Watermelons and Seeds
Do you like watermelons? Should you eat the seeds? In this article, we break down all the health benefits of eating watermelons AND their seeds. Keep reading to learn more...
Low Impact Carbs
Most people already know that watermelons are a delicious, nutritious fruit. But did you know watermelon carbs are low glycemic? This means that a couple of slices of watermelon will NOT elevate your blood sugar. In fact, low glycemic carbs are perfect to sustain blood sugar without giving you any unwanted insulin spikes. A diet with low glycemic carbs is perfect to those who may be experiencing pre-diabetic symptoms. Speaking of carbs, do you know how to estimate your macros? Click the image below to watch a video on estimating your fats, carbs, and protein requirements.
Blood Pressure and Cholesterol
Watermelons are great to prevent diabetes because of the low glycemic index, but watermelons also are great to lower blood pressure because they have zero sodium. Diets low in sodium will minimize or prevent high blood pressure. Exercise and diets low in sodium will surely lower your blood pressure.
Watermelons also have ZERO fat and ZERO cholesterol. If your doctor said you need to watch your cholesterol intake, then you can feel good about eating watermelon and other fruits like pineapples and strawberries. Want to make a pineapple smoothie at home? Check out the video below!
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Vitamins, Minerals, Water
As the name would indicate, watermelons will supply you with lots of water. If you don't know, you should consume at least 3 liters of water per day. In fact, drinking water has been proven to burn fat and improve performance. Click this link to read more about the Health Benefits of Staying Properly Hydrated.
Personal Training
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Lycopene
One of the best kept secrets of the super food watermelon is the special ingredient lycopene. Lycopene is an antioxidant that gives watermelon its red color. Lycopene scavenges reactive oxygen species that are floating around in your body ready to attack normal working cells. Antioxidants like Lycopene have been shown to lower your chances of heart disease, a heart attack, and certain types of cancer. Arnold (2002) concluded that watermelons may have more lycopene than any other fruit! Needless to say, the more lycopene you can put into your diet, the better!
Nitric Oxide
What the heck is nitric oxide? Well for those athletes that are big fans of nitric oxide, NO Explode, and similar supplements, you already know about the benefits. Nitric oxide is the supplement that gives you those awesome pumps during your workouts by dilating your veins and arteries. It's possible that eating watermelons can give you that awesome pump too! In addition, Bailey et al. (2016) was able to show that watermelon supplementation was able to improve oxygen availability in working muscles. Moreover, Ridwan et al. (2019) saw in increased swimming performance in rats that supplemented with watermelon juice over the rats that received the placebo treatment! Either way you slice it, watermelons can improve your sports performance. Want an even bigger boost? Click this link to read more about the Benefits of Caffeine for Sports Performance and Weight Loss.
Viagra?
If you Google watermelon and Viagra, you will find a ton of articles claiming that watermelon, for all the vasodilation reasons listed above, will give males that blue pill feeling. Is it true? Well, I believe it’s possible, but you would have to eat a lot of watermelon. I believe most articles say you need to eat at least 6 cups of watermelon to receive any benefit, and after 6+ cups, hopefully the mood won’t be interrupted by frequent trips to the bathroom. Give it a try and let us know if you get a boost.
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Seeds
As stated above, watermelon is a super-food full of healthy nutrients that are great for your body. But did you know we are literally throwing out another handful of nutrients when we throw out the seeds? That’s correct! Watermelon seeds also have high nutrient content! One ounce of watermelon seeds has 13 grams of good fat and 8 grams of muscle building protein! Plus, watermelon seeds are also a good source of calcium, iron, phosphorus, magnesium, and potassium. Not sure how to eat the seeds? I crush them in my Vitamix blender.
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Summary
Watermelons are a super food and you should try to consume them whenever possible. You can slice them up and starting eating. Or, you can throw them in the blender, seeds and all, with some protein powder. You can roast the watermelon seeds too! You can even use the watermelon seeds to increase the protein content of your homemade cookies! Wani et al. (2015) looked at various levels of contribution from watermelon seeds into cookie dough. It appears that adding 5 to 7% seeds by volume does not affect the taste but may actually improve the texture of cookies. Be creative! There are dozens of watermelon recipes online; but, one thing is for sure, more watermelon this summer is a good thing for your body! Happy health and happy training!
Written By
RAEscobar, PFTA instructor and personal trainer
Sources:
Arnold, Jennifer. “Watermelon Packs a Powerful Lycopene Punch.” Agricultural Research, vol. 50, no. 6, June 2002, p. 12.
Bailey, Stephen J., et al. “Two Weeks of Watermelon Juice Supplementation Improves Nitric Oxide Bioavailability but Not Endurance Exercise Performance in Humans.” Nitric Oxide, vol. 59, Sept. 2016, pp. 10–20.
Ridwan, Rasdin, et al. “Supplementation of 100% Flesh Watermelon [Citrullus Lanatus (Thunb.) Matsum. and Nakai] Juice Improves Swimming Performance in Rats.” Preventive Nutrition And Food Science, vol. 24, no. 1, Mar. 2019, pp. 41–48.
Wani, Ali Abas, et al. “Influence of Watermelon Seed Protein Concentrates on Dough Handling, Textural and Sensory Properties of Cookies.” Journal Of Food Science And Technology, vol. 52, no. 4, Apr. 2015, pp. 2139–2147.