# Add Pumpkin to Your Beauty Routine: It’s Healing!

This huge miracle berry contains a huge amount of substances useful to humans.

Pumpkin pulp contains vitamins A, B1, B2, B5, E, PP, C, as well as a large amount of fiber, sugar and trace elements – calcium, potassium, magnesium, iron, copper, cobalt. Pumpkin seeds contain vitamins B1 and C, E, D, PP, carotene, carbohydrates, proteins, fats, oleic and linolenic acids.

Pumpkin pulp is widely used in cooking. It is stewed, baked, boiled, added to cereals, soups, pies, salads, you can even make compotes from it and make jam. Fresh pumpkin can be stored throughout the winter in well-ventilated rooms. Pumpkin pulp is recommended as dietary nutrition for obesity and diabetes. It is also prescribed for inflammation of the colon, colitis accompanied by constipation, diseases of the cardiovascular system that cause edema, anemia, acute and chronic cystitis, urethritis, gout.

The substances contained in the pumpkin pulp removes excess cholesterol from the body and serves as the prevention of atherosclerosis. If you suffer from insomnia, it is recommended to take pumpkin juice with honey at night.

## Pumpkin facial mask benefits

Pumpkin has another very useful quality: it rejuvenates the female body both when eaten and when used externally in the form of masks that increase the skin tone – it becomes soft, smooth and elastic.

### Pumpkin face mask for skin rejuvenation

Grate the pumpkin, add 2 tablespoons of puree, 1 tablespoon of aloe juice and 1 teaspoon of honey to the resulting gruel, mix. Apply on face for 10-15 minutes, rinse with water at room temperature. Apply a nourishing cream.

### Pumpkin face mask for dry and aging skin

Mix 2 tablespoons of boiled pumpkin with 2 tablespoons of cottage cheese and 1 tablespoon of sour cream. You can add 1 teaspoon of honey. Keep on the face for 15-20 minutes. Wash off with a swab dipped in warm milk. After 5 minutes, wash your face with warm water and rub your face with an ice cube.

### Pumpkin face mask for oily skin

Grate a piece of raw pumpkin, take 2 tbsp. tablespoons of the resulting gruel, add 1/4 teaspoon of lemon juice and 1 egg white, mix and apply on face for 15 minutes. Wash off with water at room temperature.

You can wipe dry skin daily with pumpkin juice diluted with milk in a 1 to 1 ratio (for 1 month). If you have normal and oily skin – use juice diluted with boiled water in a similar ratio.

## Pumpkin seeds are not just a treat!

Pumpkin seeds are sometimes underestimated. Often they are simply thrown away. Only lovers of gnawing fried seeds and lovers of traditional medicine pay attention to them – they use pumpkin seeds as an antihelminthic agent. It provides a powerful antiparasitic effect and contains a rare amino acid. However, this is not a complete list of the benefits of these amazing seeds.

The most useful pumpkin seeds are sun-dried. Roasted seeds are tasty but they lose many of their useful properties during heat treatment. Pumpkin seeds, just like meat, are rich in antioxidants, vitamins and trace elements that our body constantly needs. They contain large amounts of nutrients that help the body resist a variety of diseases: fiber, beta-carotene, alpha-carotene, vitamins C and E, B, T, potassium, magnesium, zinc, various amino acids.

Experts say that pumpkin seeds greatly improve the functioning of the heart and the entire cardiovascular system. This is due to the significant content of magnesium and potassium in the seeds, as well as the positive effect on the body of alpha and beta carotenes, which reduce the risk of heart pathologies. Carotenes are powerful antioxidants that increase the immune status and protect against photodermatosis. Our body converts them into vitamin A, which improves vision, hearing and skin condition. In addition to potassium and magnesium, seeds contain phosphorus, silicon, calcium, iron, zinc, which are trace elements necessary to strengthen health and increase vitality. Thus, zinc maintains healthy bones, prevents osteoporosis, ensures the normal functioning of the brain, improves memory, reduces overall fatigue, and has a positive effect on the condition of the skin and hair.

## The benefits of pumpkin seed oil

You can obtain a wonderful oil from pumpkin seeds. It is rich in fatty unsaturated and polyunsaturated acids – a real elixir of life. Pumpkin seed oil is considered one of the most beneficial oils for health and beauty. It is a real storehouse of carotenoids, tocopherols, phospholipids, sterols, unsaturated fats, the percentage of which is 90%, as well as omega-3 and omega-6 fatty acids. When taken orally, it improves liver function, has a choleretic effect, normalizes the impaired functional state of the gallbladder and the chemical composition of bile.

This oil is popular among cosmetologists and dermatologists: it perfectly copes with inflammation on the skin, accelerates the healing of wounds and burns.

Pumpkin oil is recommended for use as masks and rubbing for the mature, dry and damaged face skin, for the skin of the hands, for strengthening and restoring nails. A few drops of pumpkin seed oil can be added to ready-made cosmetic creams, cleansing tonics, lotions, masks.

