Friday, November 6, 2009

Fantastic Food Find Friday

The Find: Pumpkin Seeds

The Facts: Pumpkin seeds were a fall traditional food at my house growing up. After we carved our pumpkins for Halloween, we would rinse the seeds off, dry them, throw a little salt on them and roast them at 350 for 15-20 minutes…delish! What I didn’t know as a kid though was that pumpkin seeds are actually very nutritious. The have give you 46.1% of the daily value for magnesium, 28.7% of the Daily Value (DV) for iron, 52.0% of the DV for manganese, 24.0% of the DV for copper, 16.9% of the DV for protein, and 17.1% of the DV for zinc in just ¼ cup. I know, right? Fantastic! Plus, pumpkin seeds have been shown to lower cholesterol and help with arthritis pain as they act as an anti-inflammatory.

Now remember, just because something is healthy doesn’t mean that eating more is better. Stick to a single ¼ cup serving with breaks down to 185 calories, 9 grams protein, 1.5 grams fiber and 16 grams of fat (14 of these grams of fat are the good, heart healthy fat). You can pick up pumpkin seeds in bulk at places like Whole Foods or I definitely recommend making your own.

Spice it up! Throw a couple tables spoons of these tasty seeds in with some high fiber cereal (like Kashi Heart to Heart), a few raisins and almonds and you have your very own tasty and totally healthy trail mix!

Enjoy!


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