All fruits have sugar, but a 100 gram servings size of watermelon only contains 30 calories and only 6 grams of sugar and that’s good news. How is Watermelon Good For Diabetics? It is excellent for people with diabetes and offers tremendous benefits for your body. Let’s see just how:
Is Watermelon Healthy for Diabetes?
Watermelon is not only good for your blood sugar, but offers a great deal of benefits that will keep you healthier. All fruits have sugar, but a 100 gram servings size of watermelon only contains 30 calories and only 6 grams of sugar and that’s good news. But you only want to have watermelon in moderation!
Watermelon contains potassium, folate, copper, zinc, magnesium, fiber, iron, calcium, vitamin A, B1, B6, C, and lycopene. The fact is that watermelon contains more lycopene than tomatoes. Lycopene is a natural occurring phytochemical and pigment that gives watermelon its color.
It happens to be a strong antioxidant that can help to lessen your risk of certain cancers, cataracts, asthma, and cardiovascular disease.
You’re smart if you’re following a high fiber diet which will keep your digestive system operating properly by helping to flush out the toxins and watermelon is high in fiber.
Fruits are generally beneficial because of their fiber content. Watermelon in particular has phytosterols which is a plant sterol that is similar to cholesterol.
They are not normally absorbed too much into your bloodstream. But they are very useful as they help to prevent the absorption of cholesterol into your blood and some foods with this chemical aid in reducing LDL bad cholesterol levels. It’s important of course to keep your cholesterol numbers under control.
So normally foods that have a medium or low Glycemic Index of GI have less of a chance of raising your blood sugars. Ideally you want a GI of under 55. Watermelon has a GI of 72. Even though the GI may have a high GI, it contains a low carbohydrate content and it does have fiber.
But there is something called a Glycemic Load and it estimates just what the certainty is of whether a food will increase blood sugar or not. It can be calculated by multiplying the glycemic index by the number of grams in the food (in this case watermelon) and dividing that number by 100.
A glycemic load number that is higher than 20 is not good but less than 10 is good. Watermelon’s glycemic load number is 8 which results in it not significantly raising your blood sugars.
So the bottom line is that watermelon is good for diabetics. If you are a diabetic you can get the benefits that watermelon provides such as minerals and vitamins. But let’s remember. Moderation is always key. Watermelon is fruit and fruit does contain sugar. Just be smart when you have it and don’t overdo it.
Here’s How Diabetics Benefit From Watermelon:
1) Your Eyes
With diabetes you increase your chances of blindness at some point unless you address it. This is a major issue for diabetics aged 20-74. How does watermelon help? It helps with vitamin A and vitamin C which are both extremely beneficial for your eyes.
2) Your Kidneys
Inflammation of your kidneys is a major problem with diabetes. Kidney function can be stimulated by watermelon. High intake of potassium is a huger factor here too and watermelon, like bananas, is high in potassium.
Watermelon acts as a natural diuretic and aids in lowering the amount of uric acid in your blood. Because watermelon is very high in water content, it causes frequent urination and this in turn helps your kidneys in flushing out all the toxins from your body.
3) Losing Weight
One of the best and most important ways to help with diabetes is to lose weight. Watermelon is great because it is low in calories but very high in water content. It can make you feel full and you’ll eat less and lose weight. This is perfect because it prevents cravings and hunger pains and it will help you to maintain a healthy weight.
4) Blood Pressure
When you have diabetes you are more prone to high blood pressure and that can increase your chances for heart disease. Watermelon contains magnesium and potassium that help to control your blood pressure. Researchers revealed that having a diet that is high in potassium lowered blood pressure in patients.
5) Energy Booster
As a diabetic, you’re suffering from fatigue and as your glucose level increases, it disrupts your blood circulation. This will deprive your cells of getting enough of the oxygen that they require. It’s possible that your sugar level can even drop at some point, but you may still experience being tired.
You can keep your energy levels up with vitamins B1 and B6 that you can get from watermelon. So eating watermelon will boost your energy and aid in stabilizing your blood sugar levels.
Other Benefits of Watermelon
6) Insulin Resistance
The word insulin is automatically associated with diabetes. Insulin resistance and hyperglycemia are characteristic of this metabolic disorder known as type 2 diabetes. Your body produces insulin, but the cells in your body are resistant to the insulin effects.
So your cells don’t sense the effect that this crucial hormone provides, so in order to address this situation with the disease is to make your body’s cells less resistant.
Studies are being done where patients with diabetes are given the L-arginine supplement treatment which is the amino acid that watermelon compounds convert to. This has a better effect that is beneficial on insulin sensitivity and glucose metabolism.
What’s a Good Way to Lower Your Blood Sugar? Click Below
7) Cancer
There is always research being performed with cancer and right now results are being revealed that there are direct connections between cancer treatment and prevention and components in food such as watermelon. One of the components which I mentioned previously is lycopene and this is widely known to function with diminishing insulin growth.