Pumpkin seed oil is useful for hair too, especially if it is dry and thin. Rub the oil into the hair roots at night and apply along hair length, and after a month the result will be noticeable. Pumpkin oil will help restore hair. It will look much healthier.

In addition to its medicinal properties, pumpkin seed oil has excellent taste, which is why it’s successfully used in cooking.

High-quality pumpkin oil is obtained by cold pressing, which allows you to preserve all the nutrients and vitamins that are rich in pumpkin seeds. You can try to get it at home, but the process is very time-consuming. To obtain a liter of oil, you will need 3 kg of pumpkin seeds, which must be peeled, dried and ground into flour. This flour is then lightly fried (stirring constantly), a little water is poured into the mixture, thoroughly mixed, heated and squeezed out under a press. You can try to make pumpkin seed oil by simply rubbing them in a mortar until a paste forms and the oil separates from it, but you can’t get a lot of oil this way. You’d better purchase ready-made pumpkin seed oil from pharmacies or stores.

## Pumpkin flour for stress management

As already mentioned, pumpkin flour is easy to obtain: it is made from peeled and sun-dried seeds by grinding them in a meat grinder or coffee grinder.

Pumpkin flour is a very valuable product that can be used both for cooking various dishes and as an excellent cosmetic product. If you are engaged in intense mental and physical work, fitness or sports, pumpkin flour dishes will be extremely useful for you. It is rich in essential amino acids, zinc and choline, pumpkin flour, when consumed regularly, it helps to improve memory and mental abilities, increase physical and mental performance, relieve stress, nervous tension and fatigue.

Pumpkin seed flour is even used as a component of sports nutrition. The phosphorus and calcium contained in it affect the speed and strength of muscle contractions; the amino acid arginine contributes to an increase in muscle mass, and the amino acid valine serves as an energy source for muscle tissue cells.

Other biologically active substances are also present in pumpkin flour – almost the same as those found in oil and in raw pumpkin seeds. The amino acids lysine, threonine and methionine, vitamins C and group B, which are part of this flour, take an active part in the natural synthesis of collagen, and the elasticity and firmness of the skin depend on this process. Zinc, which is very rich in pumpkin flour, normalizes the work of the sebaceous glands and prevents the appearance of acne. According to doctors, it is advisable to combine the external use of pumpkin flour (in the form of masks) and its regular use in food. Such complex use will not only have a positive effect on the condition of the skin of the face but will also have a good effect on the condition of nails and hair.

## Pumpkin seed cosmetics

You can use pumpkin seeds and their derivatives (oil, flour) to pre-pare cleansing, toning, whitening and refreshing face masks and emulsions at home.

### Mask for dry damaged skin

Mix 2 tablespoons of pumpkin seeds crushed in a coffee grinder with 1 tablespoon of sour milk. Add 1 teaspoon of honey and the same amount of lemon juice. Mix the mass thoroughly, apply it to the affected skin and rinse off after 15 minutes.

### Mask for pigmented skin

Pour a little hot water over the crushed pumpkin seeds. Hold for 30 minutes and strain the mixture through cheesecloth. The resulting milk can be used to wipe away age spots and weight spots, or you can mix it with pumpkin juice for maximum effect.

### Pumpkin seed whitening facial lotion

Mix two tablespoons of pumpkin seeds crushed in a coffee grinder with 3 tablespoons of water and leave to infuse for 1 hour, strain the resulting mass. Add 1 teaspoon of honey to the filtered liquid, shake. The prepared lotion should be wiped on the face several times a day.

### Pumpkin seed mask for skin refreshing and whitening

Peel 20 pumpkin seeds, crush, add a small amount of boiling water and boil in an enamel saucepan until thickened. Cool down. Brush face with olive oil and apply a thin layer of seed mass. Wash off after 15 minutes with warm water and wash with cool.

### Rejuvenating pumpkin seed decoction

Grind a glass of peeled raw pumpkin seeds in a mortar or coffee grinder. Pour the resulting mass with a liter of water, bring to a boil and let it brew for 2-3 hours. Sieve. The resulting infusion can be used to wipe the face, neck, arms, shoulders, décolleté area.

### Hair mask

Rinse pumpkin seeds, peel and grind until gruel forms. Add cooled boiled water to the resulting mass in a ratio of 1 to 10 and mix thoroughly until a homogeneous mass is obtained. Before shampooing, apply pumpkin emulsion to hair and scalp. Put on an insulating cap or tie a towel. After 20 minutes, wash your hair with a mild shampoo and rinse with acidified water.

### Pumpkin flour mask

Add egg white to two tablespoons of flour, stir well and put on the face. After 15–20 minutes, wash off with warm water.

### Pumpkin seed oil mask for mature skin that has lost elasticity

Moisten a cotton or gauze cloth in hot water, squeeze out and apply pumpkin oil (about 30 ml) on it with an even layer. Place the oil-soaked cloth on the face and neck, cover with a towel on top. Keep the mask for 25-30 minutes, then rinse with warm water.

If you perform these cosmetic procedures regularly, then your skin becomes soft and delicate, and your hair becomes soft, silky and healthy.