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How Many Calories Are in Watermelon?

How Many Calories Are in Watermelon?

The average large-sized watermelon contains around 1360 calories. This is a relatively low amount considering the sheer size of the fruit and how people get satisfied with just a portion of this fruit that mostly consists of water.

To put things in proper perspective, a cup of diced watermelon juice (which amounts to roughly 152 grams) contains around 46 calories. In addition to its many other nutritional contents, as will be discussed in this IST Health nutrition study, its calorie features make it one of the best daily food options for people who intend to burn fat. Keep reading this study to further discover the nutritional makeup of this fruit and the benefits of eating it.

Nutritional Makeup of Watermelon

Watermelon is one of those fruits that have a high water content. But besides this, some of the things that account for its low-calorie status include the following:

Protein

Watermelon is way behind blackberries, raspberries, raisins, kiwi, and many others in terms of protein content. Unlike these aforementioned fruits, it has low proteinous content. For every cup of diced watermelon, you would have less than a gram of protein.

Carbs

You would most definitely get more carbs from watermelon than you would get the aforementioned. The amount of carbs you would ingest is over ten times the amount of protein when you eat watermelon. A lot of the carbs are sugars of various sorts – glucose, fructose, sucrose, and several others in very minute amounts. You should get over 11 grams of carbs for every measure of watermelon that contains 1 gram of proteinous nutrients.

Fat

This is one of those things that justify it as one of the best foods for people who need to lose weight. Watermelon contains almost no fat. It is as low as one-fifth of a gram for every cup serving of diced watermelon. Better yet, a large chunk of its fat content is polyunsaturated and monounsaturated; which is healthy. Just a bit of it is saturated; which is unhealthy.

Vitamins & Minerals

Prioritize fully ripe ones if you want to get the best it offers in terms of vitamins and minerals. One cup serving of diced watermelon juice should offer 42.6 micrograms of vitamin A and 12.3 micrograms of vitamin C. Folate (vitamin B9) is another vitamin in the mix. Minerals involved include magnesium, sodium, potassium, and choline.

Nutritional Makeup of Watermelon

Lycopene

It is solely a plant nutrient and plant foods like tomatoes and citrus offer it as well. However, two things make watermelons stand out positively from the rest in this regard.

First, it is a great source of this plant nutrient. In other words, watermelons have a large amount of lycopene in them. For every measure of watermelon that contains 12.3 micrograms of vitamin C, there are around 6890 micrograms of lycopene. Secondly, it is the least acidic of all the several fruits that contain this plant nutrient.

Besides the aforementioned, several other things make up watermelon fruit. Fiber is another one of them, even though in a very minute amount.

Health Benefits of Watermelon

Some of the numerous ways eating watermelon and food recipes made up of watermelon can contribute to healthy living include the following:

Cellular Support

Properly functioning cells are important because cell damage threatens healthy living. Considering that watermelon contains a large amount of lycopene; which has antioxidant features, it provides cellular support by preventing or (at least) delaying cell damage.

Relief from Muscle Fatigue

A significant amount of citrulline is present in watermelon. Citrulline is an amino acid with chemical properties that help the body recover easily and quickly from muscle fatigue. You may even have come across a pain relief medicine or supplement that contains this amino acid.

Keeps Blood Pressure Levels in Check

Stroke, heart attack, heart failure, metabolic syndrome, memory retention & comprehension problems, and eye problems are just a few of many other complications that can be caused by hypertension.

Primarily, the lycopene in watermelons plays a huge role in preventing or managing hypertension. By the way, having an accurate blood pressure monitor device at home to monitor your blood pressure levels frequently is advised.

Weight Loss

There are two notable ways watermelon aids weight loss. First, it provides a diet option for people who intend to burn body fat. Such people need to be mindful of what they eat as exposure to excess calories will make weight loss difficult. Thankfully, the amount of calories in watermelon is very minute.

Secondly, it has certain contents that facilitate fat burning. Arginine is one such. Arginine facilitates fat burning as studies have shown.

Reduced Risk of Cancer and Infections

As a result of their cellular support role, antioxidants go on to prevent infections and even cancer. Those who eat water melon can enjoy this benefit considering how the several antioxidants in the mix. Flavonoids, triterpenoids, and carotenoids are also involved.

These explain why watermelons should make up a huge part of your daily diet. Besides eating it alone, it can even become a part of some food recipes. For example, you can add it to your salsa recipe or even your salad recipe.

Other posts on this website can be read to keep you well-informed. For example, you can read this nutrition-related study on how to clean out your bowels quickly.

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