Patriot Health Digest
If you are like me, you sometimes have a hard time finding convenient ways to eat more fruit or vegetables. Well, I found a very easy way to add more of this good stuff to your diet without you even having to taste it.
It’s canned pumpkin. Yup, the stuff people get on Thanksgiving but ignore for rest of the year.
Pumpkin is full of carotenoids such as beta-carotene, lutein, cryptoxanthin, and zeaxanthin, stuff that is all complicit in improving your health in general.
Pumpkin also has high amounts of trigonellin and nicotinic acid, which have been proven to help the glucose uptake of your muscle cells. Also, pumpkin has dehydrodiconiferyl-alcohol, a metabolite that disrupts the glucose uptake of your fat cells.
One study found that pumpkin extract can cause better grip strength and lower fatigue. Another one showed that it can prevent growth in plasma protein carbonyls, which means it protects your muscles from being broken down too much during intense exercise.
So you get better insulin sensitivity, more strength and endurance, and lower exercise-induced muscle-protein breakdown.
Based on this, it’s certain that Pumpkin is perfectly suited for most fitness lifestyles, especially when you take it in its convenient canned form.
But if you are still not convinced, pumpkin has one more superpower you need to know about: It’s the Babe Ruth of bowel movements in that it is the top bowel hitter.
Pumpkin adds insoluble fiber to firm your poop up. Is your poop already too firm? Pumpkin will add soluble fiber to soften it up.
Overall, pumpkin is rich in minerals, vitamins, and antioxidants, and is incredibly healthy. It’s even low calorie too so it makes a great weight-loss-friendly food.
Its antioxidants and nutrients may increase your immunity, protect your eyes, and even lower your risk of getting certain cancers and promoting heart health.
Author: Steven Sinclaire
