Momma's little Pumpkin

Okay so Halloween is over but don't throw away all of those carved pumpkins or wait till Thanksgiving for pumpkin pie. Pumpkin is a fruit..yes fruit that you should have all year round and it is a superfood. SURPRISE.

Besides being high in fiber and low in calories it is loaded with disease fighting nutrients and you can get it year round. What makes pumpkin such a nutritional powerhouse are all of the carotenoids. Carotenoids are a good guy because they protect you from free radicals, improve your immune response, and they play a key role in protecting the skin and eyes from UV rays. The carotenoids in pumpkin can also decrease the risk of various cancers too.

Not don't think you have to wait once a year to go to the pumpkin patch and pick one up. Canned pumpkin puree and not the (pumpkin pie filling) is acutally more nutritious then the fresh pumpkin. 1 cup has only 83 calories and it is loaded with way more alpha carotene and beta carotene and it contains almost half of the iron requirement for adult men and post menopausal women.

So eat up peeps and vote too!!