You lose weight by eating moderate portions from the green, low glycemic list and avoiding the high glycemic, red list, right?  The high glycemic foods make a load of sugar hit your bloodstream in a rush.  Then your pancreas pumps out the insulin to take care of it.  Insulin is the hormone that tells your body to “store the fat.”  So — don’t eat stuff on the red list.

Well, there are a few exceptions. Our nutritious food of the week is one of them.  Pumpkin — that veggie that makes its appearance around halloween and makes our homes look fall-ish and decorative — has a high glycemic number.   The good news is that the number is somewhat deceptive in this case.  Though they rank a high 75 on the index, their glycemic load is a low 3.

I usually refer to the index, because that makes it simple — and I like simple. In a few cases, as with pumpkin, the glycemic load (gl) number corrects a misleading picture.  The gl takes into consideration the amount of carbs in a food as well as its gi number.  Pumpkin has a high number, but only 4g of carbohydrates.  That sounds confusing, but the bottom line is that, yes, pumpkin can have a place in your low glycemic meal plan.

And it should.  We talked in our last blog about the importance of leutin and zea-xanthin for eye health.  Pumpkin is rich in both of these, so that makes it a healthy eye-food.   It is also a good source of B-complex vitamins, such as folate.  You’ll remember that folate is a good for preventing age-related hearing loss.  And pumpkins are stuffed with numerous other vitamins, anti-oxidants, and minerals, too.

Good for keeping your eyes working, your ears functioning, and pleasing to the tastebuds.  Sounds like a winner to me!  I’ll be trying out pumpkin recipes and will post one tomorrow.

Eating to live and living for Christ,

Susan Jordan Brown