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.
#laukiraita #doodhiraita #raita #bottlegourdraita
lauki raita, doodhi, indian raita recipe, indian vegetarian recipe, bottle gourd with yogurt ,ghiya rayta, how to make lauki raita , lauki raita for weight loss , lauki raita recipe hindi, lauki raita with mustard, lauki raita calories, lauki raita in hindi, cucumber raita recipe, raita recipe for biryani , ghiya raita, curd preparation, ghiya raita indian recipe, ghiya raita calories, ghiya raita recipe, 2020