The pumpkin is very tasty, it has a soft touch, in addition, its seeds or seeds are very nutritious. We do not find any reason why we do not eat it daily, and that is that when we finish reading this text we will want to add it to our daily or weekly diet without making an excuse of any kind. Pumpkin helps us to be healthier and perfectly accompanies varied and balanced diets, in addition, it is suitable for everyone and you can even make a multitude of dishes with it, beyond the famous pumpkin cream.
The importance of having a varied and balanced diet is not on a whim, it is because it is the only way to properly nourish ourselves and give the body all the vitamins, minerals and essential oils that it cannot manufacture by itself. For this reason, doctors, nutritionists, dietitians and experts in food and health, have been encouraging us to eat correctly all our lives.
In addition, a specific food is not that it has properties or benefits for the body, but it is the vitamins and minerals that give those beneficial properties to the food.
Nutritional values
Based on the nutritional information of a food is how the recommended daily amount is calculated. In this case, pumpkin has very balanced nutritional values and we understand why it is so good to add it to our daily diet.
A vegetable without fat, without cholesterol and without proteins. This nutritional table starts out strong, and it is that the truly interesting thing comes now. Pumpkins have 20 kilocalories for every 100 grams of product, 4.9 grams of carbohydrates, 2 grams of sugar, 1.1 gram of fiber and almost 94% of a pumpkin is water.
Its nutritional values do not stop there, but 100 grams of pumpkin have several vitamins and minerals. In fact, if we eat 100 grams we will be obtaining almost 200% of the vitamin A that the body needs in a day , 8% of vitamin C and 2% of folic acid (vitamin B9).
As for minerals, 100 grams of pumpkin provide us with 15 mg of calcium, 230 mg of potassium, 9 mg of magnesium, 30 mg of phosphorus and 1 mg of sodium. Balanced amounts that can be easily compensated if we have a varied and balanced diet.
How to add it to the diet and maximum amount
Many times we get used to eating a food and we are afraid to leave that recipe and experiment beyond what we have learned. Something like this can happen with pumpkin, and we believe that it can only be eaten in creams, jams, stuffed with homemade pastries and little else. We are very wrong, since this food can be used in vegetable scrambled, baked, in salads, in hamburgers, with rice, with meats, with legumes, to make sauces, fried pumpkin, etc.
All these ideas are delicious, but as we have seen in the nutritional values, if we eat 100 grams of pumpkin in a day we will have an excess of vitamin A in our body and that can lead to adverse effects such as headache, hair loss, chapped lips, dry skin, weak bones, etc.
This is why we recommend taking so much, but we do recommend taking 50 or 80 grams if it becomes a main dish. For a day that we eat more than 100 grams nothing happens, but if we are constantly exceeding ourselves, that is when the adverse effects appear.
Benefits of eating pumpkin daily
Before we have said that the benefits of pumpkin and all foods were given by the amounts of nutrients, and more specifically, by vitamins and minerals. In the case of the pumpkin there was not going to be an exception so we are going to review the properties and benefits of this vegetable for our body.
Perfect for weight loss
If we are following a diet to lose weight, most likely among the foods that we can eat is pumpkin. This is due to its high water content and its good levels of fiber, the first hydrates the body and gives a feeling of satiety and the second helps us to regulate the transit, as well as to reduce blood sugar and reduces the chances of suffering colon cancer.
An all in one that will help us in our day to day. In addition, although we are not immersed in a diet to lose weight, we can also eat it and take advantage of the benefits that the nutritional values of pumpkin provide us.
Heart-healthy
We say that it is heart-healthy because the good levels of potassium, together with fiber and vitamin C, give us stable blood pressure. In addition, potassium is very important for those who suffer from hypertension, since, together with the effort to reduce salt in the diet, heart problems can be improved.
It is not a miracle, but it is necessary to have a balanced diet and healthy lifestyle habits if we do not want to put our lives at risk or worry those around us, such as our friends and family.
Strengthens the immune system
The immune system is an invisible barrier that helps us stay alive despite being surrounded by infections, viruses, bacteria, etc. Hence, it is vitally important that we take care of it and help it to always be in top shape.
Vitamin C and beta-carotene in pumpkin work together to help our immune system, which is why there are so many recipes with pumpkins that are prepared in winter. Along with all that, there is vitamin A that helps in the creation of white blood cells and helps fight infections and other dangers to which we expose ourselves every minute of our lives.
Protects eye health
The health of our eyes is very delicate and we no longer just talk about wearing sunglasses, or scratching our eyes, or using a very high brightness on the screens. We refer to internal health and to take care of all that chain of elements that make our eyes work.
Pumpkin is able to help the retina to absorb light and process it, also, it protects us against cataracts and macular degeneration. All this is achieved thanks to vitamins A, C and E, as well as lutein and zeaxanthin.
Pumpkin contraindications
The only contraindications that this food has are the obvious ones and those that refer to allergy sufferers. Apart from that detail, it is better not to exceed its consumption because it could cause diarrhea, especially if we consume many of its seeds.
As we can see, pumpkin is a very versatile and very safe vegetable, so we can eat it whenever we want. We recommend the pumpkin marmalade to make homemade pastry fillings, to spread in palm trees or to make canapés where we mix the sweet with the salty. If we do the latter, we can ensure that we will be the best hosts.
