When to eat watermelon

Question
Hi Laurie, I'm 24 years old male. I've read all about the advantages of watermelon. However due to short lunch hour I'm unable to keep a gap between watermelon and main course. I mix 2-3 slices of watermelon everyday along with parsley leaves, lettuce leaves, cucumber and eat them. Then I immediately follow this up with non-veg main course. I would like to know whether this regular routine reduces the health benefits of watermelon in anyway. Or would you suggest me a better way to squeeze watermelon as well main course in a short time. Please note that I'm NOT concerned about weight loss, it's only about the health benefits that watermelon provides. Thanks.

Answer
Hi Yousuf,
I'm not sure where you're getting these ideas about the nutritional value of watermelon--there really isn't anything magical about this particular fruit--as a matter of fact, it is one fruit that is not a very good concentrated source of anything but water!
The snack you have with watermelon, lettuce, and cucumber is going to be a very hydrating group of foods, but again, little source of nutrients.

The idea of not eating anything else with fruit comes from an email circulating that was based on recommendations back in the early 1900's: a physician saw frequent cases of food poisoning because of the poor ability for people to keep food cold and fresh before home refrigeration was common. He noted that lots of times people would blame their nausea and diarrhea on the fruit they ate, but that in fact it was probably due to spoilage from some other food they ate, such as meat or fish. He then recommended people eat fruit alone (not with a meal containing meat) because there was then little chance they would become sick and at least they would absorb the fruit. If fruit was eaten with another (main) dish that made them sick, they would lose the nutrients from the fruit if they vomited the whole meal.

There's no scientific reason to eat fruit alone, and no reason not to vary your fruits from day to day to get a nice mix of vitamins, minerals, and antioxidants to keep yourself healthy!

Laurie

1. Prev:What  is this???
2. Next:why is red meat bad?