Pumpkin

Since Thanksgiving is upon us, I thought I would talk a little about pumpkin. Of course, we're all looking forward to pumpkin pie in a few days. But there are benefits to pumpkin that you may not be aware of.

If you have grown a pumpkin or buy a fresh whole pumpkin, when you take out the seeds, save them. These are an excellent treat just dry roasted in the oven on low heat. Pumpkin seeds are a great source of protein, phytosterols, zinc, magnesium, manganese, and phosphorus. The protein source in pumpkin seeds contains more tryptophan than milk. For more on tryptophan, see my posts starting on October 23. Just the seeds alone are great to boost the immune system and can also benefit the liver.

The pumpkin itself is rich in antioxidants. This will also boost the immune system. So that pumpkin pie you have on Thanksgiving is not bad. It has lots of great nutritional value!