The other evening I was still hungry after dinner, and wanted a snack. I cut a cantaloupe in half, scraped out the seeds, put one side into a bowl, and grabbed a spoon. I just cut pieces with the spoon as I ate it, and it was delicious! I thought it looked cool, so I took a picture and posted it on Instagram and Facebook. Then I got up, grabbed the other half, and ate that too.
The next morning, my friend BJ (https://veggiejerseygirl.com/) left a comment teasing me. She said “You ate that whole thing?!?!”. I know that BJ was kidding, she’s a fellow plant eater, and has quite an inspiring success story herself, but her comment got me thinking. I replied with “Both halves!”, and she replied back with “Portion control?!?!?!”, again kidding with me, but peaking enough interest that made me want to explore.
Was it crazy, or reckless to eat an entire cantaloupe? I know plenty of people would think so. In fact, it’s not the first time that someone asked me if I was going to eat the entire melon. I’ve only eaten and entire cantaloupe once before, and that time a different friend asked me if I was going to eat the whole thing. I just said “Yup” and kept eating. Anyway, after BJ asked I was 2 for 2, so I wanted to look it up. How much food is a cantaloupe?
It turns out that a medium size cantaloupe has 188 calories, 163 from carbohydrate, 9 from fat, and 16 from protein. It also contains a bunch of vitamins, minerals, antioxidants, and other good stuff. Two things surprised me when I read the data. First, an entire cantaloupe is only 188 calories. Second, for people who look for protein (I don’t), I was surprised to see that it contains 4.6 grams of the stuff. I mean fruit is all carbs, right?? (sarcasm, right BJ!)
That actually sounds like a pretty solid snack to me! I still wanted to compare it with another slightly more common piece of fruit. It turns out that 2 medium bananas contain 210 calories, and I don’t think anyone would blink if a hungry person ate 2 of them. I know I have eaten more than one banana at a time on several occasions.
Anyway, I found all of this to be pretty interesting, and I thought some of you might too. The bottom line is, go ahead and…
Eat a cantaloupe!!