When you hear people talking about extreme diets, you know it’s time to buckle up and listen. Extreme diets have made their way into the spotlight recently, promising rapid weight loss and glowing skin in just days or weeks.
Whether it’s juice cleanses, teas, or simply cutting out carbs, these diets can be harmful, expensive, and downright dangerous if not done right.
So is the watermelon diet another fad diet to watch out for?
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What Is the Watermelon Diet?
A particular watermelon diet has been popping up all over the Internet lately, and maybe you’ve heard of it. You can find it in just about any social media feed and under most weight-loss titles.
The basic idea is that for 3 days (or 5, or 7, depending on which source you read), you eat nothing but watermelon—and a little bit of salt—and drink nothing but water. Some people also recommend lemon juice to help with digestion.
As you can imagine, this is a pretty drastic change from what most people are used to. As well as severely limiting your menu, it’s also going to make your stomach feel pretty unpleasant as you adjust to the new food regimen.
But one of the biggest drawbacks of this diet is that it lacks scientific validity—there are no studies supporting its efficacy or health benefits, and even if there were, we’d be skeptical because much of the information presented is completely misleading.
By eating only watermelon and drinking only water, you’ll be getting very few nutrients: no fat, protein, carbohydrates, or fiber. And unless you’re planning on chugging gallons of water a day (which will get boring fast), your body is going to be severely dehydrated.
So while there might be some merit to the idea that watermelon contains a lot of sugar, it’s going to be difficult to get your recommended daily intake of vitamins and minerals from only eating the fruit. To put it simply, this diet is bad news.
Health Benefits and Nutrition Facts About Watermelon
Despite the unfounded claims about the watermelon diet, the fruit has a number of benefits and nutritional facts as part of a healthy diet.
- Watermelons contain a variety of vitamins and minerals, including vitamin A, vitamin C, vitamin B-6, thiamin, magnesium, and potassium.
- They also contain lycopene, an antioxidant that is thought to play a role in resistance to certain types of cancer and heart disease.
- They are also high in fiber, which helps keep you full and aids in digestion.
- It also contains an amino acid called citrulline, which relaxes blood vessels and improves blood flow throughout the body.
All of these are reasons to make watermelon part of your healthful diet, as well as its high amounts of potassium and manganese.
While watermelon doesn’t offer a magic solution to weight loss, it can be included in your diet plan as a healthy alternative to other fruits.
Weight Loss With Watermelon Diet – Does It Work?
Despite the buzz, I’m afraid that this diet just won’t do you much good. The watermelon diet is not a well-rounded approach to nutrition and weight loss; it’s essentially a short-term, low-calorie cleanse.
And while I’m sure you’ve heard by now that eating too much sugar is bad, a diet in which all your calories come from fruit isn’t necessarily the best solution.
In fact, the more restrictive a diet is, the harder it will be to stick to it—and the harder it is to stick to, the less likely you’ll be able to keep up with it for long enough to see lasting results. The same goes for watermelon in particular.
It’s possible that in some cases eating nothing but watermelon for a few days could have some positive effects on insulin sensitivity or detoxification (although these effects have not been well studied).
But without the variety of nutrients found in other fruits and vegetables and without some protein, fat, and carbohydrates in your meals, you’re going to feel pretty miserable—and any benefits from watermelon are likely to be short-lived.
The vast majority of people who try eating just one food for an extended period of time don’t stick with it—and if they do manage to stick with it, they usually end up feeling pretty bad.
When people try to follow these restrictive diets, they often find that they’re not getting enough of the nutrients and vitamins their bodies need to function properly.
Frequently Asked Questions
Can you lose weight on a watermelon diet?
No. The watermelon diet is a fad that doesn’t provide you with the nutrients you need to lose weight in a healthy way. Instead, it will only make you feel hungry and weak. It’s much better to follow a balanced diet that includes plenty of fruits and vegetables—and just cut out the added sugar, sodium, and fat.
How much watermelon should you eat on a watermelon diet?
The fad claims that you can eat as much watermelon as you want, but it’s important to remember that there are other foods in the diet. The idea is that by eating a lot of watermelons and very little else, you’ll lose weight. In reality, you need vitamins and minerals from other sources to keep your body functioning properly.
What is the best fruit to lose weight?
When it comes to weight loss, there isn’t any one fruit that is best. All fruits contain a mix of nutrients and calories, so choose the ones that appeal to you most. There are many benefits to eating more fruits and vegetables in general, including lowering your risk of heart disease and certain cancers.
What happens when you eat watermelon every day?
Watermelon contains lycopene and potassium. Too much lycopene or potassium can cause your body to retain water. This can lead to bloating, nausea, vomiting, and diarrhea. If you eat too much melon, you could also experience some of these symptoms because it contains a lot of sugar and carbohydrates.
Is the sugar in watermelon fattening?
No, the sugar in watermelon is not fattening. The sugar naturally found in watermelons is fructose and glucose, which are both natural sugars that occur in many fruits. They are also present in other foods like honey, sucrose, and lactose.
Conclusion
A quick Google search for the “watermelon diet” will give you a number of results about an alleged new diet that is supposedly taking the internet by storm.
Despite the popularity of this strange new health trend, it’s not true that eating nothing but watermelon is the key to rapid weight loss.
There are many websites—including ones that seem to be legitimate news sources—that claim this diet can help you lose weight quickly without any exercise.
They claim to have tried out the watermelon diet themselves and all ended up losing 10-15 pounds in a week. To me, this sounds almost like magic!
However, if you look at these websites more closely and read between the lines, it becomes clear that they’re all just writing clickbait headlines to get you to click through to their site.
