Microblog: Choose Your Steak – Watermelon vs. Beef

Plant-based diets love to make mock versions of meats.

🐄I have several posts on beef’s nutrient profile. So let’s talk about watermelon steak.

👩🏻‍🍳First, let’s talk about preparation: It’s straightforward: cook on the pan and add some salt, maybe some balsamic vinegar. You can add vegetable fat, but most recipes do not call for fat.

💪🏼Now let’s talk about nutrition. I was surprised at the nutrition in watermelon. While it’s very minimal, there is still some (but very minimal compared to a beef-cut steak).

🍉Watermelon steak is served as a complete meal. But it’s not complete in nutrition. Nowhere near complete. I was generous and didn’t include all the deficiencies.

🚫It’s missing almost all B-vitamins, though it does have some folate (thiamin, riboflavin, vitamin B6, vitamin B12, vitamin D, Copper, Manganese, Omega 3—all missing).

🤏🏻It has a small amount of fat-soluble vitamin A, no vitamin D and trace amounts of E and K. But remember, without any fat with watermelon steak, will any of these fat-soluble vitamins get absorbed?

⚠️And this doesn’t even consider if you can convert vitamin A to the useable form. AND it doesn’t even consider that all fat-soluble vitamins work together. With the lack of vitamin D, do these fat-soluble vitamins have any chance of absorption?

❗️Interestingly, watermelon has some fat, but PUFA fearers, it’s only omega-6. So stay away! (There is 50 mg of omega-6 per 100 gram serving).😅

🌱Watermelon steak has more minerals than vitamins. It makes sense since it’s grown in the dirt. But the nutrients are very minimal. Other than vitamin C (at 13% DV), no nutrient is above the 3% recommended daily value amount.

🥩Steak, at 100 g (only 3.5 ounces), has many nutrients over the 20% recommended daily value and many nutrients above that. (Vitamin B12 is 134% DV for 100 grams).

❗️But if you cook watermelon like a steak, something that nature probably didn’t intend, you may lose more nutrients. Likely because watermelon is 91.5 grams of water (of 100 g).

💧More than 90% of a watermelon is just water. Yes, water is life but have watermelon for hydration, not as a nutrient-dense meal. (Because it’s not).