Eat Watermelon Year-Round

Unless you live in San Diego or Key Largo, scribbling watermelon on your grocery list in November is about as likely as the Cardinals winning the World Series. Be like the Cards: Do it anyway! Watermelon's racking up health points. The latest:

1. Watermelon degunks arteries. Swapping water for watermelon juice reduces body fat, lowers LDL cholesterol, and -- the biggest effect -- cleans heart-threatening plaque from arteries. Early days on this research, but it fits.
2. It drops your blood pressure and boosts circulation. Watermelon is one of the few food sources of citrulline, a protein that's a real powerhouse. Got borderline hypertension? Other studies have found that citrulline lowers systolic blood pressure by as much as 9 points, enough to prevent full-blown hypertension. That's because it helps produce nitric oxide, powerful stuff that opens and relaxes your arteries. Citrulline also helps with wound healing and cell division, and turbocharges blood flow, enhancing circulation to all your vital parts (much the way Viagra does).
3. It's loaded with lycopene.This potent plant polyphenol is thought to fend off heart disease and some cancers (though prostate cancer looks like a bust). Tomatoes are considered lycopene all-stars, but cup for cup, watermelon has 40% more. Watermelon may help you think faster, too.
4. It's naturally low-cal. There are only 96 calories in 2 fill-you-full cups of sweet watermelon.

Whether you slice it, dice it, or juice it, eat watermelon year-round, not just on the 4th of July. It's increasingly a salad-bar staple, and yes, you can buy 100% watermelon juice. If your local health-food store doesn't have it, Amazon does.

Find out whether it’s better keep a whole watermelon on the counter or in the fridge.