Full disclosure time: I love pumpkin. Pumpkin pie is my favorite holiday season dessert. My mom makes awesome pumpkin chocolate chip cookie bars. But I don’t only love it for dessert! Pumpkin soup, pumpkin curry… I love it all.
Lucky for me, pumpkin is good for you. A gal can’t live on pumpkin pie alone (or pumpkin cheesecake, or pumpkin rolls, or pumpkin bread, or…) but it’s got some real health benefits.
- Pumpkin is full of fiber. Yay fiber! Fiber helps you feel full, fiber helps keep the digestive system working and happy.
- Pumpkin is an amazing source of vitamin A. Vitamin A is important to the immune system, vision, skin, and more.
- Pumpkin is full of antioxidants. Beta-carotene — the antioxidant that gives pumpkin (and carrots) that vivid orange coloring — can help clear bad stuff out of the body. In fact, studies have shown that people who have a diet rich in beta-carotene are less likely to develop certain types of cancer.
Pumpkin seeds have some health benefits, too! They’re a great source of protein, zinc, magnesium, and phosphorus. Oil pressed from pumpkin seeds is full of healthy omega-3 fatty acids. Pumpkin seeds have a long history of use as a remedy for prostate problems, too. And you may be familiar with tryptophan — the amino acid that may be responsible for the post-turkey sleepies? One gram of pumpkin seeds has as much tryptophan as that bedtime glass of warm milk.
Don’t love pumpkin yet? You might love this: researchers are looking at pumpkin as a treatment for type-1 diabetes. Chemicals in pumpkin may help the body regenerate damaged cells in the pancreas — the gland that produces insulin to help the body deal with blood sugar levels. If you’re pre-diabetic, pumpkin may help keep the disease in check.
Hopefully you found a reason to love pumpkin as much as I do!