Healthy Food Chart

No, I am not talking about candy. I'm talking about pumpkin seeds! With Halloween one week away, and jack-o-lanterns being carved, I wanted to remind you about the nutritious and delicious seeds that are inside your pumpkins.

Pumpkin seeds are one of the most nutritious seeds. Just 1 ounce of roasted whole pumpkin seeds has 125 calories, 5 grams of fat, and 5 grams of protein. Eating pumpkin seeds can also help protect prostate health and lower cholesterol, aid in the treatment of depression and they also are a natural anti-inflammatory.

To prepare pumpkin seeds you need to remove the seeds from the pumpkin and wipe them off with a paper towel. Make sure to remove any pulp that is stuck to the seeds. Spread the seeds out on a baking sheet and bake at 160-170 degrees for about 20 minutes. If desired you can sprinkle the seeds with salt before you bake them.

You can enjoy roasted pumpkin seeds as a snack, mixed into trail mix, added to a salad, or mixed into hot cereal.

If you don't have fresh pumpkin seeds to roast this Halloween take a look at your local grocery store for roasted pumpkin seeds so you can still enjoy the nutritional benefits of this sweet treat.