Watermelon, Beet & Lime Circulation Smoothie
Watermelon and beet blended with lime and mint into a light, bright pink drink built around blood flow.
Why it works
Both headline ingredients here work on the same pathway from opposite ends. Watermelon is the richest common food source of citrulline, an amino acid the kidneys convert to arginine, which is the raw material for nitric oxide. Beet supplies nitrate, which converts to nitric oxide by a separate route involving bacteria on the tongue. Nitric oxide is what tells the smooth muscle in blood vessel walls to relax, and it is the same signal that erectile-dysfunction drugs work by prolonging, which is the honest way to describe why this appears under this heading. Food effects are far smaller than drug effects. What the trials show for citrulline is modest improvement in mild cases and better exercise blood flow, not a pharmaceutical result.
Citrulline has small randomized trials showing modest benefit in mild erectile dysfunction, and better support for exercise blood flow. Dietary nitrate is well supported for vascular function. Neither approaches drug-level effect.
Ingredients
- 350 g cubed watermelon, frozen
- 100 g cooked beet, cooled and chopped
- 120 ml water or coconut water
- 1 tbsp fresh lime juice
- 8 to 10 fresh mint leaves
- 1 tbsp (12 g) chia seeds
Method
- Pour the liquid into the blender first, then add the soft ingredients, then anything frozen or hard on top. Blending in that order keeps the blades in liquid instead of spinning against a frozen block.
- Use the white rind closest to the flesh if you are cutting a whole melon. It carries more citrulline than the red part and disappears completely into the blend.
- Blend on low until it breaks up, then on high for 45 to 60 seconds, until no flecks remain and the texture is even.
- Taste and adjust: a splash more liquid if it is too thick to pour, a squeeze of citrus if it tastes flat, a few more ice cubes if you want it colder.
- Drink it soon after blending. The texture separates within about ten minutes, and the colour dulls as the cut surfaces oxidise.
