By Agencies
Pumpkins are a type of winter squash and with over 100 varieties to choose from the options never get boring especially if you are looking to spice up your athlete’s plate. In addition to providing fun fall décor, pumpkins are a powerhouse of nutrients that can help fuel your athletic performance. Pumpkin is packed with fiber, numerous vitamins and minerals, and antioxidants such as beta-carotene.
What’s in the Puree?
Some nutrients that are especially important for athletic performance include the electrolytes potassium and magnesium, both of which can be found in pumpkin puree.
One cup of canned pumpkin puree contains about 500 milligrams of potassium. Potassium is an important nutrient for athletes that works to regulate fluids in the body as well as enable proper muscle contraction. Consuming adequate amounts of potassium helps athletes support intense training sessions, avoid post-exercise exhaustion and prevent muscle cramps.
Magnesium, another essential electrolyte, assists athletic performance by maintaining muscle and nerve function, regulating heart rhythm, and promoting energy metabolism. One cup of pumpkin puree provides about 56 milligrams of magnesium. Ensuring you have enough magnesium as an athlete can decrease the occurrence of muscle cramps and spasms, reduce fatigue, and speed up recovery.
Pop in the Pumpkin Seeds
The seeds of a pumpkin are also edible and offer many nutrients that can benefit athletes. On top of containing potassium and magnesium, pumpkin seeds provide the minerals iron and zinc.
One ounce of pumpkin seeds provides about 2.5 milligrams of iron. Iron is needed to transport oxygen from the lungs to the working muscles in the body. Low iron intake can lead to decreased exercise performance, fatigue, headaches and shortness of breath.
Additionally, there are about 2 milligrams of zinc in one ounce of pumpkin seeds. Zinc is essential for proper immune function. Keeping the immune system strong is especially important for athletes who do not want to be sidelined with numerous colds or infections during the sports season. Zinc is also important for proper wound healing after an injury.
Prioritize Your Pumpkins
Both the puree and the seeds of a pumpkin offer many essential nutrients to support athletic performance including potassium, magnesium, iron, and zinc. Adding some pumpkin inspired recipes into your fall meal rotation can help meet your athlete’s nutrient needs and fuel your body.
Try adding pumpkin puree to your smoothies, oatmeal, or energy bites. Sprinkle a handful of roasted pumpkin seeds in your yogurt or add to a mid-morning trail mix. Or jazz up your evening meal with a bowl of pumpkin soup or hidden pumpkin in your enchiladas.
Endurance and Muscle Strength
In a study involving the administration of pumpkin extract to mice, it was discovered that grip strength and time to exhaustive fatigue improved after 14 days of oral supplementation. After administration of pumpkin, the mice had less ammonia and more circulating glucose during exercise. Likewise at rest, the mice that consumed pumpkin had higher levels of glycogen in their livers and muscles. Glucose is our bodies’ preferred source of energy during exercise, because we’re more efficient at converting it to energy. In essence, pumpkin provides our bodies with a bigger gas tank, and more fuel means we can perform at a higher level for a longer period.
Electrolyte Balance
When we work out intensely, we lose electrolytes like potassium, magnesium and calcium. Low potassium levels can cause cramping and early onset fatigue. Pumpkin can be great for restoring our electrolyte balance after hard workouts, since it’s loaded with electrolytes. One cup has 564 milligrams of potassium, one hundred milligrams more than the amount of potassium in a banana.
Better Eyesight
Better vision might be the deciding factor that lets you see the open receiver in the red zone or tell the difference between a 95 mph fastball and a change-up. Pumpkin is rich in vitamins and antioxidants that help improve and restore eyesight. It has antioxidants that slow macular degeneration, a leading cause of vision loss.
Pump up your performance by using pumpkin as a pre-workout and post-workout fuel. Use it pre-workout to load your glycogen stores to improve your stamina and strength, and again post-workout to recover lost electrolytes and glycogen. Mix a half cup of pumpkin puree into your oatmeal before a workout and a half cup of pumpkin puree into a protein shake after your workout for improved performance.
Nutritious and Delicious!
Pumpkins are an excellent source of fiber to help feed beneficial bacteria in the gut and vitamin A. In a study done on athletes recently, beta carotene levels coincided with improved athletic performance. This is due to it’a antioxidant power preventing premature fatiguing and improving muscle recovery from a hard training session. Vitamin A is also incredibly important in protecting the ovaries from oxidative damage which can in turn help to maintain hormonal balance potentially preventing the onset of PMS symptoms, balancing sex hormone production and improving bone density and mood! Pumpkin is also a rich source of tocopherols (Vitamin E), which is used in conjunction with vitamin C and A provides incredible protection against harmful compounds generated from exercise. 1
Speaking of antioxidants, pumpkin also contains some incredibly powerful ones such as rutin and quercetin. The latter has been studied extensively for it’s role in athletic recovery and performance while the former have demonstrated potential anti-osteopenic effects.2 Other important nutrients include electrolytes potassium and magnesium to maintain fluid and electrolyte balance, prevent muscle cramping, improve sleep and calm down the central nervous system.
Want a bit of a mood boost? Pumpkins contain the amino acid tryptophan, important for the production of serotonin and melatonin as well as the production of niacin, a B vitamin responsible for several physiological processes such as protein and carbohydrate metabolism and energy production.1 The more energy one has and the balance of serotonin is an excellent recipe for getting the most out of your athletic performance and quality of life!
Don’t Forget About the Seeds!
I utilize these into my routine alot! Why is that? Pumpkin seeds are one the the richest sources of plant based protein, packing 10g for ¼ cup serving. They are high in zinc which is essential for the production of stomach acid, immunity, decreasing PMS symptoms and fatty acid conversion. (If you don’t have the latter, anti inflammatory Polyunsaturated Fatty Acids can not be converted properly and can increase inflammation.) Speaking of these fatty acids, pumpkin seeds are rich in plant based omega 3 fatty acids, important for decreasing inflammation and cortisol levels. Other nutrients contained in these seeds that I am a huge fan of is selenium, needed for conversion to the active form of your thyroid hormone (T3) as well as for the generation of the body’s natural antioxidant, glutathione. Why else do I love them? They kinda look pretty on things! I like to top them on my carrot ginger soup or pumpkin soup for a bit of extra protein.