If you enter a grocery store on the first day of fall you will be surrounded by all your favorite foods now pumpkin flavored. You may be wondering, what is a pumpkin? A pumpkin is a winter squash that contains seeds with a thick outer rind and a hollow inside. You may use pumpkins as jack-o’-lanterns for Halloween or pie on Thanksgiving, but they also provide many nutritional benefits that can benefit your diet!
Pumpkins are a very nutrient-dense food. They are high in fiber but low in carbohydrates. Pumpkins contain beta-carotene, a powerful antioxidant that turns into vitamin A in the body. Vitamin A helps your body fight off infection by strengthening your intestinal lining. Pumpkins also benefit eye health; Beta-carotene strengthens your vision and your retina. Pumpkins contain many other vitamins and minerals that will benefit your health. Now that you know a few of the health benefits, here are a few ways to incorporate pumpkins into your diet!
Include pumpkin into your meals by:
- Adding fresh or canned pumpkin in pancakes, muffins, or oatmeal
- Roasting pumpkin and adding it to a soup, or salad
- Combining canned pumpkin with coconut milk to make a creamy base
- Roasting pumpkin seeds for a great snack
- Making your own pumpkin puree
- Combine Greek yogurt, pumpkin puree or canned, honey, cinnamon, and cocoa powder for a pumpkin chocolate yogurt treat
Resource: Healthline, Pumpkin: Nutrition, Benefits and How to Eat (26 December 2016), Retrieved from: https://www.healthline.com/nutrition/pumpkin-nutrition-review#TOC_TITLE_HDR_7
Cuisine for Healing Pumpkin Muffin:
Ingredients: (serves 12 Muffins)
- 1 1⁄2 cup Mashed Banana
- 1 1⁄2 cup Pumpkin Puree
- 1⁄2 cup Maple Syrup
- 1 tablespoon Vanilla Extract
- 3 Eggs
- 1 1⁄2 teaspoon Cinnamon
- 3⁄4 teaspoon salt
- 1 1⁄2 teaspoon Baking Soda
- 1 1⁄2 teaspoon Baking Powder
- 2 5⁄8 cup Oat Flour
- 3⁄4 teaspoon Turmeric
- 4 1⁄2 teaspoon Pumpkin Spice
- 3⁄8 cup Pumpkin Seeds, Garnish
Directions:
- Peel the skin off your sweet potatoes and dice into small pieces and bake until soft enough to be able to blend.
- In a blender add your oat, salt, baking soda, baking powder, cinnamon, pumpkin spice, and turmeric until well incorporated and resembles flour and pour into a bowl.
- Then add your banana, pumpkin, maple syrup, eggs, and vanilla into a blender and blend into a smooth texture.
- Then divide equally into a lined muffin tin, sprinkle with pumpkin seeds and bake at 350 degrees for 20 minutes or until fully cooked.
