Okra/Lady’s Finger Benefits and Uses for Skin, Hair, and Health

Okra, commonly known as lady’s finger, is a high-fibre vegetable containing high amounts of soluble and insoluble fibre. It has lots of health benefits. It is also good for your skin and hair.

Benefits of Okra for Skin:

Best Vitamin C food:

Okra contains Vitamin C, which helps in keeping your skin young looking. It helps in repairing the tissues and this in turn keeps your skin young looking.

Dietary fibre food:

Being rich in dietary fibre, okra is very effective for preventing digestive problems. Healthy digestion means healthy skin.

Stops skin pigmentation:

Okra contains nutrients that help in preventing pigmentation of the skin. Consuming okra is great for rejuvenating your skin and for repairing the damages caused to your skin.

Benefits of Okra for Hair:

Gives Bouncy hair:

If you want to get back the bounce on your hair, use okra. All you have to do is to boil okra with some water. You will get transparent mucilage on boiling it. Use this on your hair to make your hair bouncy.

Good Hair conditioner:

The mucilage that you get on boiling okra with water can be used as a hair conditioner as well. Wash your hair and squeeze out the excess water from your hair. Now massage your scalp and hair with the mucilage and then rinse well with water. This acts as a good conditioner.

Helps in Fighting dandruff:

Okra is very effective for treating scalp affected by dandruff. It keeps your scalp moisturized and helps in keeping your scalp dandruff-free.

Scalp moisturizer for hair:

Okra is very beneficial for moisturizing your itchy and dry scalp. It helps in keeping your hair soft and smooth. It is not harmful for your hair like other cosmetics that you get in the market. People having unruly, curly and lifeless hair can use okra to keep their hair well moisturized and soft.

Shiny and silky hair:

Use okra as a hair rinse and this gives a healthy shine to your hair. You can use it instead of your regular conditioner and treat your hair in the natural way.

Health and Medicinal Benefits of Okra:

Contains Vitamin K:

Vitamin K is essential for the clotting of blood. It is also effective for making your bones stronger.

Controls obesity:

By consuming okra in raw form or cooked form, you can avoid obesity to a great extent.

Controls cholesterol level:

Consuming okra helps in lesser absorption of cholesterol by the body. As a result your risk of suffering from heart diseases and ailments as result of cholesterol in the blood is greatly reduced.

Good Fibre content food:

Okra contains high amounts of dietary fibre in it, which makes it beneficial for digestion. It helps in digestion by promoting proper bowel movement.

Good food for diabetes:

Presence of fibre in okra helps in preventing diabetes. To control diabetes, you have to take 2 okra pods and cut off the ends. Once you cut off the ends, a sticky fluid will come out. Now put these pods in a glass of water without washing off the sticky fluid. Keep it overnight. The next morning, take out the pods and drink the water in the glass.

Preparing okra water daily and consuming it in the morning will help in controlling blood sugar. The result you get is much better than when you consume cooked okras.

Good source of antioxidants:

Consuming foods rich in antioxidants is great for the prevention of cancer, diseases of the heart, and premature aging. Okra is a rich source of antioxidants like quercetin, catechin, epicatechin, rutin and procyanidin. So, it is not only good for preventing and curing diabetes, but also good for preventing various other health problems. This makes it the super food.

Help improve digestion:

The soluble fibre in okra helps in improving the functioning of your digestive system. so, consume okra regularly for keeping your digestive system healthy and functioning properly.

High folate food:

The folates in okra help in reducing neural tube defects in a newborn baby. So, women are advised to consume okra during their pregnancy.

Low GI (Glycemic Index) food:

If you suffer from diabetes, you are advised by tour doctor to consume food with low GI. Okra is one of the foods with low GI, which is 20.

Prevents progression of kidney diseases:

People suffering from type 2 diabetes are usually prone to kidney problems. About half of the kidney issues are caused by diabetes. By taking okra regularly in your diet and drinking okra water, you can prevent kidney diseases.

Prevents or relieves constipation:

Okra enables your body to absorb water properly, and this in turn helps in preventing constipation.

Reduce colon cancer risk:

Consuming okra regularly is an effective way to prevent colon cancer and other such diseases.

Treats asthma:

Consuming okra regularly is an excellent way to control asthma.

Okra is also good for improving your immunity power and your eyesight.

How to Select Good Quality Okra

Here is how you can select good okra.

1. Try to pick smaller pods as they will be tender. They are tastier then the larger ones, which are tough and stringy as well.
2. Make sure that you pick the bright green-coloured pods. You may also get burgundy and deep red varieties. But green ones are better.
3. Try to pick unblemished pods as they will be fresh and not rotten from inside.
4. The okra that you select should be firm. While smaller ones are tender, they should also be softer.