Respect the Pumpkin, People
Now that the trick-or-treating is over with, the kids are eating their way through all the candy they collected. I loved all the candy, too, but I remember another tasty thing to eat around Halloween were pumpkin seeds. After the jack-o-lanterns were carved, my mother would separate the seeds from the rest of the pumpkin entrails, season them, and bake them. They tasted nutty like sunflower seeds, but little did I realize they were also good for my prostate. Little did I realize I even HAD a prostate back then. At any rate, turns out that pumpkin packs such a nutritional wallop that we would do well to include it in our diets beyond the spooky season.
Like their orange colored companions, the carrot, pumpkins are loaded with beta-carotene, a cancer fighter. They also contain anti-oxidant vitamins A and C, zinc, and alpha-hydroxy acids that are good for the skin. Ever seen a wrinkly pumpkin?
Other nutritional benefits include reducing the effects of arthritis and boosting the immune system. For more on these health-inducing squashes, go to http://hubpages.com/hub/Health-Benefits-of-Pumpkin.
When you consider all the good a pumpkin can do for your body, seems a real waste to see them smashed against your neighbor’s wall the day after Halloween, doesn’t it?
