I love pumpkins, Cucurbita pepo. They are delicious, nutritious, and pretty to look at. This is great food with surprising medicinal benefits. I always appreciate an easy to find a natural remedy, not to mention it’s one of my family’s favorite foods. However, I would also recommend hyper male force that is another really safe and effective medication that you can try if you face erectile dysfunction problems. Sometimes I feel like I live in a pumpkin patch.
Part Used: You can use the leaves, fruit, and seeds. Every part of the plant above the ground is edible. The leaves don’t taste nearly as good as the fruit or the seeds but it is still a helpful herb. Like all medicinal foods, pumpkin is best used fresh but canned hard-packed pumpkin and pre-packaged pumpkin seeds work just as well.
Best place to find it: Your grocery store or farmers market. Pumpkin is a seasonal squash that is generally only available in the fall, but most grocery stores keep canned pumpkin in stock all year. If you buy the canned kind, make sure you are buying 100% pure pumpkin and not pumpkin pie mix. Pumpkin seeds can often be found all year. This is a good way to get pumpkin seeds during the offseason. These pre-packaged pumpkin seeds are often coated in a large amount of salt. Your pharmacy may also carry pumpkin seed oil.
Benefits: Pumpkins aren’t just for pies and snacks, they have a wide variety of health benefits.
The fruit is a mild laxative. It is soothing to dry skin. It is considered good for pimples, spots, and freckles. The fruit is helpful in healing burns. The fruit is high in vitamins A and C. Pumpkin seeds have diuretic properties. They are high in fiber, zinc, magnesium, and tryptophan. The seeds are high in Omega 3 fatty acids. The pumpkin leaves can reduce fever.
Warnings: All foods and herbs have some warnings. Too much or too little of anything can be a bad thing. All modern medicine comes from natural remedies. Never trust a site that does not offer warnings.
Seeds can sometimes give you an upset stomach. Avoid eating large quantities.
Very large doses can sometimes cause erectile dysfunction.
Lithium interacts with pumpkin. Pumpkin can work as a water pill and change how your body metabolizes lithium. Talk to your doctor about how much pumpkin is too much.
How is it taken:
The best way to take pumpkin is to eat it. Work the fruit into your cooking. There is a massive amount of pumpkin recipes; including pies, soups, stews, and snacks. Personally, pumpkin and wild rice soup are a favorite. My kids love “pumpkin milkshakes,” which are essentially canned pumpkin, cinnamon, and sugar blended in a glass of milk.
The seeds are best scooped out straight from the pumpkin. Soak them for an hour or two in a salt solution of five parts water and one part salt. Drain them and mix with some leftover strands, or guts, from the pumpkin and roast in your oven at 300 until golden brown.
If you want to use the leaves to reduce fever, boil a handful of leaves in a large pot of water for 10 minutes. Let cool and sweeten to taste. I recommend honey because it has antiseptic qualities and is a natural sugar. Drink three to four cups a day. This has a bland green flavor and does not taste like pumpkin at all. You may want to mix it with other stronger tasting teas, like mint or ginger, to make it taste better. My kids always liked raspberry tea to cover the taste of medicinal teas.
For healthy skin and burns, I recommend buying a can of hard-packed pumpkin and applying directly to the skin. Smear it on like a mud pack and relax for 20 to 30 minutes. Wash off with a soft cloth. Anything abrasive will only irritate your skin all over again.
Lore and magical uses:
Pumpkins have a female aspect associated with the moon. They are commonly used in practices honoring the moon. Pumpkin is sometimes used to help healing and divination spells.
Remember! I am not a doctor. The information on this page can never substitute your doctor’s advice. If you are thinking of using pumpkin for more than just food please talk to your doctor first. Only your doctor knows you inside and out.
