9 things you need to know about eating watermelon healthily

Watermelon is the favorite fruit of most people in summer, and many people enjoy it almost every day. However, eating watermelon can also cause many small problems, such as weight gain and increased blood sugar. Many people are also worried that overnight watermelon may breed bacteria and bring food safety risks. Here we will analyze the knowledge you must know when eating watermelon.

Question 1: When the watermelon is cut for the first time, do bacteria enter?

Yes. The first cut introduces bacterial contamination.

We cannot eat a whole watermelon. We must cut it before we can eat it. The inside of a whole watermelon is almost sterile. However, once you cut it with a knife, bacteria will enter the tissue of the watermelon. We did not cut it in a sterile room, so there must be bacteria in the air. The knife was not sterilized, so it must have bacteria on it. The cutting board is also a source of bacteria.

Watermelon tissue and watermelon juice contain nutrients and are rich in water, which is suitable for the rapid proliferation of bacteria. Therefore, once the watermelon is cut, bacteria will rapidly proliferate in the warm environment of summer, bringing us food safety risks. The smaller the cut, the greater the contamination.

Of course, the same goes for the spoons we use to eat watermelon. After being held in the mouth, the bacteria in the mouth and saliva will be "inoculated" into the watermelon. Therefore, uncut watermelons can be kept for a long time, but once opened, they are unsafe. Knives, spoons, cutting boards, air...are all sources of contamination.

Question 2: How long can watermelon be kept at room temperature?

Most watermelons are large, so it is difficult for one person to finish them all at once. A large watermelon cannot be finished by a family of three at a time. Therefore, it is inevitable to eat watermelons in several portions. In order to facilitate consumers, sales staff often cut large watermelons into halves or even quarters for sale.

Watermelon is a substrate suitable for the rapid proliferation of microorganisms. It has high water content, low acidity, and relatively low osmotic pressure. At room temperature in summer, it can only be stored for less than 2 hours.

If you buy a melon and don't know when it was cut, it's best to eat it as soon as possible after you get home, and don't store it at room temperature. It's best to cut off the top layer when you eat it, because this layer has the most proliferating microorganisms, and the bottom is relatively safe.

If someone is buying melons with you, you can discuss with him and buy one melon together, and ask the salesperson to cut it in half at the time, and each of you can take half. This way you can ensure that the half melon you eat is fresh enough, has not been left at room temperature for a long time, and has less bacterial contamination.

Question 3: Can you eat watermelon that has been cut and left overnight?

Of course you can eat overnight watermelon, but the prerequisite is that it must be refrigerated as soon as possible after cutting.

In the refrigerator, you can't feel the difference between day and night. The so-called "overnight" means that it has been left for more than 10 hours, and the microorganisms have enough time to multiply. Even during the day, from getting up in the morning to going to bed at night, although it is not called "overnight", it is actually more than ten hours, which is longer than a sleep.

After cutting the watermelon, leave the piece you are about to eat outside, and try not to cut the other parts into pieces. The more intact the better. Then cover it with clean plastic wrap as soon as possible and put it in the refrigerator. This is because the inside of the plant tissue is originally sterile, and bacterial contamination starts from the cut part and penetrates deep into the inside. The smaller the cut piece, the greater the degree of contamination.

Covering the watermelon with plastic wrap itself will not inhibit bacterial proliferation, but it is only to prevent cross-contamination of the watermelon from other foods in the refrigerator and microorganisms on the refrigerator walls, and to prevent the smell of various foods in the refrigerator from being transferred to the watermelon.

Please remember to keep raw and cooked food separate in the refrigerator. Foods that can be eaten directly, such as watermelon, should be placed on the upper layer of the refrigerator as much as possible, and not mixed with raw fish, raw meat, and raw vegetables.

It is best not to store melons that have been cut for a long time because they may already have a high bacterial "base". Even if they are placed in the refrigerator, the low temperature will slow down the proliferation of bacteria but cannot kill the existing large number of bacteria, so it is unsafe. Especially the elderly, young children, patients and people with indigestion who have poor immunity should be especially careful.

Question 4: Can dedicated cutting boards and knives effectively prevent bacteria?

Many of you may have eaten watermelons that tasted like garlic or onions when you were young. This is because the knife used to cut the watermelon was not cleaned. The juice of the food that was previously cut will be on the knife, and bacteria will multiply very quickly. If some pathogenic bacteria happen to multiply, they will be transferred to the watermelon, bringing huge food safety risks. Therefore, you must not use a knife that was used to cut fish or raw vegetables to cut watermelon.

