Precautions for eating watermelon, who should not eat watermelon

Juicy and sweet watermelon is a must-eat fruit in the summer. However, not everyone can eat watermelon. Even those who can eat it should pay attention to the scientific way of eating it. Some patients or in some cases, it is best not to eat it.

1. Diabetes patients

Watermelon contains about 5% sugar, and mainly glucose, sucrose and some fructose, which means that eating watermelon will cause blood sugar to rise. Normal people can maintain blood sugar and urine sugar at normal levels because they can secrete insulin in time.

However, it is different for diabetics. Eating too much watermelon in a short period of time will not only increase blood sugar, but also cause acidosis due to metabolic disorders in severe cases, which may even endanger life. The amount of carbohydrates (sugars) that diabetics eat every day needs to be strictly controlled. Therefore, if you eat watermelon several times a day, you should reduce the amount of rice and pasta (carbohydrates) accordingly to avoid aggravating your condition.

2. Patients with renal insufficiency

Patients with renal insufficiency have a greatly reduced ability to excrete water from the body, so they often experience edema in the lower limbs or the whole body. If such patients eat too much watermelon, they will take in too much water and fail to excrete the excess water in time, causing excessive water storage in the body and increased blood volume, which will not only aggravate edema but also easily induce acute heart failure. Therefore, it is better for patients with renal insufficiency to eat less or no watermelon.

3. Early stage of cold

Traditional Chinese medicine believes that whether it is a cold caused by wind or heat, it is an external symptom in the early stage, and a dispersing treatment method should be adopted to eliminate the pathogenic factors from the surface. It is also believed that attacking the pathogenic factors before the surface is eliminated will aggravate the condition. Watermelon has the effect of clearing internal heat, so eating watermelon at this time will aggravate the cold or prolong the course of the disease.

4. Oral ulcer patients

Oral ulcers are considered to be caused by Yin deficiency, internal heat, and internal fire disturbance in traditional Chinese medicine. Watermelon has a diuretic effect. If people with oral ulcers eat more watermelon, the water needed for oral ulcer recovery will be excreted too much, thereby aggravating Yin deficiency and internal heat, making the disease protracted and difficult to heal.

5. Pregnant women

The physique of pregnant women is relatively weak. Chinese medicine believes that eating too much watermelon will cause excessive cold and damage the spleen and stomach.

6. Do not take it before or after meals

Because the large amount of water in watermelon will dilute the digestive juice in the stomach, eating it before or after a meal will affect the digestion and absorption of food. In addition, eating a lot of watermelon before a meal will occupy the volume of the stomach, which greatly reduces the intake of multiple nutrients during the meal, especially for children, pregnant women and nursing mothers. For those who want to lose weight by dieting, eating some watermelon before a meal is a good way to reduce food intake.

7. Don’t eat too much watermelon

Because watermelon is a "cold food", anyone who eats too much will damage the spleen and stomach, leading to poor appetite, indigestion, and decreased gastrointestinal resistance, causing abdominal distension and diarrhea.

8. Eat less cold watermelon

Although eating ice watermelon on a hot day is very effective in relieving the heat, it is very irritating to the stomach and can easily damage the spleen and stomach, so you should pay attention to the temperature and quantity that are best for eating. It is best to put the watermelon in the bottom layer of the refrigerator, where the temperature is about 8-10℃, and the taste is best at this temperature. The amount you eat each time should not exceed 500 grams, and you should eat it slowly. People with caries (cavities) and tooth allergies who feel sour and painful when exposed to cold, as well as those with poor gastrointestinal function should not eat ice watermelon.