There are probably no vegetables, fruits or berries in the world that people who are overweight would not try to use for weight loss purposes. Watermelon is no exception. Many sites say that it helps to lose weight, cleanses the body of toxins, supplies it with vitamins, minerals and other useful substances. Is this true or fiction? Let's think about this topic.
Properties of watermelon
Watermelon is a treasure trove of vitamins and minerals that provide tremendous benefits to your body. Have you ever come across such phrases while surfing the internet? Probably yes. But in fact, watermelon is not a treasure. More precisely, a small puddle. It is low in vitamins and minerals. To receive at least a portion of them in daily doses, watermelon will need to be absorbed in kilograms.
Watermelon has a pronounced diuretic effect. Surely fans of this product know that you can enjoy a good watermelon only if you are not far from the toilet. Some sources claim that due to its diuretic effect, watermelon "washes the kidneys" and reduces the likelihood of urolithiasis. Forced to disappoint you - that’s unlikely.
The buds are regularly "washed" without watermelon. There is little chance that with its help you can actually reduce the risk of developing urolithiasis. But first, to see this from your own experience, you would have to eat watermelon every day for a few years. Secondly, no one knows for sure whether watermelon prevents urolithiasis, because this information can only be obtained during clinical studies, which no one has conducted yet.
Benefits of watermelon for weight loss
Watermelon is a food product. It has little nutritional value. It contains carbohydrates, although there are not many. Therefore, it would be foolish to say that watermelon contributes to weight loss. No, you can get better from it, as well as from any other food. If you eat watermelon in kilograms, you will not see a slender figure.
Of course, watermelon does not burn fat. The more you eat it, the rounder your stomach will become. But if you do not consider watermelon as a means of weight loss, but a dietary product, you can find some indisputable advantages.
- Low calorie content.Obviously, the fewer calories a food contains, the more appealing it is to obese people. Even sweet watermelon contains less than 30 kcal per 100 g, which is less than most fruits or berries. The nutritional value of watermelon is lower than that of some vegetables. After eating a kilo of watermelon, you will probably not feel hungry, but at the same time only 300 kcal will enter the body.
- High water content.Why is this good? First, water gives a large amount of watermelon. When you eat it, you feel that there is something in your stomach. So he quenched his hunger, albeit briefly. Second, a person trying to lose weight should drink plenty of water, but often forget about it. Lack of fluid in the body causes a decrease in the efficiency of the diet. Along with watermelon, the person received a sufficient amount of water.
Disadvantages of watermelon for weight loss
As already mentioned, watermelon has a very low energy value, which gives us a reason to call it a dietary product. But it should be borne in mind that most calories enter the body with carbohydrates. Moreover, they are simple sugars that are easily digested and pose the greatest threat to your figure.
Watermelon contains glucose, fructose, sucrose. All of these carbohydrates are rapidly absorbed into the bloodstream and stimulate the release of insulin, which converts glucose into fat. Watermelon has one of the highest glycemic indices among all fruits and berries. This is his biggest flaw. And that is the only reason why watermelon should not be consumed in excessive quantities.
Among the disadvantages, we emphasize the low content of insoluble dietary fiber. Watermelon can not satisfy hunger for long. The stomach fills only for a short time, because it consists mainly of water, which quickly enters the intestines and then the blood. Watermelon has very little fiber that could create the required volume and retain fluid in the digestive tract.
Watermelon can be a quick snack to kill appetite. The simple sugars contained in its composition almost immediately enter the systemic circulation, interact with vascular receptors and a dull feeling of hunger. But the feeling of satiety passes quickly, because the concentration of glucose in the blood quickly returns to normal.
Exit
You can lose weight with the help of watermelon, but only if you use it instead of other, more caloric foods. Watermelon should not be abused, because it contains simple sugars and has a high glycemic index. It has a low nutritional value, but by consuming watermelon in large quantities you can ingest a lot of calories. Moreover, these calories will enter the body with simple carbohydrates - the most dangerous nutrients for the figure.