Is pickle juice good for you to drink? The top benefits of pickle juice support blood sugar, weight loss, alleviate leg cramps, menstrual cramps, hangovers - and here's how!
All the reasons to love pickles and drink the juice
Ever wake up in the middle of the night screaming in agony with sudden leg cramps or spasms? Do they go away easily? Or perhaps it's just that time of the month and you need an instant natural pain reliever. Ever wonder why one of the popular pregnancy cravings happens to be pickles?
Guess what- one of the great benefits of pickle juice and eating a pickle to get the juice is it can help relieve a cramp instantly!
Pickles are one of those foods that you either love or hate. They are cucumbers soaked in a fermented pickled juice mixture of water, vinegar, sugar, garlic, herbs, and spices - creating a probiotic fermenting solution with incredible health benefits, similar to that of an apple cider vinegar drink.
We top burgers with pickles, use them in sandwiches with cold meat, or eat dill pickles as a crunchy side with lunch. Not only do pickles taste good, drinking the juice from a pickle jar has so many health benefits. So make sure not to throw out that extra pickle juice!
7 Health Benefits of Pickle Juice
For Blood Sugar Levels
High blood sugar levels and diabetes is most common in people over the age of 45, but is seen in children and teens as well. According to the CDC, more than 37 million Americans have diabetes, and approximately 90-95% of them have type 2 diabetes.
Several studies have observed that vinegar consumption may help lower blood sugar levels, which is beneficial in managing diabetes. Small amounts of vinegar help to regulate and improve the body's response to insulin and since pickle juice has vinegar in it - sip up!
Choose low sodium and not sweet pickles in your diet.
For Muscle Cramps
According to this study, researchers found that muscle cramps could be fixed in 1.5 minutes by drinking 1.5 ounces of pickle juice for every 100 lb of body weight. Results could only be explained that motor neurons are activated to the muscle cramp. So when a cramp comes along, drink some of the juice or eat a dill pickle for instant relief.
For Menstrual Cramps and PMS
Just as the juice from pickles helps with muscle cramps, it also helps with menstrual cramps. The brine in pickle juice has probiotics to help with an upset stomach and nausea and other pms related symptoms.
Why do I crave pickles when I'm Pregnant? Pregnant women often crave pickles when pregnant (I know I have while pregnant with my twins) to help soothe nausea and replenish the body when it gets dehydrated.
For Dehydration
Yes, pickle juice is known to hydrate you. Athletes consuming pickle juice on the sidelines to hydrate quickly has become quite popular over the years. Based off this article, some clinicians recommend ingesting small volumes of pickle juice (30 ml - 60 ml) to relieve EAMCs, after 30 to 35 seconds after ingesting. They credit that it may increase plasma electrolytes, and they are essential for replenishing fluid in the body after exercise. Although research is lacking in this area and it is still being tested for the cause of the positive outcome.
For Hangovers
Is pickle juice good for hangovers - Absolutely! High doses of sodium in pickle juice help the body to replenish lost fluid in the body from alcohol consumption. It also may ignite plasma electrolytes to increase necessary hydration in the body to help cure and ease hangover symptoms.
For Gut Health and Probiotics
Pickle juice is a fermented food, and fermented foods contain microorganisms called probiotics. Probiotics are live cultures, microscopic bacteria and yeasts that you can also find in Apple Cider Vinegar, Kimchi, Yogurt, Sauerkraut, and Miso. These microscopic good bacteria is excellent for balancing and improving gut health and the immune system.
For Weight Loss
Pickles are low calorie and great for a weight loss diet. One unsweetened pickle has about 17 calories, making it a low fat and low calorie snack. The juice has probiotics to help keep the immune system strong and the vinegar and fermented pickle juice helps activate the digestive system. Drinking pickle juice and eating low sodium unsweetened pickles with plenty of water throughout the day may help you flush toxins that slow down the metabolism. It also helps you feel fuller longer - which prevents overeating, therefore helping with losing weight.
What is in pickle juice?
Pickle juice is typically made up of these ingredients:
- 3-4 inch pickling cucumbers
- water
- white vinegar
- sugar (I used monk fruit sweetener for a sugar-free version when making it homemade)
- salt for Pickling and Preserving
- garlic cloves
- bay leaves
- dill sprigs
- yellow mustard seeds
We have a delicious recipe on How To Make Dill Pickles with a canning method, or skip the canning and eat the fresh pickles straight from the jar in a couple of days. In a few days the juice will start to ferment and is packed with electrolytes and healthy gut bacteria.
pickle juice uses for health benefits
After you eat all the pickles from a pickle jar, reuse the pickle juice - don't toss it! Personally I have a hard time drinking it straight, but some people can and do to the health benefits of pickle juice. Here are a few tips to get the benefits of drinking pickle juice - with and without drinking it as a beverage.
- Dice into horizontal spears persian or cocktail cucumbers and soak them for a couple of days in the leftover juice from a pickle jar.
- Use and soak these other vegetables in the leftover pickle juice such as turnips, parsnips, jicama and carrots, as well as string beans, okra, radishes, olives, and onions.
- Pour the fresh pickle juice mixed with water in a glass full of ice and drink up - if you can!
Frequently Asked Questions: Drinking Pickle Juice
Blood Sugar Levels.
Muscle Cramps.
Menstrual Cramps.
Hangovers.
Probiotic.
Electrolytes and Hydration.
Weight Loss.
Since pickle juice is high in sodium, drinking too much can cause water retention, swelling, gas, bloating, stomach pain, and diarrhea.
For health benefits of pickle juice, drink one and a half to three ounces of pickle juice per day. It can be taking as a shot, diluted in water, or served with water over ice. For immediate results, drink warm or room temperature water mixed with pickle juice for faster absorption.
Pickles are a low calorie food, and when added to your diet can help you shed weight, as well as increase good bacteria in the gut. Pickles are low in calories - about 17 calories per serving - and make a wonderful filling snack that may prevent overeating. The healthy gut bacteria in the juice of pickles helps the body to flush out toxins when you drink plenty of water throughout the day, which helps to body to shed pounds.
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