Eating good nutritional foods is highly important during pregnancy. It can be good for both the mom and the baby. The mom can still be healthy, and the baby will receive a good amount of nutrition to grow healthy too.
Fruits are highly recommended to eat due to the amount of vitamins and nutrition. They are easy to get, and easy to consume. Especially, when you can make them into something more delicious to get the benefits of cabbage salad with ramen noodles for example.
They can hydrate well with rich amounts of water that can be found in some fruits, watermelon is one of them. Watermelon is the fruit that is often recommended to eat during pregnancy due to its many benefits. Despite few researches talked about this, watermelon still can be trusted to be a useful fruit to consume.
1. Rich With Nutritions
One reason why watermelon should be consumed is the nutrition. Watermelon has the same usefulness as other fruit like banana, with banana benefits for skin mask. Watermelon is rich with carbohydrates, minerals, vitamin C, calories, and 91% water.
Yes, it works well as a hydrating food. According to Healthline, a 152 g of watermelon consists of 46 calories, 12 grams carbs, 14% of Daily Value Vitamin C, along with small amounts of Vitamin B5, Provitamin A, Copper, Fat, and Protein.
There are also lycopene and lutein, which can be found abundant in a dice of watermelon. These two antioxidants are very useful to increase mom’s antibodies to deflect various diseases and health problems.
They also offer protection against cancer. Lycopene and Lutein also work very well for pregnants, since they can also help them to reduce the risk of preterm birth and complications. They are also good for fetal growth.
2. Contains a Good Amount of Water
Watermelon is basically a rounded water. It contains 91% water, that’s the reason why when you’re eating watermelon, you’d feel like chewing water. The good amount of water contained inside watermelon may help the moms to hydrate more, since the pregnants are likely to feel dehydration due to the sickness that happens frequently.
Some women may have trouble with digestion. When experiencing pregnancy, most women are facing increased blood volume, which on the other hand, makes digestion a little bit slower.
Eating watermelon or enjoying benefits of zamzam water can help to reduce the risk of constipation or even hemorrhoids. A good hydration leads to better fetal growth, and lower risk of preterm birth.
Even though watermelon is beneficial, the function of a good hydration can be found in other fruits as well. Tomatoes, melons, and other vegetables also content a lot of water. So don’t worry if you can’t find a watermelon around you, as long as you hydrated, you’ll be fine.
3. Reducing Morning Sickness
One of the main problems of pregnancy is morning sickness. It’s not wrong to feel sick after getting up from sleep. This usually happens in the first trimester of pregnancy. Some people have different ways to solve this, like having the benefits of coconut water for example. That works of course, and so does the watermelon juice.
It’s pretty easy to make and prepare. Consuming a glass of watermelon juice may help to reduce the sickness and could be a great refresher in the morning. It may provide good amounts of vitamins to start the day. Highly refreshing and a dependable source of energy.
4. Reducing Swelling
Still related to the water contents inside wetermelon, some pregnant ladies have experienced swelling in some of their body parts, usually legs and arms. It can be very uncomfortable to move around with swelling everywhere. It happens due to the abnormal blood circulation, whether in the arms or legs.
A good hydration can get rid of this problem. Because of the richness in water, consuming watermelon isn’t a bad idea at all. Eating some slices of watermelon regularly could provide a good amount of water for the body. Body that’s always hydrated can have a normal blood circulation, and thus reduces the swelling.
5. Works as Natural Detoxification
During pregnancy, some moms are experiencing the skin turning paler than usual. This happens because of a hormonal change that makes some parts of the body change. Watermelon could work as a natural medicine for this problem. It’s helping with a good amount of nutrition that can be a natural detoxification.
It can help to clean the digestive system from poison, and increases the skin’s SPF. Your skin will be better, and you’ll be healthy. Say bye to constipation and other digestive problems. As long as you’re consuming it sufficiently and regularly, these problems are no more. Good amount of fibers and water is always a good combination to make your tummy feel better.
6. Lower the Risk of Preeclampsia
There was a research about lycopene, another useful antioxidant like benefits of Taro Root for cancer, that can be found inside watermelon, and pregnancy. According to Healthline, consuming 4 milligrams of lycopene daily can help lower the risk of getting preeclampsia more than 50%.
This can be found inside a cup or 152 grams of watermelon, even though there’s no specific studies about the connection of preeclampsia and watermelon.
Preeclampsia is a serious problem and should be avoided due to its harmful effects toward the mom and the baby. It can cause swelling, high blood pressure (that could lead to heart attack), and premature birth.
The study however, used the high-dose lycopene, which is different from lycopene found in watermelon. But still, consuming watermelon could work as a natural detoxification against this problem, even though it is still not proven by scientific studies. It contains a good amount of fibers and water, a good combo to hydrate the pregnants.