No backyard barbecue would be complete without some refreshing watermelon. This Summer fruit has more to offer than the raw material for a seed spitting contest. Here are five great things about watermelon:
- Red, juicy watermelon is high in the super antioxidant lycopene. Lycopene can be found in few other red and pink foods, including tomatoes and pink grapefruit, and it looks like it might play a significant role in preventing certain kinds of cancer.
- Watermelon is beneficial to the skin and aids in the regenerative process. Eating the melon has benefits, but you can make a toner with it too. What else are you going to do with all the post BBQ melon?
- This red melon is a low calorie food and one cup of melon balls contains just under 50 calories. It is also high in vitamin C.
To see if watermelon is nature's Viagra, just read more.
- It lives up to its name: cooling food during the dog days of Summer.
- Surprising new research out of Texas (the largest producer of the seedless variety of the melon) indicates that watermelon has an effect on the human body similar to Viagra. The big red fruit cannot completely replace the little blue pill, but it does contain citrulline, which jump starts production of a chemical compound that helps relax the body's blood vessels, similar to Viagra. Melon, however, is just not "organ specific" and can benefit the entire cardiovascular system. However, citrulline is found in higher concentrations in yellow watermelon, not red. Looks like you can't get your lycopene hit with the benefits of citrulline.
If you're a watermelon fan, I'd like to hear about it in the comment section below.
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We love eating watermelon by the pool. But another passion is soaking watermelon in vodka...mmmm, bliss!