Pumpkin Nutrition facts – Weight Loss and health benefits

What should I do to lose weight? This is the question which comes frequently in every girl’s mind as they are always concerned about their look and why shouldn’t they be? So today we bring to you some amazing results of pumpkin nutrition useful for weight loss/pumpkin soup for weight loss or kaddu for weight loss.

Pumpkin is often known as ‘Kaddu’ in north Indian states and yes, Kaddu is one of those magical foods which can help you to reach your goal. In this post I will try to share with you how effective is pumpkin for weight loss. Kaddu is a variety of winter squash, which belongs to Cucurbitaceae family, native to North America and particularly popular around Thanksgiving and Halloween. Pumpkin is one of the oldest foods hence everyone is familiar with big, round and vibrant orange with a slightly ribbed, tough and smooth outer skin pumpkin as veggie.

India is the biggest international producers of kaddu(pumpkin) along with the US, Canada, china. You can try out many verities in making of Kaddu like curry, sabzi, fry even halwa. Continue reading and I will share with you benefits and recipes of pumpkin nutrition for weight loss.

Table of Content:

• Health Benefits of Pumpkin
• Kaddu for Weight Loss
• Ways to Consume Kaddu for Weight Loss
• Kaddu Soup for Weight Loss
• Kaddu Sabzi for Weight Loss

Health Benefits of Pumpkin:

There are plenty of health benefits which pumpkin provides to your body. Pumpkin is high in vitamins and minerals and low in calories. Pumpkin is great source of beta- carotene, is high in fiber, very beneficial for heart ailments and also help in reducing cholesterol. Pumpkin is also used as remedy for fatigue, loose stools, intestinal worm infestation, body – ache, healthy skin etc.

Below are some of the details of pumpkin nutrition for weight loss and general health as well:

• Kaddu is rich in carotenoids and provides a wealth of carotenoid pigments, including alpha carotene, beta carotene and lutein. With the help of carotenoids, you can boost your immunity and, in some research, it says carotenoid rich food helps to protect eye health.
• As mentioned above, pumpkin contains beta-carotene or vitamin A hence, also protect your skin from sun’s UV rays. Beta carotene also help in reduce the risk of cancer.
• Pumpkin contains Vitamin C and vitamin E. Our body does not make vitamin C so, it is necessary to consume vitamin C rich food every day. Vitamin E is an excellent antioxidant and acts together with vitamin C, help to protect our skin from sun damage, prevent dryness of the skin.
• High amount of fiber present in pumpkin keeps you full for longer and good for bowel health of an individual.
• Kaddu contains in good amount of zinc, which helps to boost your immune system and improve the bone density.
• Being loaded with potassium, kaddu is associated with lowering the risk of hypertension.

Pumpkin also helps in fighting metabolic syndrome, which is a combination of diabetes, obesity and high blood pressure. This medical condition makes you much more prone to coronary heart disease and stroke. This has been proven in studies, which primarily say that carotenoids (this is responsible for green, orange or yellow color of vegetables) play a good role in fighting against metabolic syndrome.

Kaddu for Weight Loss:

You can see best results in your weight loss journey when you balance your diet with your exercise routine. I believe diet plays 80% of the role as opposed to exercise which plays only 20% role in this journey. Adding more fibers to your diet will definitely make your journey faster and smoother. Kaddu contains a good amount of fiber and that keeps you full for longer. Kaddu is also very low calory food, According to USDA, each cup (245 2grams) of cooked kaddu contains

Calories – 49

Protein – 1.8 grams

Fat – 0.2 grams

Carbohydrates – 2.7 grams of these carbohydrates comes from dietary fiber.

After seeing all these benefits, I think kaddu for weight loss is really effective. I can say best way is to replace one of your high carb or protein diet item with pumpkin or kaddu soup for weight loss. As we all say we should have dinner like a miser, kaddu soup for weight loss could be a great substitute in this case.

Ways to Consume Kaddu for Weight Loss:

There are so many ways to consume kaddu for weight loss. Kaddu is great for weight loss, is healthy and very tasty. I bet you will not regret after adding kaddu for weight loss in your diet plan.

Kaddu Soup for Weight Loss (Pumpkin Soup for Weight Loss):

Ingredients kaddu soup for weight loss:

• 400 gm (2 cup) pumpkin
• ¼ tsp cumin seeds
• 1 onion chopped
• 2 – 3 garlic cloves
• 1 tbsp ginger chopped
• 1 green chili
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp black pepper
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• 2 cup water
• Chopped Parsley for garnishing

Step by step Instructions to prepare kaddu soup for weight loss:

• Firstly, rinse peel and chop kaddu also chop 1 medium onion and garlic cloves.
• Now take large kadhai or cooker heat 2 tbsp olive oil or other cooking oil which you prefer to use in cooking.
• Let the oil turn hot add cumin seeds, chopped garlic cloves and saute for 10 seconds, further add chopped onion and ginger saute for a minute.
• Now add 400gm pumpkin, use any pumpkin of your choice.
• Also add ½ tsp salt, black pepper, and saute for a minute.
• Further more add water and mix well.
• Now cover and boil for about 15 minutes on medium flame. Also check weather pumpkin is cooked in between.
• Once its cooked, let the kaddu cool down.
• Now transfer to the blender and blend to smooth paste.
• Now pour the prepared soup in to a bowl and garnish with parsley.
• Your kaddu soup for weight loss is ready to serve.

Kaddu soup for weight loss taste delicious and the best thing is you can keep it for about a week and enjoy when required.

Read: Vegetable Diet Soup Recipes for Weight Loss

Note: Some people like adding cream but I must say if you really want to see result please avoid cream or you can add yogurt instead off cream. Adding cream in your soup may not help you to reach your goal.

Kaddu Sabzi for weight loss:

Kaddu sabzi for weight loss is very easy to prepare, kaddu sabzi for weight loss does not take much time to prepare only cutting and peeling kaddu takes some time. Let’s prepare it.

Ingredients kaddu sabzi for weight loss:

• Take 1 small kaddu
• 2 tbsp olive oil
• ¼ tsp fenugreek seeds
• ½ tsp salt
• ½ tsp black pepper
• 1 tsp cumin seeds
• 1 green chili
• 1tbsp ginger chopped
• ¼ tsp turmeric powder
• ¼ tsp coriander powder
• ¼ tsp garam masala
• Chopped Parsley

Step by step Instructions kaddu sabzi for weight loss:

• Firstly, rinse, peel and chop kaddu in a small cube.
• Take a souse pan and heat up with olive oil, when the oil turn hot adds cumin and fenugreek seeds. When they splutter add ginger and fry till the raw smell goes off.
• Add green chili, turmeric powder once you add turmeric powder immediately add kaddu and fry for about 2 to 3 minutes.
• Now add coriander powder, black pepper, salt and stir well.
• Cover and cook on low flame, do not add water, cook about 15 to 20 minutes.
• Once kaddu is cooked, switch off the flame and add garam masala mix well.
• Lastly garnish with parsley.
• Your kaddu sabzi for weight loss is ready to serve.

Note: you can try this recipe in Navratri fasting, but during Navratri fasting you have to skip adding fenugreek seeds, turmeric powder and garam masala in the recipe.

Read: Bottle Gourd for Weight Loss

Try to add this recipe in your daily diet and you will see the transformation in your body. Try to skip heavy cream sabzi with this kaddu sabzi for weight loss.

I hope this gave you a good idea of benefits of kaddu or pumpkin for weight loss and other health benefits as well. Please do let us know in comments if you know a better recipe and share with the community to help everyone in their journey towards a healthy life.