Pumpkin benefits
I know you can use food to influence mood and wondered what will happen when I feed my family pumpkin pie this Halloween. Can you also suggest a healthy use for the seeds?
In this country, pumpkins only ever seem to make an appearance when the kids want to make Halloween lanterns and in most families, the scooped out flesh and shell are automatically discarded. This is a shame because the pumpkin, as you may know, is a nutritional powerhouse with half a cup providing a quarter of recommended daily allowance (RDA) of betacarotene, 10% of the RDA for vitamin C and a healthy dose of heart-protecting potassium.
Betacarotene, which has potent anti-cancer properties, is deficient in most Western diets. On average, we take in under 2g a day - which is less than a third of the optimum 6g that would provide maximum protection. In Chinese medicine, pumpkin is used to help dry dampness in the body which, if left unchecked, will weaken digestion and, as well as being good for the skin and eyes, the nutrients in your pumpkin can also soothe bronchial infections and eczema.
With the children prone to over-excitement at the prospect of trick-or-treating tonight, you could not be serving a better food to calm them down or prepare them for school tomorrow morning because pumpkin is also a rich source of vitamin B1 or Thiamine, deficiencies of which have been linked with irritability, aggressiveness, anxiety and lowered IQ levels.
The best thing you can do with the seeds is eat them. They are excellent sources of immune-boosting zinc and the omega-3 fatty acids, which are more difficult to source from diet. Roasting them will improve the flavour but will also damage the fatty acids so it is probably healthier to eat them raw.