I really recommend eating pumpkin as a staple food! There are more than one reason

In the golden autumn, there is a "gold among vegetables" on the market, that is pumpkin. The old pumpkin tastes sweet and juicy, while the baby pumpkin is dense and soft. When you take a bite, you will feel the autumn atmosphere.

However, compared with other leafy vegetables, pumpkin has obvious shortcomings in the "vegetable world". It is high in carbohydrates and calories, and eating too much can easily lead to excessive calories. If it is made into cream pumpkin soup, baked pumpkin with salted egg yolk, etc., the calories are even higher.

In order to let everyone enjoy the deliciousness of pumpkin, today I would like to recommend a great way to eat pumpkin - use pumpkin to replace part of the staple food . I strongly recommend you to try it!!! Pumpkin, which has entered the "staple food world", not only has a higher dietary fiber content and a stronger sense of satiety than staple foods made of refined rice and white flour, but also contains rich carotenoids and potassium content. It is also far ahead. In addition, it has a soft and sweet taste. It is really excellent.

So, how to replace some staple food with pumpkin? How to choose among the many kinds of pumpkins on the market? Let's talk about them one by one.

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Pumpkin as a staple food

Two key words to note

When using pumpkin as a staple food, pay attention to two key words: one is substitution and the other is portion.

Substitution means that we cannot eat pumpkin as a snack after eating the staple food, which will easily lead to excessive extra calorie intake;

Part of it is that it is not recommended to eat only pumpkin as the staple food. After all, the calories in pumpkin are much lower than other staple foods. Eating only pumpkin as the staple food for a long time can easily lead to calorie deficit and malnutrition.

As can be seen from the table below, no matter which type of pumpkin, the calories are lower than common staple foods, usually about 1/5 to 1/10 of steamed bread, noodles, and rice. In comparison, pumpkin's carbohydrate content is not high. Even the chestnut-faced pumpkin, which tastes sticky and powdery, has only 8.8 grams of carbohydrates per 100 grams, which is about 1/5 of steamed bread. However, the dietary fiber content is higher. For example, the dietary fiber content of chestnut-faced pumpkin is 1 times higher than that of steamed bread and 8.6 times that of rice.

It can be seen that replacing part of the staple foods such as refined rice and white flour with pumpkin can not only help us reduce the total calorie intake, but also provide a stronger sense of fullness.

Data from "Chinese Food Nutrition Composition Table" (Sixth Edition)

It is worth mentioning that when using pumpkin as a staple food, it is best to pair it with miscellaneous beans such as red beans, mung beans, kidney beans, and whole grains such as brown rice and whole wheat . This can not only provide enough calories, but also provide sufficient dietary fiber and B vitamins, and blood sugar will not rise too quickly after a meal.

However, the protein content of pumpkin is slightly lower than that of other staple foods. If you usually eat vegetarian food, when eating pumpkin as a staple food, you should pay attention to supplement some foods rich in high-quality protein such as eggs, milk or tofu.

Compared with other staple foods

Pumpkin also has this special advantage

There is another advantage of using pumpkin as a staple food that is worth recommending, and that is that pumpkin has a high carotenoid content , which can reach 890~1518 micrograms/100 grams.

According to the recommendation of the "Dietary Nutrient Reference Intake for Chinese Residents" (2023 edition), normal adults should consume 660-770 micrograms of vitamin A equivalent per day, which is equivalent to 3960-4620 micrograms of carotenoids. If 100 grams of pumpkin is the staple food in a day, it can meet about 22%-40% of the demand, and combined with various dark green vegetables, it can easily reach the daily recommended amount.

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Vitamin A converted from carotenoids is an important component of retinal photosensitive substances. When vitamin A is deficient, not only the dark adaptation ability is reduced, resulting in "night blindness", but also dry eyes, sore eyes and visual fatigue are aggravated. Sufficient intake of carotenoids can well supplement the source of vitamin A, and the protection of the eyes is self-evident.

Moreover, many domestic and foreign studies have confirmed that carotenoids have a good antioxidant effect . For example, they can help fight oxidative damage induced by air pollutants, protect cardiovascular health and delay aging by scavenging free radicals, inhibiting lipid peroxidation, and inhibiting low-density lipoprotein oxidation. Its strong antioxidant capacity can also reduce the damage of oxidative stress to the immune system, thereby enhancing human immunity.

If you can add some pumpkin to the staple food, and choose more dark green, orange-yellow, and purple-red vegetables such as purple cabbage, spinach, and carrots, as well as fruits such as blueberries, strawberries, kiwis, oranges, and tangerines, this dietary structure can be said to have maximized the antioxidant and anti-inflammatory capabilities from staple foods to fruits and vegetables!

In addition, the potassium content in pumpkin is 3 to 10 times higher than that in staple foods such as steamed bread, which can help regulate blood pressure and reduce the risk of stroke and other cardiovascular and cerebrovascular diseases. For friends who eat more salt and have a heavy taste, it is also beneficial to eat more pumpkin on the basis of maintaining a light diet.

