Pumpkin is great for weight loss and for your health in general. In fact it is an often-overlooked superfood. Let’s have a look at some of the benefits of a pumpkin diet.
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- 1 cup of pumpkin has 3 grams of fiber but just 49 calories, which means it will help you feel full longer while consuming less calories.
- Pumpkin contains vitamin T which speeds up metabolism helping you lose weight and develop muscle mass.
- It has a sufficient amount of other vitamins to keep you healthy.
- It normalizes cholesterol levels.
- Pumpkin diet cleanses and detoxifies the body.
- Pumpkin helps lose weight in a tasty way.
- It helps keep the skin wrinkle-free.
- Pumpkin seeds can boost your mood because they are rich in amino acid which produces serotonin.
- Pumpkin restores your body after a workout. It actually has more of the refuelling nutrient potassium than a banana – 564 milligrams in comparison with 422 milligrams in a banana!
- One cup of cooked pumpkin contains 200 percent of your recommended daily intake of vitamin A.
So there you go – 10 amazing reasons to include more pumpkin into your diet. And if you decide to try a pumpkin only diet you can lose up to 20 pounds in 2 weeks.
One of the key dishes in the pumpkin diet is pumpkin soup. It is extremely easy to cook, tasty and looks amazing.
Here is the pumpkin soup recipe:
You will need:
- 1 kg of pumpkin
- 4 tablespoons of olive oil
- 2 onions
- 1-2 garlic cloves
- 1 ginger root (by the way ginger has superpowers of it’s own)
- 700 ml water, vegetable stock or chicken stock
- Salt and pepper
1. Cut the pumpkin into pieces. You can leave the skin. there is no need to peel it away as it will soften in the process on cooking and most of the pumpkin’s nutritional value is in the skin. It also has antibacterial benefits and anti-fungal properties. Plus you won’t feel so wasteful throwing it away.
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2. Dice the onion, garlic and ginger.
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3. Add the finely diced onion, along with garlic and ginger chips into the pan and pour oil over it.
4. Place the pan over medium heat and cook for 3 minutes constantly stirring until the onion softens.
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5. Add the spices (except the coriander) and leave them there for a minute or two most oven with the onion-garlic-and-ginger mixture.
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6. Add the chopped pumpkin and cook for 5 minutes until it is slightly tender.
7. Add water (or chicken stock) but so that not all the vegetables are covered with water. The soup is not supposed to be watery.
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8. Bring the mixture to boil and simmer over low heat for 20 minutes. If the pumpkin is tender (test with a fork) remove from hit and set aside to cool.
9. Mix the soup and it is ready to eat. Enjoy with a couple of grilled pitas.
Photo Credit: Flickr
