbohydrates into fat, so eating cucumbers often can aid in weight loss and prevent coronary heart disease. [China Cuisine]
Cucumbers destroy nutrients in other foods
Why is it best to avoid cucumbers in the "Great Harvest"?
This is because cucumbers contain an enzyme that breaks down vitamin C, which can destroy the abundant vitamin C found in other vegetables. Tomatoes in the "Great Harvest" are a prime example of a vegetable rich in vitamin C. When eaten together, the vitamin C absorbed from the tomatoes is broken down by the enzyme in the cucumbers, making it impossible to achieve a nutritional supplement effect. Besides eating "Great Harvest," people often eat a cucumber and then a tomato, or have a plate of "Scrambled Eggs with Tomatoes" followed by a plate of "Stir-fried Cucumber with Pork," all of which are incorrect ways of eating.
Furthermore, the higher the vitamin C content in a food, the more severely it is broken down by the enzyme in cucumbers.