Celebrate National Watermelon Month

August is National Watermelon Month. Celebrate nature’s bounty with this yummy watermelon salad recipe compliments of my friend Barbara. The blend of flavors is quite unique.

Barbara’s Watermelon and Feta Salad
¼ cup extra virgin olive oil
2 T. balsamic vinegar
4 cups ice cold watermelon in chunks or balls
½ thinly sliced red onion
½ cup crumbled Feta cheese

Pour olive oil and balsamic vinegar into a jar. Shake and chill

Just before serving, toss the last three items together in a large bowl. Drizzle the dressing over the salad and serve.

Health Benefits
Watermelon is not only very refreshing but also low in calories and high in the antioxidant lycopene. In spite of what you may have heard, there is a greater concentration of lycopene in watermelon than in tomatoes.

The only health concern some express about this mouth-watering fruit is its high level of pro-inflammatory sugar.

Though watermelon has a high glycemic index of 74 and is therefore discouraged in some diets (e.g. Perricone 28-day program); it has a very low glycemic load (based on serving size). Read about the critical difference between GI and GL here.

Olive oil is one of the healthier monounsaturated fats. It is a metabolism booster and one of the most important elements of the Mediterranean/Sonoma Diet. A little fat is good for you. An Ohio State University study found that a little fat helps your body absorb up to four times more cancer-fighting lycopene.

Another plus to this recipe is the fat-fighting power of vinegar. In an Arizona State University study, subjects who had four teaspoons of vinegar before a high carb meal didn’t experience the blood sugar spike which often causes people to eat more later. On average, the subjects’ daily food consumption went down 200 calories.

Tags: recipe, watermelon and Feta salad, lycopene, antioxidants, fat-fighting foods, dressing recipe