Lycopene appears to impede with the different stages in cancer development. It’s found in many foods, mostly tomatoes. But there’s more of it contained in watermelon and this very beneficial fruit should be a part of your daily diet. It is one powerful super food for sure!
8) Muscle Soreness
Have you gone to the gym and worked out and had one awesome workout only to find your muscles were so sore afterward that you swore you’d never work out again?
There are solutions to treat muscle soreness but there’s also a natural one. It’s watermelon and why? Because it contains L-citrulline and it is only found in one food and that’s watermelon.
There are even dietary supplements rich in L-citrulline and have been shown to aid in relieving soreness in the muscles and relaxation as well. This is something that you can try after workouts and pre-workouts too.
9) Prevention of Asthma
It’s an unfortunate to have a condition like asthma. I know a few people who have it and it can be a very scary and at times serious condition. So when we’re exercising it makes it harder to breathe and we breathe harder and faster and deeper through our lungs.
One thing that is very important for protecting against asthma is vitamin C. Although there hasn’t been anything conclusive, it’s still believed that vitamin C might prevent or treat asthma. Watermelon on a regular basis for your vitamin C.
10) Skin Care
What’s one of the first things you turn to for a cold or sore throat? Vitamin C. But there’s more to preventing sickness that just that for vitamin C. The top two vitamins for anti-aging are vitamins E and C.
They can pierce the skin and help to induce the production of collagen and this is crucial for healthy and smooth skin. You need to be protected from the sun and its ultraviolet rays. Watermelon, vitamin C, and healthy skin, a great combination.
11) Bone Health
We always associate calcium and milk with strong bones. But here comes lycopene once again because it improves bone loss and bone health as we age. Watermelons are not only loaded with lycopene, they contain calcium as well and that’s a good thing for your bones.
12) Inflammation
As previously mentioned L-citrulline and L-arginin are huge in reducing inflammation. There was a study performed on rats with watermelon powder and it showed that it too had the same effect and decreased inflammation. Anytime you decrease your inflammation, you’re doing your body a huge favor!
13) Scurvy
Scurvy was first known about back in the 15th and 16th centuries. It’s all about not having enough vitamin C to fight off infections and we really require it daily and since our bodies cannot make it, we must get vitamin C from the foods that we eat.
Not having sufficient amounts of vitamin C, our body cannot stay in line with the amount of iron that needs to be absorbed and that’s the main role of vitamin C or ascorbic acid. This can leave you feeling fatigued, lethargic, or possibly anemic. It’s mostly preventable now as long as your vitamin C levels are normal.
Final Thoughts
How is Watermelon Good For Diabetics? Watermelon provides many health benefits especially with it’s contents of lycopene and vitamin C. So the answer is a definite yes! It’s one of many fruits that can help with diabetes but is so good for your body, so make sure watermelon is part of your diet. It does contain sugar so just don’t overdo it.
What’s a Good Way to Lower Your Blood Sugar? Click Below
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Really great article! My boyfriend just found out he is a diabetic. He doesn’t like to eat watermelon at all. I can’t wait to show him this article so that he can see what eating watermelon can do to help lower his blood sugars, plus all the other health benefits it provides as well.
Hi Courtney,
Sorry to hear that your boyfriend is a diabetic but it’s not the end of the world.
All he has to do is learn how to eat properly and to control it.
Watermelon is just one of many foods that helps with diabetes and blood sugar.
Like any other fruit it contains sugar. It’s moderation as far as the amount to eat.
Great health benefits with watermelon and it’s a natural way to treat blood sugar and better than medication.
Good luck 🙂
~Rob
I enjoyed reading this post about watermelon. Although I do not have diabetes, it does run in my family on my father’s side. What more? I have been overweight and I started a low carb diet 3 weeks ago. I was happy to read that Watermelon is low in carbs and is a fruit that I can eat. It’s also nice to know that it can help prevent cancer, as that runs in my family too. I will be buying a watermelon today for sure. Thanks for the informative post.
Hey Josh,
Diabetes running in the family isn’t good and of course there’s nothing anyone can do about that.
I know all too well about the weight issue. It’s the biggest cause of diabetes but yet something that we can do to treat type 2 diabetes by exercising and getting rid of that extra weight.
Watermelon is a awesome fruit that has many benefits and that includes low calories and helping with diabetes.
Good luck with your low carb diet and don’t forget the watermelon! 🙂
Cheers!
~Rob
I love watermelon. I didn’t realize all the beneficial properties of eating a watermelon until reading this article. Your website has been wonderful to read and I went over it in full detail after your great article. Keep up the good work. How did you get this website idea? I am passionate to know.
Hey Ryan,
I’m a big watermelon fan too! It’s good for diabetics when eaten in moderate amounts. With all the benefits it provides, it would be hard to turn down.
The reason I am writing this website is because I am passionate about how to treat blood sugars the natural ways and not with medications. You can see what I mean Here
Anything that helps with diabetes and can help naturally I will write about to help others.
Thanks for your comments!
Cheers!
~Rob