Lose weight with vegetables

Round pumpkin, round belly? Quite the opposite!

Delicious smoothies can also be prepared with the vegetables and a few other ingredients.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com/Alliance)

Losing weight is anything but easy. Many people know this from painful experience. That's why you should at least not torture yourself unnecessarily, but enjoy losing kilos. Pumpkin is a good way to do this. What makes it special and how you can prepare it.

Pumpkin is a real superfood when it comes to "slimming down". Its biggest advantage is that it is low in calories. 100 grams only contain around 26 calories. The "fruit vegetable" is also rich in vitamins and minerals such as vitamins A, C and E as well as potassium and magnesium.

With a water content of around 90%, pumpkin also helps to promote a feeling of fullness. It is also an excellent source of fiber, which stimulates digestion and keeps you feeling full for longer. Another advantage of pumpkin is its low glycemic index, which means that it keeps blood sugar levels stable and thus reduces cravings for sweets.

Incidentally, there are many different types of pumpkin that are suitable for losing weight. The Hokkaido is particularly popular as it can be eaten with the skin on and is rich in fiber. Butternut squash, on the other hand, has a sweeter taste and is also low in calories. The vegetable can be integrated into your daily diet in a variety of ways - without getting boring:

Whether as a soup or roasted in the oven - pumpkin tastes good and has hardly any calories.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com/Liudmyla)

Whether as a soup or roasted in the oven - pumpkin tastes good and has hardly any calories.

(Bild: stock.adobe.com/StefanieBaum)

• Pumpkin soup , for example, is easy to prepare, tasty and filling. A recipe for this would be, for example: Wash around 800 g of Hokkaido, remove the stem and cut in half. Remove the seeds with a spoon and cut the flesh into chunks. Peel and finely chop an onion and a clove of garlic. Heat a little olive oil in a large pan. Fry the onion until translucent, then add the garlic and fry briefly.
  Add the pumpkin pieces and sauté. Deglaze with 750 ml vegetable soup and simmer over a medium heat for about 15-20 minutes until the pumpkin is soft. Puree the soup with a hand blender and season to taste with salt and pepper. It is best to add additional spices such as ginger and turmeric to boost the metabolism.

• Roasted pumpkin with a little olive oil and herbs is a delicious and "light" side dish.
• A pumpkin smoothie with yogurt, cinnamon and honey is a perfect start to the day or afternoon snack. Want a recipe? Peel a pumpkin, remove the seeds and cut into small pieces. Place the pieces (max. 200 g) in a blender together with 150 g low-fat natural yogurt, 1 teaspoon of honey, a little cinnamon and 200 ml water (or almond milk). Blend everything well until a creamy consistency is achieved.