{"id":494,"date":"2009-08-03T07:52:38","date_gmt":"2009-08-03T07:52:38","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/ourladyofweightloss\/2009\/08\/watermelon-fruit-or-vegetable.html"},"modified":"2009-08-03T07:52:38","modified_gmt":"2009-08-03T07:52:38","slug":"watermelon-fruit-or-vegetable","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ourladyofweightloss\/2009\/08\/watermelon-fruit-or-vegetable.html","title":{"rendered":"Watermelon: Fruit or Vegetable?"},"content":{"rendered":"

Today, my friends, is National Watermelon Da<\/a>y<\/strong>! And in celebration, here follows, from the Our Lady of Weight Loss<\/a> Kitchens, some shocking (yes SHOCKING!) news about the watermelon, followed by some of my favorite Righteous Recipes!
\nWhat is watermelon?<\/strong>
\nShocking Food News<\/em> from the Our Lady of Weight Loss Kitchens – The watermelon is neither a fruit nor a melon.
\nWatermelon’s official name is Citrullus lanatu, and it is a member of the botanical family Curcurbitacae; and it is a vegetable. (Go know! I never would have guessed.)<\/em> It is related to the cucumbers, pumpkins and squash families. Watermelons are native to the Kalahari desert of southern Africa and were introduced to America by Africans transported as slaves.
\nFresh watermelons may be eaten just as they are, used to flavor summer drinks, or in a variety of recipes.
\nThe watermelon’s exterior rind is smooth and its interior fruit is red, deliciously sweet and very juicy, and its colors and pattern are worth noting for any art project! Very inspirational.
\nWhat is a hard watermelon?<\/strong>
\nA hard watermelon is a watermelon that has had a hole pierced into it and hard liquor poured through that hole. The alcohol mixes with the juicy red fruit. You can then cut yourself a slice as you normally would. For adults only, of course, and in moderation!
\nIs Watermelon a healthy choice?<\/strong> You bet cha!
\nCongrats to the Watermelon for receiving the “heart healthy” seal of approval from the American Heart Association and for being the leader in lycopene among fruits and vegetables. Lycopene is known to reduce the risk of prostate cancer.
\nWatermelon is also loaded with Vitamins A, B6 and C, is low in sodium, fat-free, low in calories and is 92% water! A 2-cup serving of watermelon is only 80 calories. That’s twice as much bang for your buck as most fruit!
\nWhat are the benefits of Vitamins A, B6 and C?<\/strong>
\nThe vitamin A found in watermelon can help to prevent night blindness and it gives a boost to the infection-fighting white blood cells called lymphocytes.
\nThe vitamin B6 that used by the body to produce neurotransmitters, such as serotonin, melatonin and dopamine, which we all know by know make us feel good, help to alleviate anxiety and panic.
\nAnd the Vitamin C can boost the immune system’s resistance against infections and viruses. Once again, those free radicals chances of aging us or creating cataracts are diminished.
\nTasty Tidbit ~ How to Pick A Watermelon:<\/strong><\/p>\n

  • Your watermelon should be firm, symmetrical and free of bruises, cuts and dents.\n
  • Pick it up and make sure it’s heavy. Yeah baby, since watermelon is 92% water, it should be heavy for its size.\n
  • Take a look at its underside. A creamy yellow spot marks where it sat on the ground naturally ripened in the sun! <\/li>\n

    Righteous Recipes:<\/strong><\/big>
    \nWatermelon Gazpacho<\/em><\/strong>
    \nIngredients<\/em>: 8 cups cubed seeded watermelon * \u00bd cup finely chopped onion * \u00bd cup finely chopped green pepper * 2 teaspoons fresh (if at all possible) basil * \u00bd teaspoon salt * 1\/4 teaspoon coarsely ground pepper * 1\/2 teaspoon chili powder * 1 tablespoon cider vinegar
    \nInstructions:<\/em>
    \nIn blender, puree watermelon with 1\/4 cup of onion and pepper; pour into large mixing bowl. Stir in remaining ingredients (the other 1\/3 cup of onion and pepper. Refrigerate, covered, at least 1 hour to blend flavors.
    \nMakes 4-6 servings.
    \nWatermelon Compote a la Our Lady & The Angel<\/em><\/strong>
    \nIngredients:<\/em>
    \n3 cups Watermelon cubes, balls or chunks (whatever bite size you like best) * 2 cups cubed Pineapple (fresh, of course!) * 3\/4 cup green grapes, seeded * 3\/4 cup red grapes, seeded * 1\/4 cup Creme de cassis (black currant liqueur)
    \nInstructions:<\/em> Combine fruit in a bowl. * Gently add and toss liqueur. * Cover, chill.
    \nStill hungry? Fill up on healthy!<\/strong>
    \n    Eat This: Lose 50 Pounds<\/a>
    \n    Cucumber Angel: Heaven Sent<\/a>
    \n    Chocolate: Always and Forever<\/a>
    \nSpread the word, not the icing!
    \nJanice<\/em>
    \n——————————————————
    \nFollow Janice on     Twitter<\/a> and\/or Facebook<\/a>!
    \n    Our Lady of Weight Loss: Miraculous and Motivational Musings from the Patron Saint of Permanent Fat Removal<\/strong><\/a> an OPRAH BOOK CLUB<\/strong> pick: Summer 2009 – Buy NOW!
    \nJoin the     Our Lady of Weight Loss’s Kick in the Tush Club<\/strong><\/a>: Beliefnet<\/a> Chapter.
    \nWrite Janice Taylor, Weight Loss Coach, Certified Hypnotist, Author and 50-pound big-time-loser for an introductory     one-on-one coaching<\/a> session.
    \nVisit     Our Lady of Weight Loss<\/a>.
    \n    \"ART<\/span> <\/a> about Janice<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

