While I haven’t been able to get my 11-year-old nephew, visiting from Bermuda, to try every fruit or veggie I offer him, he hasn’t yet turned down watermelon!
As he and my son recently challenged each other to an indoor basketball shooting competition (using one of those little hoops you attach to the wall), I sliced up some watermelon and put the plate of it on a table near them.
Each time when it wasn’t my nephew’s turn to shoot, he was at the watermelon plate, digging in!
“You’ll need to buy some more tomorrow, because this won’t last long,” he managed to say while slurping into the juicy, red fruit.
Watermelon Health Benefits
After witnessing my nephew’s love of watermelon, I came upon this quote from Care2.com:
“If your little ones don’t dig into their Swiss chard, lima beans or spinach — all great sources of potassium — consider offering them a serving of watermelon instead. It is a great source of potassium, which helps muscle and nerve function, helps maintain the body’s proper electrolyte and acid-base balance, and helps lower the risk of high blood pressure.”
Isn’t that great news?
It’s also great news that watermelon is a wonderful source of the antioxidant pigment, lycopene.
According to Care2.com, “…it has the highest concentrations of lycopene of any fresh fruit or vegetable.”
This morning for breakfast, I enjoyed a lycopene-rich watermelon juice, also high in vitamins A, C, and B6.
Watermelon Juice Recipe
A simple, hearty breakfast it was! I even added a little “fancy” to it by pouring it into a wine glass, and served a glass to my husband, too. Then, I “shared” some watermelon juice with my Facebook friends and attached this note:
Husband and I are sippin’ on Watermelon Juice!
The “Love You!” note on glass is from a box of loving “band-aids” for parents, an elementary school project our son did some years ago.:-)
The juice: simply watermelon with the juice of 1/2 a lemon. I was working with a really good watermelon, ’cause this is quite tasty; the lemon didn’t take away all the sweetness. Have a sweet watermelony type of day! 🙂 xo
Of course, the juice from the lemon further increased the antioxidant level of my ‘hearty’ breakfast.
Talking about ‘hearty’, are you aware that Watermelon/Lemon juice is also known to reduce heart disease because of its high level of antioxidants?
So, open your heart today and pour some juicy watermelon into it.
Remember the old adage: “Prevention is the best medicine.”