Fruits are my go-to meal for leading a healthy lifestyle. I really love fruit salads and juice. And one of my favorite fruits is honeydew melon. Due to its soft and juicy goodness, I love eating them as it is without any mixture.
However, as I started to do my low-carb keto diet, it was hard to include honeydew in my lifestyle’s strict set meal routine. So I began to wonder, how can I add this fruit to my diet? Is honeydew keto friendly?
Therefore, after some research, I have found all the necessary information about honeydew and the keto diet, including keto friendly fruits and other honeydew alternatives. If you are curious like me, then this article will help you.
Table of Contents
Deep Dive Into The Ketogenic Diet
Before getting into honeydew and whether it fits in the keto diet, we need to know what the keto diet is. And how does it work in our body? For that, let’s take a deep dive into this lifestyle.
The ketogenic diet is a famous diet routine along with paleo and other low-carb diets. As I have mentioned before, it has become a lifestyle for many health-conscious people.
It is a low-in-carb and high-in-fat diet that helps lose weight quickly. It kicks your body into a metabolic state called the ketosis state. This forces your body to burn fats rather than carbs for everyday energy and metabolism.
The standard version of the keto diet requires you to consume calories from 70-80% fat, 20% protein, and 5% carbs. Due to this fixed percentage, you need to limit your food consumption per day.
Moreover, the keto diet not only supports weight loss but also helps your body build to prevent specific problems. It helps in improving heart health, brain functionality, and PCOS symptoms and reduces acne and the risk of certain cancers.
Types Of The Keto Diet
There are two types of the keto diet. One is the standard keto, and another is the low-carb keto diet. People follow any of these two according to their needs and preference.
The standard keto diet is known as the strict keto diet. In this diet, you need to consume less than 20 grams of carbs per day strictly. It requires omitting most food items like sweeteners and grains for their high carbs. All the food needs to be high in fat and protein without any carbs.
On the other hand, the low-carb keto diet is a bit flexible with 50 grams of carbs per day rule. Most people like to follow this diet because it gives them the chance to be innovative in adding carbs to their diet. You can even have some sweet foods in this diet.
Are Fruits Allowed In The Keto Diet?
Fruits are great for the body in every diet. They have high fiber, rich in vitamins, minerals, and health-boosting antioxidant nutrients. Eating fruits is essential for our body and everyday lifestyle. They are called natural sugar.
However, the keto diet prohibits most fruits, including mango, pineapple, banana, etc., because of their high carb and sugar level. Most of them include more than 19 grams of net carbs per serving. The sweeter or larger the fruit is, the more sugar it contains.
Therefore, eating these fruits can kick you out of your ketosis state. But there are some low-carb fruits like avocado, strawberry, raspberry, pears, apples, etc., that perfectly fit into keto.
So, if you want to do a keto diet, you should add low-carb fruits to your meal plan. Always make sure to check the carb limit of your meal when adding any fruits. Furthermore, you need to consider the other food items and adjust them according to their carb content.
What Is Honeydew Melon?
Honeydew melon is a member of the muskmelon family. It originated in the Middle East. Due to its cultivation origin, the honeydew melon was considered to be a sacred food by the Egyptians in ancient times.
This melon cones in the green or white flesh. If it ripens, it changes into beige yellow or bright orange color. People usually enjoy this melon for its soft and juicy texture. The taste of this melon is full of floral sweetness, almost like honey.
Many people eat them as it is. However, as the popularity of honeydew melon grows, it is included in salads, desserts, snakes, and even soups. You can also pair them with salt and cheese to get a unique flavor for your taste buds.
Nutritional Value Of Honeydew
To get a better understanding of honeydew and the keto diet, let’s look at the nutritional information about this melon.
100 grams of honeydew melon contains 9 grams of total carbohydrates, 8 grams of net carbs, 0.14 grams of fat, and 1 gram of protein. It also has 1 gram of fiber and 8.1 grams of sugar. Other than that, it is full of vitamins and nutrients, including vitamin A, vitamin E, vitamin C, folate, zinc, iron, and calcium.
Does Honeydew Fit In The Keto Diet?
Now let’s come to the main issue, is honeydew keto friendly?
Unfortunately, no. Honeydew melon is not qualified for the slandered keto diet. The reason is that it is high in carbs and low in fat which is the total opposite of the requirements of the keto diet. It will easily kick you out of keto as it breaks the 20 grams of carbs per day rule.
The ketogenic diet requires fewer carbs and sugar with more fats. As mentioned above one serving of 100 grams of honeydew has 8 grams of net carbs and 0.14 grams of fat. Moreover, it has 8.1 grams of sugar, which is a lot in the keto diet.
However, you can still include honeydew in your routine if you follow the low-carb keto diet. It requires 50 grams of carbs per day, so you can add the carbs of honeydew to them. Also, to increase the fat count, you can pair this melon with lemon or cheese.
These items will make keto-friendly honeydew pairs. They are not only healthy but also will provide the fats and nutrients required for the ketogenic diet.
Making Honeydew Melon Keto Friendly
As I have mentioned before, if you want to add honeydew to your keto routine, you need to make them keto friendly. In order to do that, you can mix these sweet melons with other high-fat foods.