Different types of pumpkins

How to choose and how to eat

Finally, it’s time for the “how to choose, how to eat” part that everyone loves.

There are so many kinds of pumpkins on the market now, some are round, some are yellow, and some are green, which is dizzying. In fact, it is not that complicated to choose pumpkins if you remember a few simple rules:

1

Old pumpkin: sweet taste, low in calories

The old pumpkin is the orange-yellow, big, long pumpkin that we saw most often when we were young. The biggest feature of this pumpkin is its high water content and low carbohydrate content . It tastes moist, sweet, and delicious, and is very suitable for friends who need to lose weight.

Not only can it be steamed directly as a staple food, but it can also be used to make sweet pumpkin buns and small cakes with steamed pumpkin instead of water; or it can be mashed into a thick soup, which is also suitable for autumn and winter. In addition, this kind of pumpkin can be sliced ​​and stir-fried when it is not too old, and the taste is crisp.

2

Beibei Pumpkin/Chestnut Pumpkin: Soft, glutinous and sweet, suitable for both the main and supporting roles

They are both chestnut pumpkins. What they have in common is that they have lower water content than old pumpkins, have a softer, stickier texture, and a mellower sweetness. In comparison, the chestnut pumpkin is larger, drier, and has a chewier texture, much like chestnuts. These two pumpkins are high in carbohydrates and calories, so it is a good choice to replace some staple foods with them.

You can also use baby pumpkin or chestnut pumpkin as a container to make stews or desserts. For example, using baby pumpkin as a bowl to steam milk and egg pudding not only borrows the sweetness and softness of pumpkin, but also the high-quality protein of milk and eggs. It is a low-sugar and healthy dessert with a rich taste suitable for all ages. The baby pumpkin steamed spare ribs is also very good. The pre-marinated spare ribs are steamed until the bones fall off, which is both tasty and easy to chew. The pumpkin as a container is soft and glutinous, and it absorbs the broth, making the aroma more tempting. It is a quick "hard dish" to entertain friends and family.

No matter which pumpkin you choose, you should pay attention to the processing method. High-sugar and high-fat pumpkins such as cream pumpkin soup, baked pumpkin with salted egg yolk, and candied pumpkin are OK to eat once or twice to satisfy your cravings, but it is not recommended to eat them frequently. The most recommended way is to steam them , which is not only simple and delicious, but also can better protect carotenoids, and the cost-effectiveness is very high!

Eat pumpkin

Avoid this mistake

There is another misunderstanding about pumpkin:

In the past few years, some middle-aged and elderly people have been superstitious about "eating pumpkin to lower blood sugar" and have consumed large amounts of pumpkin, even skipping their daily anti-sugar drugs. This practice is really undesirable. Although pumpkin polysaccharides in pumpkin have shown a hypoglycemic effect in animal experiments, there is not enough evidence to show that it has the same effect on humans. The carbohydrate content in pumpkin is lower than that in staple foods, but much higher than that in leafy vegetables and fruits.

Moreover, pumpkin is easy to digest and its glycemic index is not low (75), so it is a high glycemic index food. Fortunately, due to its low carbohydrate content, its glycemic load is not too high (3.9~6.6), so it is a low glycemic load food.

Overall, pumpkin cannot be considered a "blood sugar lowering" food. If you eat too much (especially chestnut pumpkin which is high in carbohydrates), your blood sugar will still be affected. If you eat a lot of pumpkin after eating the staple food in order to "lower blood sugar", your blood sugar will rise faster. Therefore, friends with blood sugar problems should follow the doctor's advice and use medication reasonably. It is more reasonable to replace some refined rice and white flour with pumpkin in their diet.

References

[1] Yang Yuexin. Standard Edition of Chinese Food Composition Table (6th Edition/Volume 1)[M]. Peking University Medical Press, 2018.

[2] Chinese Nutrition Society. Dietary Reference Intakes of Nutrients for Chinese Residents (2023 Edition)[M]. People's Medical Publishing House, 2023.

[3] Fan Xiaolan, Yang Jun, Mi Mantian, Yang Hui. Antioxidant effect of β-carotene and disease prevention[J]. Chinese Journal of Public Health, 2003, 19, 4: 479-480.

[4] Rodriguez-Amaya, Delia B .2-Carotenes and xanthophylls as antioxidants[J]. Handbook of Antioxidants for Food Preservation, 2015:17-50.

[5]Mueller, L.; Boehm, V. Antioxidant Activity of β-Carotene Compounds in Different in Vitro Assays. Molecules 2011, 16, 1055-1069.

Planning and production

Author: Wang Lu, registered dietitian

Review | Ruan Guangfeng, Deputy Director of Kexin Food and Health Information Exchange Center

Planning丨Yang Yaping

Editor: Yang Yaping

Proofread by Xu Lai and Lin Lin

Note: The cover image is a copyrighted image. Reprinting it may cause copyright disputes.