(Pumpkin) Spice up your life!

With fall right around the corner, pumpkin everything is a hit! At this time, we see tons of pumpkin spice lattes, pumpkin cream cheese muffins, pumpkin cheese croissants, pumpkin cookies, etc. You get the point. After thoroughly researching to find the perfect pumpkin pancake recipe, I came across an interesting ad claiming that pumpkin is actually great for us! I am now super excited to make all these wonderful pumpkin goodies.

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(Pumpkin decorated by mwah)

Why should you eat more pumpkin? Because of the many health benefits that come with consuming this super delicious fruit (yes, pumpkins are considered berries!)  Pumpkins are full of antioxidants that can maintain joint pain, organ health, stress relief and muscle injuries. Pumpkins are filled with Vitamin C. Vitamin C is great for our immune systems to protect our bodies from harmful bacteria. Vitamin C also guarantees a beautiful skin elasticity. Pumpkins are a great source of fiber. Fiber is so important for those who have tummy issues especially! Pumpkin seeds are high in protein as well! Stores actually sell pumpkin seeds separately. They are great little additives to sprinkle over some hot oatmeal, yogurt parfaits, ice cream, etc. Pumpkins contain tons of potassium and zinc to prevent cardiovascular disease and high blood pressure. Pumpkins are very low in calories as well. This is great because you can add pumpkin to anything, and not be afraid of the calorie additives! As you read before, I was searching for a delicious and healthy pumpkin pancake recipe online. I figured since pumpkin was such a low cal additive, why not create a pancake with them? Pumpkins are also rich in healthy fats. We need healthy fats to burn fats.

Now that you’ve heard my spiel, I hope you go out and try something pumpkin-spiced today! With the leaves changing color, a pumpkin-anything sounds more than appropriate. Enjoy!

2 thoughts on “(Pumpkin) Spice up your life!

  1. Brittney Christina Falcon

    The benefits of pumpkin are seemingly endless but after doing some research of my own I discovered there is also a negative that I had never heard about, anti-nutrients. According to the the article, 9 Health Benefits of Pumpkin Seeds, like any other seed pumpkin seeds contain anti-nutrients that “make all the previously discussed important nutrients less bioavailable when you consume them.” The article states that dehydrating the seeds in a dehydrator or oven is a good way to avoid this. Below is a link to the article mentioned above.
    http://articles.mercola.com/sites/articles/archive/2013/09/30/pumpkin-seed-benefits.aspx

  2. Katelyn May Schreckengast

    I absolutely love pumpkin and I never really knew about all of the benefits that eating pumpkin may have! I did however find some information about the possibility of pumpkin seed poisoning. There isn’t a lot of information about it yet, but if more and more cases rise then maybe there will be enough funding and interest to look into this problem further. Pumpkin seed poisoning is almost the opposite effect of the health benefits that they are believed to contain now.

    Let me know what you think!
    http://www.livestrong.com/article/548929-pumpkin-seed-poisoning/

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