We had half of a small organic watermelon left over this week.  I rarely ever buy them and I wasn’t about to let it go to waste!  The kids and I chopped it up and fed it through our Breville Juicer.  Oh my goodness, just a small amount gave us a ton of juice!  We then added some ice to our fresh watermelon juice and made a slush with our Magic Bullet.  Just watermelon and ice, that’s it.  Oh my, so refreshing on a hot summer day.  And so much better than driving through Sonic like we used to.  Did you know that Sonic refuses to disclose the ingredients in the slushies?!  Not ok!  I think it’s pretty safe to assume that a homemade version is much healthier and better for us.  There are so many wonderful things about watermelon:

• Rich in vitamins C, A, Magnesium and Potassium
• Tackles the inflammation that contributes to conditions like asthma, atherosclerosis, diabetes, colon cancer, and arthritis.
• Helps prevent macular degeneration
• Exceptionally high in citrulline, an amino acid our bodies use to make another amino acid, arginine, which is used in the urea cycle to remove ammonia from the body, and by the cells lining our blood vessels to make nitric oxide. Nitric oxide not only relaxes blood vessels, lowering high blood pressure, it is the compound whose production is enhanced by Viagra to prevent erectile dysfunction. Arginine has been shown to improve insulin sensitivity in obese type 2 diabetic patients with insulin resistance.
• A source of the potent carotenoid antioxidant, lycopene. These powerful antioxidants travel through the body neutralizing free radicals. Free radicals are substances in the body that can cause a great deal of damage. They are able to oxidize cholesterol, making it stick to blood vessel walls, where it can lead to heart attack or stroke. They can add to the severity of asthma attacks by causing airways to clamp down and close. They can increase the inflammation that occurs in osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis and cause most of the joint damage that occurs in these conditions, and they can damage cells lining the colon, turning them into cancer cells.  Teagan suffered a lot of free radical damage after his vaccine injury, it is so important to remove them from the body.
• High intakes of vitamin C and beta-carotene have been shown in a number of scientific studies to reduce the risk of heart disease, reduce the airway spasm that occurs in asthma, reduce the risk of colon cancer, and alleviate some of the symptoms of osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.A cup of watermelon provides 21% of the daily value for vitamin C, and, through its carotenoids, 17% of the DV for vitamin A.
• Watermelon is also a very concentrated source of the carotenoid, lycopene. Well known for being abundant in tomatoes and particularly well absorbed from cooked tomato products containing a little fat such as olive oil, lycopene is also present in high amounts in watermelon and mangoes. Lycopene has been extensively studied for its antioxidant and cancer-preventing properties. In contrast to many other food phytonutrients, whose effects have only been studied in animals, lycopene has been repeatedly studied in humans and found to be protective against a growing list of cancers. These cancers now include prostate cancer, breast cancer, endometrial cancer, lung cancer and colorectal cancers.
• Watermelon is rich in the B vitamins necessary for energy production. Watermelon is a very good source of vitamin B6 and a good source of vitamin B1, magnesium, and potassium. This is due to the higher nutrient richness of watermelon. Because this food has a higher water content and lower calorie content than many other fruits (a whole cup of watermelon contains only 48 calories), it delivers more nutrients per calorie—an outstanding health benefit!

  Source:  World’s Healthiest Foods