Low-Carb Summer Salad
To make this salad, you will need bresaola, cucumber, cherry tomatoes, and our favorite honeydew. Instead of bresaola, you can also use prosciutto, chorizo or pepperoni. For the dressing, you will need lime juice, olive oil, and coconut aminos.
Mix all of them together. The bresaola and cherry tomatoes will fill the fat number that honeydew lacks. So here you have your keto friendly salad with honeydew for lunch.
Low-Carb Triple Melon Popsicle
This triple melon is the best if you want a summertime snack in your keto routine. For this recipe, you will need watermelon, honeydew, cantaloupe, and lime juice. Then slice the melons and blend them separately with lime juice.
It would be best if you layered them in Popsicle mold one by one by freezing them for over an hour. When each layer freezes, you can add another one. After the third layer is complete, then freeze them again altogether. And here you have your own summertime layered Popsicle.
Health Benefits Of Honeydew
Other than its nutritional value, honeydew melon is excellent for your health. Consuming this melon can improve your body functions and keep you healthy. So there are some health benefits of honeydew.
Improves Bone Health
Honeydew is rich in vitamins and minerals like vitamin K, magnesium, zinc, iron, calcium, and folate. These minerals help in repairing and maintaining bone health. They also protect bones from getting damaged and make them strong.
Vitamin K produces osteocalcin, which is an essential protein for bones. It contributes to building and breaking down bone tissue. Basically, all these minerals help in bone functionality.
Reduce Blood Pressure
Consuming honeydew can help in reducing high blood pressure. It also increases potassium intake, which influences blood pressure regulation positively. So adding honeydew to your regular diet plan will prevent you from having any cardiovascular diseases.
Boosts Immunity
Eating fruits will always boost your immunity system. Especially honeydew is full of vitamin C, which prevents and treats infections like the common cold and pneumonia.
Due to its high fiber, honeydew also contributes to daily fiber intake and digestive issues. It promotes the growth of gut-healthy bacteria.
Supports Eye Health
Honeydew melon has several essential antioxidants, including zeaxanthin and lutein. These antioxidants support eye health and prevent vision loss.
As we grow old, sometimes our vision gets blurry. Eating honeydew regularly will prevent this vision loss with age, and you will not have to wear glasses.
Good For Skin
Filled with vitamin C, honeydew melon contributes highly to improving your skin. It produces collagen that helps in repairing and maintaining skin tissues. Applying honeydew juices can protect your skin from getting sunburnt.
Moreover, if you have honeydew daily, your skin will be free of pimples, acne, and other skin problems. Your wrinkles will also go away. And other allergies will be reduced over time.
Frequently Asked Questions
1. Why is honeydew fruit called honeydew?
Honeydew fruit is named by Gauger, who worked with the United States Department of Agriculture, or USDA. In 1915, he renamed an unknown seed from a White Antibes Winter melon as honeydew. His reason was to appeal to American commercial markets.
2. What is the difference between honeydew and cantaloupe melon?
The difference between honeydew and cantaloupe melon is their color and structure. Honeydew has a green flesh with a light-colored rind. On the other hand, cantaloupe is darker with orange flesh and netted skin. Cantaloupe also contains more vitamin A and C than Honeydew.
3. How would you describe honeydew melon?
Honeydew melon looks like usual melons with round shapes and green flesh. They are juicy and sweet. The color of this melon changes from pale green to yellow as it ripens.
4. Is a honeydew melon a watermelon?
No. Honeydew melon and watermelon are not the same. Although they come from the same cucurbit family, honeydew is classified as Cucumis melo, and watermelons are classified as Citrullus lanatus.
5. What goes well with honeydew?
Honeydew goes well with familiar flavors like olive oil, lime, and mint or sugar, lime, and cantaloupe. Other than these, prosciutto, basil, and honey pairs really go well with honeydew melon.
6. How do you make honeydew taste better?
Honeydew tastes sweet, so you can add salt, vinegar, and cheese to this melon for a better taste. The contrast between salt and sweet brings out the melon flavor and its refreshing qualities.
7. How can you tell if a honeydew melon is ripe?
You can tell if a honeydew melon is ripe by its aroma or smell. When the honeydew is ripe, it gives off a noticeable sweet and lightly floral fragrance. The outer shell of the melon also gets a bit soft, so you can cut it and enjoy this sweet goodness.
8. How long will a honeydew melon last?
A honeydew melon lasts for 7 to 10 days in the refrigerator if you do not cut it. If you cut them and put them in sealed containers in the fridge, they will last longer than two weeks.
Final Thoughts
Finally, to fulfill ketogenic requirements, you must prevent consuming sweeteners and other high-carb foods, including most fruits. Still, there are some exceptions that will help your body to fill in the daily nutrients.
Honeydew melons are full of nutrients that improve your bones and boost your body’s immunity. This sweet melon tastes amazing with different pair-ups. But is honeydew keto friendly?
In the standard keto diet, it is not. But in the low-keto diet, you can easily eat this juicy fruit by pairing them up and adding them to other dishes like salads or soup. This way, you can make honeydew melon keto friendly.
