There’s no shortage of facts and statistic about heart health and why it’s important for everyone to learn more about their ticker (for themselves and their loved ones), but the statistic that drives the point home for me is that heart disease is the number one cause of death in the United States among men and women.

There are a lot of things you can do to create a healthier heart – eat right, exercise, educate yourself about your heart – and I won’t get into all of them here (I’ll let the American Heart Association website do that), but I would like to remind everyone about the heart healthy benefits of fruit and vegetables including watermelon. Actually, I’ll let the National Watermelon Promotion Board do that, too. The National Watermelon Promotion Board has a page on their website about watermelon and heart health that lists the following facts:

1. Watermelon consumption increases free arginine, which can help to maintain cardiovascular function.

2. Eating watermelon can help to maintain cardiovascular health.

3. Watermelon has amino acids, which can help maintain blood flow and heart health.

There you have it. Three more very compelling reasons to add watermelon to your grocery list. So how will you observe National Heart Health Month? I  might suggest starting with a trip to your local grocery store’s produce aisle.