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Pumpkin seeds

• Helps lower your cholesterol levels.
• Have anti-cancer effect (Laboratory and animals studies indicates that phytosterols in pumpkin seeds can inhibit cancer development in colon,breast and prostate cells).
• Good source of omega-3 fats and zinc ( which is important for immunity and fertility)

This week I am going to talk about pumpkin seeds, those crunchy nutty delicious and nutritious food. After reading this article you are not going to throw your pumpkin seeds away from your halloween pumpkin, it has lots of health benefits. Now pumpkin seeds is a very good source of protein and contain healthy fats which is omega-3 a heart-healthy nutient. It also has beta-carotene.

Zinc is one further nutrient in pumpkin seeds that might impact prostate function, you may suffer from zinc deficiency if you are having common cold frequently or you may have impaired sense of taste and smell. Pumpkin seeds has an effect to lower you blood sugar level too, it also helps to promote prostate health, recent researches have shown that using pumpkin seeds help those who have benign prostate enlargement. Pumpkin seeds are rich in fiber, manganese, magnesium, phosphorus, iron and vitamin K also tryptophan ( an essential amino acid formed from proteins it may enhance relaxation and sleep and it has also many others health benefits).

Image source: whfoods.com

Preparing pumpkin seeds at home is very easy!

Now preparing pumpkin seeds at home is very easy, of course you can get them from any store so I encourage you to store them in a sealed bag in the fridge to protect those healthy fats and you can store them up to 6 months, make sure you avoid brown seeds which may be rancid and chew your seeds well. But you can prepare your own pumpkin seeds at home so easily. Just rinse them and dry them off, put them on a pizza pan or flat cookie sheet then preheat the oven to 160 degrees you don’t want to burn them keep it on low temperature to save those healthy fats in them.

Seasoning your pumpkin seeds is very simple you can add sea salt maybe cayenne pepper to make them a little spicy or you can be a little creative and add some soy sauce make a soy sauce mister ( spray) like alive oil mister and mist your pumpkin seeds like that.

Bake them for 15 to 20 minutes max you don’t want to burn them you want to protect the healthy oils there.

How much to eat?

One tablespoon of pumpkin seeds about 1\2 ounce (14 grams) unhulled contain about 60 calories.

Be creative!

Enjoy pumpkin seeds in salads, rice dishes and baking. You can make them a healthy snack, add them to your cereals or to your oat meal plus they are wonderful in greens so when you cook your greens add pumpkin seeds to them. You can be more creative, mash them and add them to your meat loaf or hamburger patties or you can substitute pumpkin seeds for pine nuts in home made pesto sauce, just grind pumpkin seeds with pesto or basil, garlic, parmesan cheese, olive oil, salt and pepper.

So now you know pumpkin seeds are very tasty very healthy, make them a part of your diet.