    Rejoice! Today is National Watermelon Day! Our Lady of Weight Loss shares her favorite watermelon recipes and surprising information about the watermelon that may have an impact on what you eat and how you lose!<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":123,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[177,70,3,60,92],"tags":[3836,1265,3820,1267,76,3834,3856,1266,1268,153,8,3837],"class_list":["post-494","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-healthy-living","category-janice-taylor","category-motivation","category-our-lady-of-weight-loss","category-recipes","tag-diet-tips","tag-fruits-and-vegetables","tag-happiness","tag-healthy-foods","tag-lose-weight","tag-mental-health","tag-miracle-cures","tag-national-watermelon-day","tag-super-foods","tag-watermelon","tag-weight-loss-coach","tag-weight-loss-motivation"],"yoast_head":"\nWatermelon: Fruit or Vegetable? - Our Lady of Weight Loss<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ourladyofweightloss\/2009\/08\/watermelon-fruit-or-vegetable.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Watermelon: Fruit or Vegetable? - Our Lady of Weight Loss\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Rejoice! Today is National Watermelon Day! Our Lady of Weight Loss shares her favorite watermelon recipes and surprising information about the watermelon that may have an impact on what you eat and how you lose!\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ourladyofweightloss\/2009\/08\/watermelon-fruit-or-vegetable.html\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Our Lady of Weight Loss\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2009-08-03T07:52:38+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/ourladyofweightloss\/files\/import\/ART%20heart.jpg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Janice Taylor, Editor\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Watermelon: Fruit or Vegetable? - Our Lady of Weight Loss","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ourladyofweightloss\/2009\/08\/watermelon-fruit-or-vegetable.html","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Watermelon: Fruit or Vegetable? - Our Lady of Weight Loss","og_description":"Rejoice! Today is National Watermelon Day! Our Lady of Weight Loss shares her favorite watermelon recipes and surprising information about the watermelon that may have an impact on what you eat and how you lose!","og_url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ourladyofweightloss\/2009\/08\/watermelon-fruit-or-vegetable.html","og_site_name":"Our Lady of Weight Loss","article_published_time":"2009-08-03T07:52:38+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/ourladyofweightloss\/files\/import\/ART%20heart.jpg"}],"author":"Janice Taylor, Editor","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ourladyofweightloss\/2009\/08\/watermelon-fruit-or-vegetable.html","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ourladyofweightloss\/2009\/08\/watermelon-fruit-or-vegetable.html","name":"Watermelon: Fruit or Vegetable? - Our Lady of Weight Loss","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ourladyofweightloss\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ourladyofweightloss\/2009\/08\/watermelon-fruit-or-vegetable.html#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ourladyofweightloss\/2009\/08\/watermelon-fruit-or-vegetable.html#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/ourladyofweightloss\/files\/import\/ART%20heart.jpg","datePublished":"2009-08-03T07:52:38+00:00","dateModified":"2009-08-03T07:52:38+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ourladyofweightloss\/#\/schema\/person\/dc42b945b8badcadcbe5a3fc4cc5aac5"},"breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ourladyofweightloss\/2009\/08\/watermelon-fruit-or-vegetable.html#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ourladyofweightloss\/2009\/08\/watermelon-fruit-or-vegetable.html"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ourladyofweightloss\/2009\/08\/watermelon-fruit-or-vegetable.html#primaryimage","url":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/ourladyofweightloss\/files\/import\/ART%20heart.jpg","contentUrl":"http:\/\/blog.beliefnet.com\/ourladyofweightloss\/files\/import\/ART%20heart.jpg"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ourladyofweightloss\/2009\/08\/watermelon-fruit-or-vegetable.html#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ourladyofweightloss"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Watermelon: Fruit or Vegetable?"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ourladyofweightloss\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ourladyofweightloss\/","name":"Our Lady of Weight Loss","description":"Weight Loss, Diet, Exercise, Health and Wellness Advice","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ourladyofweightloss\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ourladyofweightloss\/#\/schema\/person\/dc42b945b8badcadcbe5a3fc4cc5aac5","name":"Janice Taylor, Editor","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ourladyofweightloss\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ourladyofweightloss\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/484\/4844b9725e31d98e40565d31193668e2x96.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ourladyofweightloss\/wp-content\/wphb-cache\/gravatar\/484\/4844b9725e31d98e40565d31193668e2x96.jpg","caption":"Janice Taylor, Editor"},"sameAs":["http:\/\/www.ourladyofweightloss.com"],"url":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ourladyofweightloss\/author\/jtaylor"}]}},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ourladyofweightloss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ourladyofweightloss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ourladyofweightloss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ourladyofweightloss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/123"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ourladyofweightloss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=494"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ourladyofweightloss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/494\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ourladyofweightloss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=494"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ourladyofweightloss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=494"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.beliefnet.com\/columnists\/ourladyofweightloss\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=494"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}