Watermelon - a Dieter's Choice

A combination of adequate exercise and well balanced diet program is essential to stay healthy and physically fit. One could be sweating out hard at the gym but a bad diet plan mars all that hard work. So a balanced diet is a priority for all. A balanced diet consists of adequate amounts of all the essential nutrients and more importantly, it should have low calorific value. While most "diet" foods are of low calorific value, they are often very hard to continue for a longer period. The reason being is their lack of taste.

Taste, is an important factor that determines the effectiveness of a diet plan. Diet plans that compromise on taste are hard to continue and thus the initial benefit is lost once a person gets back to his usual diet. So a tasty diet plan should essentially comprise of watermelon. Diet plans that are rich in watermelon can work wonders when it comes to weight loss. Watermelons are not only low in calorie but also high on water content. Hard workouts in the gym drain away a lot of fluid from the body, which is restored to a great extent with the consumption of watermelon.

Watermelons are a rich source lycopene and beta-carotene. A diet plan rich in watermelon increases the concentration of lycopene and beta-carotene in the blood. These compounds belong to the class of highly unsaturated yellow to red pigments called carotenoids that occur in plants to protect them against damage from sunlight. Carotenoids are very important for human beings due their antioxidant activity that prevents free radicals from causing harm to the body. The high concentration of vitamin C and A in watermelons makes it a rich source of carotenoids. Lycopene also ensures better heart health and reduces the risk of cancer to a greater extent. A diet comprising of abundant watermelon juice can increase the lycopene concentration in the blood by five times and double the beta-carotene levels.

Diet control gets easier with watermelon. Apart from watermelon diet juice, melons can also be used in preparing a range of delicacies that add a greater taste to one’s diet plan. More importantly, it controls the body’s water levels, acts as a great source of essential nutrients and vitamins and even reduces the risk of diseases like cancer. Without watermelons, a diet plan is never complete.