Let’s (pumpkin) spice things up!
Its been a long tradition here in the United States that we place pumpkins outside of the home for fall decor. It’s actually a tradition brought over from the Irish. However, we fail to notice how benefical pumpkins are to our health, especially during flu season.
Seeing pumpkins available at the stores or at the local farmer’s market, gets me excited for fall to arrive. My first thought is, how many pumpkins can I fit into my car! My imagination goes wild with the combinations of styles that my front porch will look like with these scattered all over it. I think it’s safe to say that I’m not the only one who feels this way, am right? They might look amazing outside embellishing our front porches. However, they can be important to our health.
We normally cut them to make scary faces on the outside. Myths say it wards off evil spirits for the upcoming holiday “Halloween”. I will be talking more about this holiday in October. What we fail to notice, is that the vegatable is a diamond in the rough. A gold mine to our immune system. Something that we (definitely in America) take for granted. We are getting ready to head into flu season and dealing with Covid-19, I wanted to talk about our health. The rest of the year is going to get very interesting too. OK, moving on!
Vitamins and Minerals
This wonderful vegetable is loaded with natural vitamins and minerals. Pumpkins have large amounts of vitamin A loaded inside the meat of the pumpkin. Vitamin A definitely plays a major in our immune system. It also helps aid eye disorders, skin infections, and vital for bone health too.
Other vitamins included in this wondeful vegatable – C, E, K, and B6. Let talk about everyone’s favorite hero, vitamin C. Helps repair and regernate tissue in our body, which is a wonderful aid in heart disease. Excellent with helping to obsorb iron. Feeling like a slug trying to cross the desert? You might have an iron deficiency.
Vitamin K is wonderful for aging, this vitamin helps reduce dark circles around the eyes. If you are O negative blood type – PLEASE look into the benefits of this vitamin. I might do a blog post about how we “O negative” blood types, need extra vitamin K. This vitamin is needed to absorb vitamin C as well. Do you see the pattern yet?
Vitamin E slows the aging process of our cells. As well, it’s a wonderful vitamin that we have discovered to help with aging skin and inflammation.
Vitamin B6 is a major player when it comes to our memory. They actually see patients who have alzheimer’s have low levels of B6. Psst….. It also helps with PMS, ladies!
Some minerals worth mentioning that are supplied by pumpkins: Calcium, Iron, Zinc, Magnessium and Potassium.
I scream pumpkin, you scream spice!
I know some of you are ready to scream with joy. Thinking to yourself YES let’s go get our pumpkin spice latte on! WAIT! Pumpkin base junk food, does not qualify. Sorry pumpkin spice crowd. Consuming a lot of sugar is cancer’s holiday. Let’s try to be mindful. To get the health benefits out of this wonderful vegetable you actually have to eat the pumpkin. There are some wonderful recipes out there that help in the aid of consuming it. From soups, to pumpkin baked fries and a healthy supplement for mashed potatoes too!
Something Pretty
I created this wonderful element for your lifestyle journals, scrapbooks or planners for fall. I wanted to add this to my handmade book on holistic herbs, spices and plants. It was a lovely addtion to my collection of information cards, I keep tucked inside.
I hope you enjoy this freebie! Make sure to subscribe to the wesbite, so you can stay up to date when new blog post go live.
See you next time!
-Anna
