Impressive Health Benefits of Pak Choi and Pumpkin

The tasty, mild plant known as pak choi is a great option if you are looking to add fresh produce to your diet in order to promote a weight loss or fitness meal plan.

This vegetable has a lot of positive health effects, and provides a great alternative to lettuce or other kinds of cabbages. Pak Choi is sometimes called “Chinese white cabbage.” It comes in tightly packed heads with white and green coloration. It’s popular in stir fries and similar hot dishes. Use this exotic plant food, and you’ll find its crispness compliments a lot of the healthy cuisine that gives you the best chance of slimming down through good diet choices.

Here are some of the major health benefits that pak choi provides in a diet plan.

Calories

Pak Choi is a low-calorie food. As a green vegetable, it doesn’t contain a lot of the fats and sugars that push calorie counts through the roof. That makes it a good way to bulk up a meal without adding a lot of calories to your plate.

Carbs
When it comes to carbohydrates, or carbs, it’s really hard to keep this element of your diet under control. You can lower your calorie count, cut out red meats, and avoid cheeses and fatty foods, but those carbs still creep in. After all, carbs are in almost everything, right?
Pak Choi is one of a few select foods that has a low carb value, making it a prime candidate for a low-carb diet. However, nutritional advice on carbs varies. Ask your doctor

about how to get your carb levels right with a daily menu.

Antioxidants
The general category of vitamins called antioxidants help to ward off a wide range of diseases. Antioxidants help to prevent some kinds of cancers. They also protect the heart against some kinds of illness. Basically, these elements help the body fight off illness and pack a powerful health punch. Pak choi is high in antioxidants and will that’s another reason why it can be so helpful to add this plant to your dinners.

Vitamin C

Another vitamin that pak choi has its vitamin C. This vitamin, also found in citrus fruits, helps to prevent you from getting health conditions like scurvy, where a deficiency leads to skin problems and other illnesses.

Folic Acid
Pak Choi is a source of folic acid, which is something pregnant women generally need in their diets. Talk to your doctor about a specific diet plan if you are pregnant or nursing, and ask about all of the risks and benefits of foods including pak choi for a specialized maternity menu.

Potassium
Potassium is another thing that your body needs in specific levels. Pak choi can deliver this nutritional element as well, although again, you should talk to your doctor about

how much potassium you need depending on current medical conditions or medications that you are taking.
All of the above are great reasons to include pak choi in your diet. Get this and other green plants into your meals, and you’ll be following the time-tested strategy of eating better to feel better, promote longevity, and generally keep yourself healthy and happy.

Health Benefits of Pumpkin

Pumpkin bread, pumpkin ravioli, pumpkin pie, pumpkin risotto, pumpkin beer — the options are endless, and endlessly mouthwatering. It’s finally pumpkin season, and the reasons to celebrate are many.

Not only is fall’s signature squash versatile enough to fit into all the above and more, it also packs some powerful healthy perks — like keeping heart health, vision and waistlines in check, as long as you take it easy on the pie, that is.
Below, we’ve rounded up some of our favorite health benefits of pumpkin.

Pumpkins Keep Eyesight Sharp

A cup of cooked, mashed pumpkin contains more than 200 percent of your recommended daily intake of vitamin A, which aids vision, particularly in dim light, according to the National Institutes of Health.
Pumpkins are also rich in carotenoids, the compounds that give the gourd their bright orange color, including beta-carotene, which the body converts into a form of vitamin A for additional peeper protection.

Pumpkins Aid Weight Loss

Pumpkin is an often-overlooked source of fibre, but with three grams per one-cup serving and only 49 calories, it can keep you feeling full for longer on fewer calories.
A fibre-rich diet seems to help people eat less, and thereby shed pounds. A 2009 study found that people who ate a whole apple before lunch (the fibre is in the skin) consumed fewer calories throughout the meal than people who ate applesauce or drank apple juice.
Pumpkin Seeds Can Help Your Heart

Nuts and seeds, including those of pumpkins, are naturally rich in certain plant-based chemicals called phytosterols that have been shown in studies to reduce LDL or “bad” cholesterol.

Pumpkins May Reduce Cancer Risk

Like their orange comrades the sweet potato, the carrot and the butternut squash (to name a few), pumpkins boast the antioxidant beta-carotene, which may play a role in cancer prevention, according to the National Cancer Institute.
Food sources of beta-carotene seem to help more than a supplement, according to the NIH — even more reason to scoop up some pumpkin today. And the plant sterols in pumpkin seeds have also been linked to fighting off certain cancers.

Pumpkins Protect the Skin

The same free-radical-neutralising powers of the carotenoids in pumpkin that may keep cancer cells at bay can also help keep the skin wrinkle-free.

Pumpkin Seeds Can Boost Your Mood

Pumpkin seeds are rich in the amino acid tryptophan, the famed ingredient in turkey that many think brings on the need for that post-Thanksgiving feast snooze. While experts agree that it’s likely the overeating rather than the tryptophan lulling you to sleep, the amino acid is important in production of serotonin, one of the major players when it comes to our mood,  A handful of roasted pumpkin seeds may help your outlook stay bright.

Pumpkins Can Help After a Hard Workout

Ever heard of bananas being touted as nature’s energy bar? Turns out, a cup of cooked pumpkin has more of the refuelling nutrient potassium, with 564 milligrams to a banana’s 422.
A little extra potassium helps restore the body’s balance of electrolytes after a heavy workout and keeps muscles functioning at their best.

Pumpkins Can Boost Your Immune System

Well, maybe. Whether or not vitamin C can really ward off colds is still up for debate, but pumpkins are a solid source of the essential nutrient. One cup of cooked pumpkin contains more than 11 milligrams, or nearly 20 percent of the 60 milligrams the IOM recommends women need daily. (Men should aim for around 75 milligrams.) (Information gathered and extracted from healthdigezt.com)

Join us again for next week edition of the Pepperpot’s weekly Health Digest where we will be focusing on foods that you should eat to make you smarter and Surprising Health Benefits of Eggs.