Mother Nature knows which fruit to give us in which seasons, that’s for sure. Watermelon is the perfect summer fruit, not only for its cool and refreshing lightly sweet flavour, but for its fabulous ability to hydrate us.
With a water content of around 92%, watermelon also has electrolytes and a couple of slices of watermelon will instantly boost your hydration levels along with providing a handy helping of fibre. Throw a watermelon into the car with you (not too hard!) when you’re heading off for a BBQ or picnic and you’re helping your fluid intake as well as making your tummy happy.
This juicy beauty also helps you battle free radicals with its good levels of the antioxidants vitamin C and lycopene. Lycopene gives watermelon its pretty pinkish red hue and does the same job with tomatoes. I was gobsmacked to learn that watermelon has higher levels of lycopene than tomatoes do. So if you struggle with including tomatoes in your diet, look to watermelon when it’s in season for boosting your lycopene.
Watermelon is also rich in carotenoids that our bodies turn into vitamin A for healthy skin and hair, which incidentally are more glowing when we’re well hydrated, so it’s a double reason to eat watermelon regularly!
Magnesium, potassium and vitamins B1, B5 and B6 are also boosted by watermelon consumption, as are the amino acids (building blocks for proteins) L-citrulline and L-arginine, which can be helpful for blood sugar levels and helping to move lactic acid out of the system more quickly after exercise. Follow your workout with some slices of watermelon and see if it helps your muscles feel refreshed along with quenching thirst.
Combine the benefits of watermelon with Young Living Balance Complete™ meal replacement powder into a smoothie and we figure you’re onto a hydrating, nutritious, quick and easy winner!
The term ‘superfood’ is overused to heck and not always accurately, but we can’t help it in this case when you look the ingredient list of this whey protein-based shake maker and the number of valuable nutrients it includes, like wolfberry extract, essential oil of orange and organic barley grass powder. You’ll find the full ingredient list below.
With 12 grams of fibre per serve, a bunch of vitamins and minerals and naturally sweetened with xylitol, you can use Young Living Balance Complete™ daily to plump up your nutrition levels and make up a perfect lunch to take to work with you. While you can keep it super-simple and just add your favourite type of dairy or plant-based milk, we love adding Balance Complete™ to smoothies and we hope you’ll love one of our favourites that we’re sharing with you today!
TIME-SAVING TIPS
When watermelon is plentiful, freeze 1” cubes or scooped out melon balls into small freezer-proof containers to suit the volume needed for smoothie recipes. You can do the same with other seasonal fruits like strawberries, mangoes and bananas. These keep your smoothie deliciously cool from the start and can give a thicker texture, too.
Along with freezing fruits separately, you can also freeze combinations of your favourite smoothie fruits together into each container so that your prep time for the smoothie itself is minimal. Just grab a container from the freezer 5 minutes before making, add to your other ingredients into the blender and away you go. If you’re adding non-frozen fruit into the mix, you can use frozen fruit without any waiting time and the temperature should be pretty much spot on for your blender and taste buds to handle.
Balance Complete™ Watermelon Smoothie
Makes 2 x smoothies. Unless you’re really hungry and thirsty, in which case, possibly one.
INGREDIENTS
- 1 ½ cups watermelon
- 1 cup strawberries
- ¼ cup Young Living NingXia Red® (please click here to discover its awesome benefits)
- ½ ripe banana
- 2 scoops Young Living Balance Complete™
- ½ cup your favourite kind of milk
- ½ cup organic quality yoghurt rich in probiotics
- 2 drops Young Living Tangerine Vitality essential oil (to dial up the flavour and spark your happiness)
- fresh mint leaves or 1 drop Young Living Spearmint Vitality essential oil
- sprinkle of cinnamon for serving
METHOD
Combine all ingredients in your blender.
Pour into a beautiful glass and sprinkle with ground cinnamon and enjoy the hydrating, fibre-rich goodness!
Young Living Balance Complete™ ingredients at the time of posting: Whey protein concentrate (Milk), Inulin, Skim milk powder, Rice bran, Medium chain triglyceride Medium chain triglyceride, Maltodextrin, Modified starch (1450), Emulsifier (471)], Xylitol, Minerals (Calcium Phosphate, Magnesium oxide, Ferrous sulphate, Zinc sulphate, Selenomethionine, Copper gluconate, Manganese sulphate, Chromium picolinate, Sodium molybdate, Potassium iodide), Citrus fibre, Wolfberry extract, Vegetable gums (Xanthan, Guar), Flavour, Organic barley grass powder, Cinnamon bark powder, Hesperidine, Vitamins (Vitamin C, Vitamin E, Niacin, Pantothenic acid, Riboflavin, Pyridoxine, Thiamin, Mixed carotenes, Folic acid, Vitamin K, Biotin, Vitamin D, Vitamin B12), Vegetable oil, Sweetener (Steviol glycosides), Aloe vera extract, Orange† (Citrus sinensis) rind essential oil. Contains Milk.
Enjoy the good oil daily.
The information on this site does not constitute advice. Please consult with your health practitioner. When using any of the products mentioned throughout this site, please be sure to read the labels and follow their suggestions for safe use. We make commissions from sales via many of the products we recommend but we only suggest products we genuinely enjoy and want you to benefit from. Product image used with permission © Young Living Essential Oils.
