Notable Personality Factors:
Cantaloupes are compassionate fruits; they’re soulful, sensitive, and nurturing. They lift the spirit, instill a sense of appreciation for life’s gifts, help to put priorities in proper order, and create balance in your life—mentally, emotionally, and nutritionally! Thought to have originated in Africa, cantaloupes are now grown all over the world. This flavorful orange-fleshed fruit has purifying powers that build your resistance to disease and help initiate healing in the body. How so? Let’s take a closer look.
Cantaloupes are compassionate fruits; they’re soulful, sensitive, and nurturing.
Therapeutic & Healing Powers:***
Cantaloupes are one of the more alkaline fruits in the fruit kingdom, and are well suited for cleansing the blood and detoxifying the body. As a blood cleanser and blood thinner, cantaloupes can prevent platelet aggregation and help keep blood from clotting. For this reason, cantaloupes make excellent components of a diet geared toward preventing stroke and treating phlebitis and heart arrhythmia. In addition to purifying the blood, I’ve found that cantaloupes also help clear out any sludge in the lymph system. Finally, as part of its dynamic detoxifying effect on the body, fresh squeezed cantaloupe juice is great for purging toxins from the liver, spleen, and sinuses. It’s important to point out that they also help flush out the intestines and are excellent for elimination.
In addition to its cleansing properties, cantaloupes are a great source of antioxidants that build your body’s natural defense mechanisms against cancer, accelerated aging, and disease. The cantaloupe’s unique concentration of beta-carotene and vitamin C give it the extraordinary ability to protect all areas of the body from damaging free-radicals. The beta-carotene, which is converted in the body to fat-soluble vitamin A, helps neutralize free-radicals in the fatty tissues of the body. Meanwhile, vitamin C is water-soluble, and helps neutralize free-radicals in the blood and inside cells. While this combination of antioxidants helps the body fight off all kinds of degenerative illness, I’ve found the cantaloupe’s cancer-fighting qualities to be particularly helpful when it comes to breast cancer and lung cancer.
Last but not least, like all alkaline fruits, cantaloupes serve an important role in counteracting liver stress.
Nutrient Value:
The cantaloupe is a nutrient-dense fruit. As noted above, it is particularly valuable for its vitamin A (by means of its high concentration of beta-carotene) and vitamin C content. It is also high in potassium and magnesium, two minerals that contribute to its alkalinity. Cantaloupes are a good source of carotenes and other carotenoids, and a respectable source of many B vitamins.
Selection and Care:
Choose firm cantaloupes with thick, rugged veining on the surface skin. When ripe, cantaloupes emit a sweet aroma.
Optimal Use and Combining:
Like all fruits, cantaloupes are best consumed, fresh, whole, living, and raw—whether in a fruit salad or blended up in a fruit smoothie. Cantaloupes complement other melons, such as watermelon and honeydew. Their juicy yet fibrous texture also mixes well with papayas and bananas. As part of a liquid cleanse, cantaloupe blended with watermelon, papaya, and almond butter makes for a dynamic smoothie—for both your taste buds and your health! In keeping with the season, it’s best to emphasize cantaloupes in the summer.
***This article is not intended to treat or diagnose any type of health condition or disease. Any nutritional considerations for any health complication should be discussed with your physician or healthcare provider.