Fertility Friendly Recipe: Salted Watermelon and Mint Salad

Summer is such a fun time for fresh food!

The summer harvest is full of fruits and vegetables with lots of deep color such as blueberries, blackberries, raspberries, romaine lettuce, swiss chard, beets, tomatoes, carrots, and watermelon, to name just a few.

The deep colors tell us these foods are chock full of antioxidants, molecules that help promote vibrant health by fighting disease-causing free radicals in your body.

Can deeply colored fruits and vegetables boost fertility?

In short, yes! Those antioxidants give you a power boost of nutrients—just what you need for boosting fertility.

And the nice thing about really fresh food is that it can be prepared so simply and deliciously. When food is fresh and at its peak, it doesn’t need a ton of work or seasoning. Summer is the perfect time for quick pastas drenched in lightly sauteed vegetables and for crisp summer salads.

My favorite 5-minute Salted Watermelon and Mint Salad, an easy, pretty, thirst quencher, fills the bill for flavor and fertility benefits.

Recipe

• A half or whole watermelon

• 10 - 15 fresh mint leaves, finely chopped

• ½ to 1 teaspoon coarse ground Celtic sea salt

• Juice of 1 lime

Slice the crisp, red watermelon off the rind* and cut into bite-sized cubes. Place the cubes into a large bowl.

Rinse mint under water. Pat dry with a paper or cloth towel. Pull 10-15 fresh mint leaves from the stem. Finely chop for maximum flavor.

Squeeze the juice of one lime onto the watermelon cubes.

Sprinkle the Celtic sea salt and mint onto the cubes.

Sprinkle mint across the watermelon and gently toss with a wooden spatula.

Viola! You’re done!

*Note: I suggest buying a half or whole watermelon instead of pre-sliced. It takes two minutes to cut watermelon into cubes, tastes 100% crisper, and reduces chances of bacteria contamination that can come from the grocery store doing the slicing.

So...what are the health and, specifically, fertility benefits of this salad?

One cup of cubed watermelon gives you a good dose of vitamins and some minerals:

• Vitamin C: 21%

• Vitamin A: 18%

• Potassium: 5%

• Magnesium: 4%

• Vitamins B1, B5 and B6: 3%

Percentages = amount of the Reference Daily Intake (RDI). So, a cup of cubed watermelon provides 21% of the daily intake considered to be sufficient for vitamin C, for example.

Source: Healthline

Lycopene

Watermelon is high in lycopene, a fertility booster. Lycopene is a naturally occurring chemical that gives fruits and vegetables a red pigment. It’s found in tomatoes, watermelons, red oranges, pink grapefruits, apricots, rosehips, and guavas.

Lycopene’s ability to enhance male fertility has been thoroughly researched and it can help women, too. Human trials have shown improvement in sperm parameters (i.e. more sperm and better functioning sperm) and pregnancy rates with supplementation of 4–8 mg of lycopene daily for 3–12 months.

The added benefit? Lycopene increases libido! Check out my libido enhancing food list.

Electrolytes

If you read my blog or you’re my client, you know that I am big on electrolytes!

Electrolytes are essential minerals that help conduct electricity when dissolved in water.

Remember high school chemistry and the positive or negatively charged atom? Maybe not...but just know that these guys (Sodium, Potassium, Chloride, Magnesium, Calcium, Phosphate and Bicarbonate) are vital to key functions in your body, working in the cells, tissues, nerves, and muscles.

Another benefit of this recipe? It serves up natural electrolytes! The potassium in the watermelon balances the Celtic sea salt.

People always think of Gatorade when they think electrolytes. That’s one way to get them, but you don’t need high fructose corn syrup and artificial dyes to get electrolytes. Just have my salad or make your own electrolyte drink.

What use do electrolytes have for fertility?

A balance of different electrolytes, in the right ratios, is important for adequate cervical mucus, which creates a good environment for sperm to enable you to conceive.

If you are undergoing IVF, electrolytes are critical to help ward off Hyper Ovarian Stimulation Syndrome, which is rare but can be fatal if it is not managed properly. Your reproductive endocrinologist will likely have you on only electrolytes and salting your food immediately following an egg retrial for 3 days straight and then regular electrolyte consumption daily. They should also be monitoring you closely.

Vitamin C for fertility

Nothing like a squirt of lime to spruce up a dish. Tangy and tart are a good combination.

What’s in limes?

Limes have Vitamin C, which is a powerhouse antioxidant. Vitamin C helps with fertility on a number of fronts. Vitamin C is good for sperm health. Seminal fluid actually has a high concentration of Vitamin C. If the sperm is damaged or of “older biological age,” Vitamin C has been shown to repair sperm with a high DNA fragmentation rate.

For women, vitamin C can optimize ovulation, improve egg health and reduce luteal phase defects. All reasons for you both to have salted mint watermelon salad regularly this month while watermelons are in season!

Want to know about how to eat better for fertility? Join our fertility program.