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Healthy Diet Plans >>  Juice Therapy >>  Warning Against Self Diagnosis >>  Pumpkins & Rhubarb

PUMPKIN
Cucurbita pepo


The pumpkin is another fruit that has been cultivated by human beings since time immemorial. It also plays a major role in European and American folklore and traditions.

Pumpkins are a rich source of vitamin C. Pumpkin juice is used to remove worms from the digestive tract. It is also used to stimulate the kidneys and remove water retention without any side effects.



The pumpkin is a popular sight around Halloween when it is carved into a face and lit up with candles, supposedly to drive away evil spirits. Whether or not it helps against evil spirits, it has been shown to help with bladder and kidney problems as well as gastric diseases. Pumpkin juice health benefits are high, and adding the occasional pumpkin (or at least, a piece of it) in your juice one in a way will help keep you healthy. 

The pumpkin is the fruit of an annual herb, which is grown for its flowers, seeds, and fruit. It has a large, oval or sphere shaped fruit, ranging from a green to a bright orange color. The pulp of the fruit is yellowish-orange in color and is sweet to taste. Pumpkins are rich in beta-carotene and antioxidants. These substances help to slow the aging process. The fruit’s pulp has pro-vitamin A, vitamins C and E, minerals, salts, proteids, and carbohydrates. The seeds, which can be eaten raw, also contain proteids, oils, resines as well as enzymes that have antihelmintic properties. The core of the fruit has tyrosine, lecithin, peporesine, vitamins A and B, and phosphorus. As you can see, not only is it a beautiful fruit too look at but it is also a very healthy fruit indeed.


Health Benefits Of Pumpkin


The greatest benefits come from the seeds, which help in cleaning the intestine of parasites, keeping the blood vessels clean, controlling cholesterol, and stimulating the kidney. Pumpkin seeds have been shown to energize cancer, leukemia, and sclerosis patients. Pumpkin oil, which also comes from the seed, reduces cholesterol and has antioxidants that protect against heart disease. The fruit pulp itself, which is used in juices, has laxative properties, and it is used to treat constipation and dyspepsia. Eaten fried, it can help those who suffer from heart problems. The health benefits of pumpkin juice include helping with ulcers and acidity problems. Pumpkin juice benefits are seen most when the juice is consumed thrice a day, half an hour before you meals. The juice also works as a sedative and helps insomniacs to sleep better.

White pumpkin juice has benefits too; when drunk on an empty stomach, it can cure ulcers, and it also helps the body to detox. The health benefits of white pumpkin juice are also well-known and often prescribed by ancient medicinal systems like Ayurveda. Pumpkins can also help with curing hormonal problems in women and young teens and ease the symptoms of adolescence or menopause as well as sexual hyper-excitability. When used externally, it can treat burns, abscesses and inflammation. It also helps heal insect stings. Of all the parts of the pumpkin, the seed and pumpkin juice advantages are the highest. To make pumpkin juice, take a few pieces of pumpkin and put it in a blender. Add a few table spoons of honey, and whip it up. You can also mix this with other juices like apples or rhubarb. Rhubarb juice benefits are many too, as rhubarb has been shown to fight cancer, decrease blood pressure and cholesterol, and help with menopause. The nutritional benefits of pumpkin juice, when combined with rhubarb juice benefits, make for an extremely healthy drink. This drink can be used to treat diarrhea as well as constipation.

Pumpkin juice is often used in juice therapy. Pumpkin juice, though, should not be consumed as often as other juices like orange or apple juice, since it has a high concentration of oxalic acid. Also, the raw pumpkin juice benefits are the highest, so do not try to cook the fruit before juicing it.

RHUBARB
Rheum palmatum

Rhubarb is very rich in calcium and oxalic acid. Due to the high concentration of oxalic acid, it is used sparingly in juice therapy. Rhubarb juice is used to treat both constipation and diarrhea.

Pumpkin juice is relatively easy to make and is considered to be a very nutritious drink that children and adults can have on a regular basis. If you do not know how to make pumpkin juice, you can follow this simple method: make about 2 cups of fresh pumpkin by chopping a pumpkin up into big pieces. For this pumpkin juice recipe, one also needs about 2 mugs full of fresh apple juice. Separately take about a half cup of some pineapple juice and about a teaspoon full of honey.

The method to making pumpkin juice includes first juicing all the pieces of pumpkin in a juicer or by squeezing the pumpkin pieces through a cheese cloth. Next proceed to pour this freshly juiced pumpkin along with the pineapple juice and the apple juice together into a blender or a mixer. Add a spoon of honey to this pumpkin juice for taste and proceed to blend the contents. Once the juice is thoroughly mixed, simply place the jug in a fridge to chill. The other alternative to chilling the juice is to simply serve the juice over some freshly crushed ice.
 
There are various ways in which one can serve up pumpkin. It can be made into pumpkin juice or served in the pie form or fried. It can even be eaten in its raw state or made into a pickle. Pumpkin is, at times, added to salads and even to soups. Prior to juicing or cooking a pumpkin, it is essential to cut it up and remove all the seeds. Pumpkin seeds are also used as method to eliminate any intestinal parasites that a person might have. The minced pumpkin seeds are added to a savory tea and then consumed. Similarly, pumpkin juice benefits are numerous.

Among the many benefits, pumpkin juice is used in treating cancer patients and is also prescribed in the treatment for vascular diseases. Pumpkin juice that has been boiled and made from freshly cut pumpkin is used in treating cases of constipation and also for treating colitis. The brew that is made from pumpkin juice is normally consumed within a day or two. Rhubarb juice is another widely used juice as remedy for many illnesses. This juice is also used like pumpkin juice to for cancer patients. Those patients who are suffering from gastric cancer are found to recover much faster when they drink rhubarb juice.

Submitted on January 16, 2014