The Red in Green

Goat curry and satay are my favorite foods, especially when it was my mother's cooking. Goat curry is considered to be food with high cholesterol, and goat meat consumption may increase the blood pressure. Because I have low blood pressure, it doesn't matter to me, as long as I'm not consume it excessively.

Watermelon vs. Cholesterol

I had a friend which is an Arabian descent once told me. Did you know? Arabians prefer to consume foods with high cholesterol, but less affected by diseases such as diabetes or cancer. My friend said, it's because on what they drink after having a meal. They choose a warm drink instead of cold drink after eating foods high in cholesterol. They also consume watermelon after having a meal with high cholesterol foods.

Watermelon is a fruit that has about 90% water content in it. If you consume watermelon after having a meal, is believed to help expedite the process of the digestive tract, just like drinking water.

Watermelon as Viagra to Treat Erectile Dysfunction

Watermelon is a source of citrulline, an amino acid. The body then uses citrulline to make arginine, another amino acid, which plays a key role on the heart and circulation system, also maintains a good immune system.

Arginine boosts nitric oxide, which relaxes blood vessels, the same basic effect that Viagra has, to treat erectile dysfunction and maybe even prevent it, said Bhimu Patil, a researcher and director of Texas A&M's Fruit and Vegetable Improvement Center. Arginine also helps the urea cycle in our bodies by removing toxic compounds such as ammonia. Watermelon may not be as organ-specific as Viagra, but it's a great way to relax blood vessels without any drug side effects, added Bhimu Patil.

Research by Texas A&M University has also shown that the phenolic/anthocyanin compounds in stone fruit (fruit with seeds in the flesh) have good antioxidant activity, and inhibitory effects on the proliferation of breast cancer, and erythroluekemia cancer cell lines. Inflammation is a key process involved in bowel diseases, and in development of colon cancer.

Watermelon with Poison Addition

Due to bad weather, a heavy rainy season, sometimes watermelon is often being harvested before it's time. The bad seller on traditional market often doing some tricky ways to sell those fruits by injected it with sweetener, and red colour, I don't know if it may be a food coloured, but I guess it's not.

My mother was used to buy watermelon in a traditional market. A friendly fruit seller had told my mother to not to buy a watermelon, especially in this time of rainy season in Indonesia, due to many of injected watermelons sold. On the other hand, another tricky fruit seller also promoted his watermelon to my mom, that after 3 days the watermelon is ready to eat. My mom then cancelled her purchased on watermelon.

Sometimes, a tricky fruit seller also spray on the skin of other fruit such as grapes with borax, also known as sodium borate, sodium tetraborate, or disodium tetraborate, to make it looks more shiny, and to keep it looks 'fresh' to sell. It is a common used in Indonesia, although it's forbidden, addition to foods such as noodles, bakso (meatballs), ikan asin (dry salty fish), and to other foods products, or even vegetables.

Watermelon-rind Juice

I've still remembered a TV show some years ago, a health TV programme hosted by the late Prof. Dr. Hembing Wijayakusuma, Indonesian expert of traditional medicine and acupuncture, who had past away on last August 2011. The part I remembered was when Dr. Hembing informed the benefit from watermelon-rind juice.

Why does Dr. Hembing use watermelons-rind to make a juice? It is because citrulline is found in higher concentrations in watermelons-rind, rather than the flesh. Also you may not want to eat the rind, don't you? Watermelon-rind juice is used to treat diseases such as, inflammation of the kidneys, difficult urination, and to overcome high blood presure, or chronic hypertension.