Sweet and soft pumpkin begins to be sold in large quantities in autumn, and is loved by many people as an ingredient that can be used as a staple food to fill their hunger, as well as a home-cooked dish and traditional dessert.
Pumpkin is not only edible directly from the fruit, but also edible or medicinal to other parts of the whole plant.
Seed pumpkin seeds reduce swelling, melon vine has the effect of clearing heat, pumpkin leaves moisturize the intestines and laxative, pumpkin stems also have the effect of reducing swelling and pain, relieving heat and thirst, etc., which can be described as "a treasure".
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Delicious pumpkin, lots of benefits
Traditional Chinese medicine believes that pumpkin is warm and sweet, enters the spleen and stomach, and has the effects of tonifying qi, reducing inflammation and pain, detoxifying and killing insects. Lanmao's "Southern Yunnan Materia Medica" in the Ming Dynasty recorded that pumpkin is sweet and warm, which can "moisturize the lungs and invigorate qi, dissolve phlegm and drain pus, treat cough and asthma, and diuresis".
Protect the stomach and intestines
Pumpkin is rich in pectin, and pectin in the human body, has the effect of protecting the gastrointestinal mucosa, making it from rough food damage, but also can prevent gastric mucosal ulcers, promote ulcer surface healing, so it is suitable for stomach disease patients.
Reduce fat and promote digestion
Pumpkin is rich in vitamin A and dietary fiber, and also has low-calorie properties, which helps to lose weight. Pumpkin is also rich in fiber, which helps gastrointestinal peristalsis, helps food digestion and absorption, and promotes bowel movements.
Eye protection and disease prevention
The lutein and zeaxanthin contained in pumpkin can protect the eyes from ultraviolet damage, help prevent cataracts and slow down the possibility of macular degeneration. Moderate consumption of pumpkin can also effectively prevent and treat high blood pressure and liver lesions, and improve human immunity.
Auxiliary blood pressure reduction
Pumpkin is a food with high potassium content, which can promote the excretion of excess sodium from the body and play a role in helping to regulate blood pressure.
Note that there is a long-standing saying among the people that pumpkins can lower blood sugar. Some diabetics think that they can reduce blood sugar by eating pumpkin, but their blood sugar not only does not fall, but is getting higher and higher.
This claim comes from some animal experiments, researchers have found that pumpkin polysaccharide extract extracted from pumpkin can stimulate islet activity and increase insulin secretion, but this is only the conclusion of animal experiments, and has not yet been proven to be effective in diabetics.
Therefore, pumpkin can not be eaten in large quantities as a daily hypoglycemic food, and diabetics still need to control their intake when eating pumpkin.
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How do you choose pumpkin?
➤ Look at the color: Pumpkins are mainly divided into yellow and green from the color of the skin. golden yellow pumpkin, the darker the yellow color, the clearer and more ripe the stripes; Green pumpkins, green blackened is ripe pumpkins.
➤ Look at the epidermis: the thicker the skin lines, the darker the color, indicating that this pumpkin has a long time under light, high maturity and a sweeter taste.
➤ Touch hardness: The harder the pumpkin is to the touch, the older the pumpkin, and the softer pumpkin to the touch indicates that it is more tender and less sweet.
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Pumpkin diet
Pumpkin's diet is a good autumn health product, today I recommend 3 dietary remedies for everyone:
01. Pumpkin yam cup
【Ingredients】: 1 small pumpkin, 50g of Huaiyam (or increase according to the size of pumpkin), white sugar
【Practice】:
1. Steam and grind the Huaiyam into a paste, cut off the top of the pumpkin, dig out the bowl, and put it in a bowl for later use.
2. Put the Huaiyam paste into the pumpkin, steam for 30 minutes, and then add sugar to taste according to personal taste, or without sugar.
【Efficacy】: Strengthens the spleen and stomach
02. Lily steamed pumpkin
【Ingredients】: about 600g pumpkin, 1-2 fresh lilies, white sugar
【Practice】:
1. Wash the pumpkin, peel and remove the bowl, cut it lengthwise into thin slices, and place it in a bowl to form a round.
2. Wash the fresh lilies and put them in the pumpkin, add an appropriate amount of white sugar and put them in the steamer.
3. Bring to a boil over high heat, turn to low heat and steam well.
[Efficacy]: Cough and lungs
03. Pumpkin millet porridge
【Ingredients】: pumpkin 300g, millet 100g
【Practice】:
1. Wash the pumpkin, peel and cut into small pieces, wash the millet and set aside.
2. After adding an appropriate amount of water to the pot and boiling, add millet and pumpkin cubes, boil over high heat and turn to low heat until the pumpkin and millet are soft and rotten.
【Efficacy】: Nourish and invigorate qi
Tips
➤ Pumpkin should not be eaten excessively, easy to bloating. Patients with jaundice, beriberi and Qi stagnation and moisture obstruction should not eat pumpkin.
➤ People with gas stagnation, moisture resistance, stomach bloating, stomach pain, etc. should not eat pumpkin.
➤ Diabetics, it is recommended to try to choose young pumpkin with less sugar content to eat, and it is not recommended to eat old pumpkin with noodles and sweetness, because the old pumpkin has low water content and higher starch and sugar content. Also, avoid eating pumpkin on an empty stomach or eating a lot of pumpkin at a single time.
According to health care doctors