We are no longer in poverty. Buying two more knives and two more cutting boards will not make your family go bankrupt. You must develop the good habit of separating raw and cooked food and storing them separately. Use the first cutting board to cut raw fish and raw meat, and be sure to clean and disinfect it after cutting. Use the second cutting board to cut raw vegetables to be stir-fried. Use the third cutting board to cut vegetables and fruits to be eaten raw.

Although using a special cutting board and knife for cutting fruits cannot prevent bacterial proliferation, it can effectively prevent pathogenic bacteria in other raw foods from contaminating the watermelon and avoid the problem of odor transfer.

Question 5: Is watermelon a low-sugar fruit or a high-sugar fruit?

It is said that watermelon is a low-sugar fruit, with a sugar content of only 6% to 7%, but this is based on the results of measurements from 20 to 30 years ago and is no longer suitable for the current market situation. Due to market screening and the efforts of agricultural experts, the sugar content of watermelons is now getting higher and higher, reaching 8% to 13%.

Of course, this trend of increasing sugar content is not limited to watermelon, but also to other fruits. Grapes are getting sweeter, apples are getting sweeter, oranges are getting sweeter, lychees are getting sweeter... So, compared with other fruits, watermelon cannot be considered a fruit with high sugar content.

However, the problem with watermelon is that it is the easiest fruit to eat too much. If the sugar content is 10%, 1000 grams of watermelon flesh will provide 100 grams of sugar. In addition, watermelon has a low satiety effect. Eating watermelon does not interfere with eating three meals. If you eat an extra 100 grams of sugar outside of three meals, it is difficult not to promote weight gain.

Therefore, people who want to lose weight should only eat 200-350 grams of watermelon flesh a day, and no more than 1 catty at most. In this way, it is included in the daily fruit quota and will not cause the problem of excessive daily calories.

Question 6: If I replace staple food with watermelon, will I not gain weight?

Since watermelon has a very low protein content, it is okay to eat a lot of watermelon to replace the main meal once in a while. However, if you do this frequently, it will cause muscle loss, malnutrition, and a decrease in metabolic rate. In the long run, the body fat rate may increase, which makes it easier to gain weight. At the same time, it will also cause problems such as body flabbyness, loss of appetite, fatigue and laziness, which is not good for body lines and reduces the quality of life.

Since watermelon contains a lot of potassium and very little sodium, eating watermelon as a meal replacement in the short term can promote the excretion of water from the body, but doing so frequently may cause sodium deficiency. In summer, people sweat a lot, and sodium deficiency can also cause physical fatigue, dizziness and other discomforts.

Generally speaking, people who eat more fish and meat and have strong muscles have a stronger resistance to replacing a meal with watermelon. However, people who have low daily protein intake, soft muscles, and poor physical strength are not suitable to replace staple foods with watermelon, and it cannot replace a meal frequently.

Question 7: Can people with diabetes eat watermelon?

Diabetics can eat watermelon, but they should eat it in small amounts. The glycemic index (GI) of watermelon is as high as 72, which is the highest among fruits (the equivalent is lychee, which also has a GI of 72). This may be because watermelon is easy to juice, and after the sugar is squeezed out of the cell structure, it is easily absorbed and utilized. Unlike fruits such as apples, the sugar exists in the cell structure and is slowly released through chewing.

Diabetic patients can consider eating a small amount of fruit between meals or before meals, such as eating about 100 grams of watermelon each time. This is acceptable if you eat it in two servings out of the total 200 grams of fruit intake.

Question 8: Can gout patients eat watermelon?

Gout patients can eat watermelon. The potassium and vitamin C in it are beneficial to the condition. Rich potassium is conducive to the excretion of uric acid. However, considering that watermelon contains fructose, and too much fructose will increase the production of endogenous uric acid, it is not suitable to eat watermelon as a meal. Eating one and a half kilograms of watermelon every day will not bring too much fructose.

Question 9: Will eating chilled watermelon harm your health?

First of all, we need to see whether the frozen watermelon contains too many microorganisms or is contaminated by pathogenic microorganisms. Secondly, we need to see whether the person who eats the watermelon is healthy.

For young, healthy people with good gastrointestinal function, eating chilled watermelon will not cause serious problems. However, people who are prone to diarrhea, those with poor digestion and absorption, and those with irritable bowel syndrome are not recommended to eat chilled watermelon to avoid excessive intestinal movement and diarrhea, or even cramping and abdominal pain caused by cold stimulation. Patients with cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases and gallbladder diseases are also not suitable to eat a lot of chilled watermelon.

Now, you should know whether to eat watermelon, how much watermelon to eat, and how to store watermelon.

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