They Aren't Just For Carving.

Pumpkin Power - Super food Virtues Beyond Pumpkin Carving
by Sylvia Riley

Pumpkin is at the heart of Halloween festivities, and for many is the only experience they have of the squash all season. This is usually for the joys of pumpkin carving rather than cooking.

When you discover just how healthy pumpkins are however, you'll realize that pumpkin recipes are just as worth getting excited about and that it would be foolish not to eat the remaining flesh left over from your pumpkin carving.

(As a note, if you're rolling up your sleeves ready to tackle your orange fellow there are plenty of free pumpkin carving pattern ideas available on the Internet).

Pumpkin is a super food indeed. In fact, it's not just the inner meat of a pumpkin that's virtuous but its seeds are super nutritious too and contain a wealth of health-promoting properties. Like melons, cucumber, and squash, pumpkins belong to the gourd family.

They were much celebrated by Native American Indians who made use of their flesh and seeds for culinary and medicinal purposes. Pumpkin flesh is high in fiber and vitamins C and E, magnesium and potassium and a staggering quantity and variety of carotenoids, being one of the most abundant natural sources of these amazing phytonutrients.
Dietary carotenoids correlate with lower a risk of numerous cancers, heart disease, cataracts and blindness. Pumpkin contains heaps of beta-carotene as well as a huge concentration of alpha-carotene, with just a quarter of a cup yielding the recommended daily amount. Alpha-carotene protects against certain cancers and cataracts, and has also been discovered to be a powerful ally against aging.

Read the rest of the article here.

Here is a pic for the occasion.

This pic comes with a story, but not one that you would thinking of. Just click on the pic for the story.

Oh.. It's a real new story, not a spoof. I didn't get it from The Onion or any of their friends.

There, I've shown both sides of the story. :)

See ya.