20 Healthy Pumpkin Recipes - The Lemon Bowl® (2024)

FAQs

Is pumpkin good for diabetes and high blood pressure? ›

To help decrease your blood pressure, try eating pumpkin, which contains potassium that helps to control blood pressure. Potassium also helps with bone health and decreases your risk for diabetes. Around 10% of your daily potassium is found in just a half-cup serving of canned pumpkin.

Pureed, baked or roasted pumpkin is a nutrient-dense food that is low in calories and fat while being high in fiber, helping you feel full for longer.

It's thicker, fresher, and sweeter tasting than canned. I used homemade pumpkin puree when baking pumpkin bread this weekend. The pumpkin was so sweet tasting that I was able to reduce the sugar in the recipe by one third.

Rich in vitamins, minerals and antioxidants, pumpkin is incredibly healthy. What's more, its low calorie content makes it a weight-loss-friendly food. Its nutrients and antioxidants may boost your immune system, protect your eyesight, lower your risk of certain cancers and promote heart and skin health.

Although pumpkin is a higher potassium food, in moderation it can be beneficial for your overall health. Pumpkin is packed with nutritional benefits that are great for the renal diet including fiber, Vitamin C and beta-carotene. So go ahead, enjoy this fall delights in moderation today!

Each veggie has a unique nutritional profile, but at the end of the day, your body will always be happy if you feed it something that grew in the ground. However, if you place the two in a side-by-side comparison, sweet potato generally outpaces pumpkin in its nutritional makeup from vitamin A to fiber to protein.

You can also support liver function by including pumpkin and other antioxidant-rich foods in your diet. These antioxidants help your liver break down fats, proteins, and carbohydrates — and filter harmful substances out of your bloodstream.

Pumpkin is a starchy vegetable, providing carbohydrate and the energy needed to fuel our body. As pumpkin is also rich in fibre, it keeps you feeling full for longer and reduces your urge to snack between meals. The high fibre content further promotes more regular bowel movements.

Libby's, the quintessential canned pumpkin brand, uses a proprietary strain of the Dickinson pumpkin variety in their product, which is also often called a Dickinson squash. On Libby's website, it states that their product is 100 percent pumpkin.

Is A pumpkin a fruit or a Vegetable? ›

A pumpkin, from a botanist's perspective, is a fruit because it's a product of the seed-bearing structure of flowering plants. Vegetables, on the other hand, are the edible portion of plants such as leaves, stems, roots, bullbs, flowers, and tubers.

Canned pumpkin (labeled as "100% pure pumpkin") is a purée of pumpkin that is sometimes mixed with other kinds of winter squash. It is unsweetened and does not contain any added spices. Canned pumpkin and pumpkin puree are the same thing, and you'll often see the terms used interchangeably in recipes and cookbooks.

It is safe and healthy to eat pumpkin every day, but Campbell suggests sticking to only one serving per day—about half a cup of canned pumpkin and one cup of raw pumpkin – for a couple reasons. “Although pumpkins are great for you, they do contain a good amount of fiber,” says Menshulam.

This is what makes pumpkins ideal for including in your weight loss diets. Pumpkins are used for their pulp, seeds and seed oils. They are baked into pies and cakes, added to smoothies and lattes, and even boiled, mashed and eaten as is for a quick, healthy snack.

Pumpkin flesh is loaded with antioxidants that can help to protect your hair from environmental aggressors, like air pollution and UV rays. Pumpkin flesh is also rich in vitamin A, which helps your scalp to produce enough sebum. Sebum is a natural oil that keeps your hair moisturized and strong.

Pumpkin ranks high on the glycemic index at 75, but low on the glycemic load at 3. People might assume that it is bad for diabetics because of its high GI, but that is not true. Its low GL rank indicates that having a small portion of pumpkin is perfectly safe and will not drastically increase your blood sugar levels.

You limit dairy products, red meat, sweets, added sugars, sodium (salt), and highly processed foods. Some additional guidelines include focusing on seasonal produce and reading food labels to help you avoid added sodium and sugar.

Pumpkin and diabetes

Research shows that pumpkin has many potential benefits specifically for people with diabetes. An animal study found that compounds in pumpkin reduced insulin requirements in rats by promoting natural insulin production in the body.

Households that take part in the Teal Pumpkin Project offer Halloween happiness to children managing a range of medical conditions, including tens of thousands of youngsters with diabetes.