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Pumpkin
Pumped About Pumpkin
Health Spotlight on Thanksgiving Staples: Pumpkin (Fourth in a series of four)
Published On November 24th, 2008
By Consumer Health Advocate,
Frank
Mangano |
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Ah yes, the pumpkin – a vegetable as synonymous to the fall
season as fresh corn on the cob is to the summer. But as a staple in
the Thanksgiving feast, most people associate pumpkin with the
not-so-healthy of food fare, namely, pumpkin pie.
Now I’m not about to say that pumpkin pie is a great way to rev your
heart up or to jumpstart your nutrition goals (though a slice of
pumpkin pie one day a year isn’t going to hurt you). But believe it
or not, many people use pumpkin in their Thanksgiving meal for
things other than |
dessert, like as toppings for salads (pumpkin seeds), in soups, or in whole
wheat breads and pastas.
The reason I’m always pumped about using pumpkin in recipes is due, of
course, to the natural health promoting properties in what Native Americans
used to refer to it as isqoutm squash.
For one thing, pumpkins are packed with vitamin A and potassium. Its
richness in potassium, a nutrient essential for the brain and muscle cell
contraction, combines nicely with potatoes – another vegetable rich in
potassium that tends to occupy the majority of Thanksgiving table settings.
Pumpkins are also rich sources of beta carotene, vitamin C, and carotenoids
– an antioxidant found predominantly in orange-colored vegetables that help
boost the immune system.
When most people make use of raw pumpkin, they harvest out all its gooey
innards but give short shrift to its seeds. That would be OK if it weren’t
for the fact that its seeds are probably the most nutritionally potent part
of the pumpkin.
Pumpkin seeds have long been known to carry health promoting properties, as
Native Americans harvested them not only for their nutritional bona fides,
but for their medicinal muster as well (used as a balm for the digestive
tract, such as for laxative purposes or as a means to rid the tract of
parasites).
One often sees baseball players chomping on pumpkin seeds in the dug out, on
the mound or in left field. And the boys of summer couldn’t be chewing on a
more healthful food source, as pumpkin seeds are the perfect play for
protein, iron, phosphorus, magnesium and a certain amino acid that tends to
be in abundant supply on Thanksgiving day – tryptophan.
While the health benefits of pumpkin and pumpkin seeds are great for both
men and women, they’re particularly good for men, promoting prostate health,
preventing deterioration of bone density and alleviating arthritis symptoms.
In animal studies on the effects of pumpkin seeds in the treatment of
arthritic conditions, pumpkin seeds were shown to have similar positive
benefits as commonly prescribed arthritis medications. The difference,
though, was that unlike indomethacin, a commonly prescribed arthritis drug
that’s been shown to exacerbate damaged lining in the joints through lipid
peroxidation, there were no side effects observed with pumpkin seeds.
Pumpkin doesn’t have to be associated with soggy pies or sugary sweets. One
can spice up a Thanksgiving meal with pumpkin seeds by adding oven roasted
seeds to green salads, or crushing them up in a bowl and making them
available to guests for some other favorite side dishes. Pumpkin and pumpkin
seeds are a great way to keep the Thanksgiving holiday one that’s not all
about eating as much as possible, but about eating as healthfully as
possible. Including pumpkin, especially pumpkin seeds, is just one way of
keeping healthy eating relevant to Thanksgiving – a day where we express
gratitude for the health we have.
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Frank Mangano is a consumer health advocate and natural health writer
who has authored and published numerous reports and a considerable
amount of articles pertaining to natural health. Frank teaches you how to dramatically improve your health naturally,
without expensive and potentially dangerous prescription drugs.
Mangano is an
independent researcher and has absolutely no financial ties to any
pharmaceutical drug company or supplement company.
The hard work and persistence that
Frank
Mangano has invested in recent years is
reflected through his writings:
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