What Happened When I Ate Pumpkin Seeds Daily for a Week

Since having children, my husband and I have developed a few Halloween traditions: Family Halloween costumes (OK, that one started pre-kids and included my dog), somehow managing to have at least one of us attend the numerous school parades and parties that occur during the workday (please tell me why), and carving a pumpkin and roasting the seeds.

Link to Dayu

Part of the pumpkin tradition involves my husband endlessly complaining that I make him roast the seeds. It's all fun and games. However, when my Parade editor offered me a chance to write about eating pumpkin seeds every day for a week, it gave me an easy leg-up in the annual back-and-forth. Now, I was getting paid to do it.

Was it worth it? Read on.

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Pumpkin Seed Nutrition

While often associated with Halloween, pumpkin seeds are available in grocery stores year-round (and purchasing them there doesn't involve digging hands into pumpkin pulp if you're averse to all things slimy). According to the USDA, an ounce of unshelled pumpkin seeds contains:

• 163 calories
• 14 grams of total fat
• 2.4 grams of saturated fat
• 4 grams of carbohydrates
• 2 grams of dietary fiber
• Less than a gram of total sugar (none added)
• 9 grams of protein
• 0 milligrams of cholesterol
• 5 milligrams of sodium
• 2 milligrams of iron
• 156 milligrams of magnesium
• 2 milligrams of zinc

Importantly, these are unsalted pumpkin seeds. Many recipes call for salt, including the one my husband uses, so you'll want to be mindful of sodium. The American Heart Association recommends limiting daily sodium intake to 2,300 milligrams (ideally 1,500 milligrams) to lower your risk of high blood pressure. 

Related: The Genius Belly Fat-Busting Trick We Wish We'd Known About Sooner

What Happened When I Ate Pumpkin Seeds Daily for a Whole Week

1. They helped fill me up (but not by themselves)

The first day of this "grand experiment" was a rather busy one in the Mayer household with various Halloween things. Since I had read about the protein and fiber in pumpkin seeds, I figured they'd make a great standalone snack. I grabbed a handful. However, I was still hungry 20 minutes later and reached for an apple. Eating an apple certainly isn't a bad thing'quite the opposite, it made my spaced-out snack well-balanced. However, it's good to understand what foods fill you up by themselves and which ones need an assist from something else. I find that intentionally mapping out my snacks and pairing the right foods prevents me from feeling hangry later.

Related: Here's Why Snacking on Pumpkin Seeds Can Help Your Mood, Sleep and So Much More

2. I got thirsty 

I also quickly noticed that I felt thirsty immediately after eating pumpkin seeds. The salt likely doesn't help, but it turns out pumpkin seeds can have a diuretic effect. Luckily, I drink about a gallon of water each day.

3. I was sleepy

When looking pumpkin seed nutrition up for this article, Google actually predicted I was really looking up, "Do pumpkin seeds make you tired?" I wasn't, but perhaps the search engine juggernaut was onto something (spooky)!

That said, I was feeling a bit sluggish. It could be that baseball has been keeping me up well past my 10 p.m. bedtime (go Yankees!), the aforementioned Halloween history or ... perhaps it's the pumpkin seeds.

Research shows that pumpkin seeds contain tryptophan, which, as anyone who has eaten a Thanksgiving turkey knows, can make you sleepy. Pumpkin seeds are also a good source of magnesium, the star ingredient in the "sleepy-girl mocktail" recipes TikTok continues to embrace. While not everything you see on TikTok is true, some research has found magnesium might aid in sleep.

Related: Here's Exactly What Happens to Your Body if You Eat Pumpkin Every Day

4. I was bloated

On the third day, I tossed some pumpkin seeds in a stir fry. While I enjoyed the added crunch of the pumpkin seeds, I felt somewhat bloated later. Again, the salt probably didn't help here. 

An ounce of pumpkin seeds has two grams of fiber, a nice amount but not enough to make them a high-fiber food. That said, combining them with about two cups of vegetables, plus a whole wheat English muffin and an apple, was a bit much for my gut. The next day, I noticed the same thing when I put the same amount on top of a salad loaded with Romaine lettuce, chickpeas and a sliced apple (and whole wheat toast on the side).

5. I learned about my body

The next day, I learned my lesson, opting for a smaller portion of pumpkin seeds (a tablespoon) with an apple and string cheese for a snack. I chased it with a cup of water. It beautifully bridged the gap from breakfast to lunch, reducing my hangriness and excess snacking. I didn't feel bloated, tired or thirsty. In this case, water, which can help move fiber through the gut, was probably clutch. (It also helped with the hydration factor.)

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I stuck to this strategy on subsequent days and had the same experience.

Related: 22 High-Fiber Lunch Ideas That Will Help You Beat the 4 p.m. Slump

Key Takeaways From My Week of Consuming Pumpkin Seeds

I am not a registered dietitian, and your body may react differently than mine did to pumpkin seeds. With that in mind, based on my case study of one, here's what I'd suggest considering before making pumpkin seeds a part of your daily diet.

Eat pumpkin seeds slowly

Eating pumpkin seeds slowly will help you pay attention to how your body feels, from fullness cues to thirst and bloating. You can stop if you're satisfied or not feeling great.

Watch the salt

Recipes can include added salt that can add to bloating, thirst and heart disease risk if consistently consumed in excess.

Related: What Happens If You Eat Sweet Potatoes Every Day

Eat pumpkin seeds in moderation

Pumpkin seeds can make you feel thirsty and bloated, so be mindful of how much your body can take at once, especially if you're combining with other fiber-filled foods.

Drink up

Since pumpkin seeds can have a diuretic effect, sipping water between bites is important.

Prepare to feel sleepy

Pumpkin seeds have magnesium and tryptophan, which can contribute to drowsiness. They may not be the best snack if you stayed up too late binge-watching Netflix or rooting for your favorite sports team the night before, but could make an excellent bedtime snack.

While many of my side effects from eating pumpkin seeds, like bloating, sound negative, I enjoyed the experiment. I also love the taste and tradition of eating them each October and November and plan to continue, but I'll probably keep them as a once-a-year snack.

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It's March , we were in the thick of lambing, exhausted, subject to an unprecedented lockdown and in un-chartered territory when it came to homeschooling and the decision needed to be made. Do we buy the pumpkin seed and plant them this year or not?! What do we do? So many unknowns. How long will lockdown last? Will people be able to pick their own pumpkins for Halloween in ? Would we be back in lockdown by the Autumn with another peak in Covid19? This is too high risk for our first year, do we wait until next year? But I've put so much effort into it and we're ready to go. What a nightmare. All the planning and research I have done over the last 12 months, felt wasted. Yet again another idea hitting a brick wall. I didn't know what to do. I had planned to promote the Pumpkin Patch using banners and decorated big bales on the side of the road so that all the passing traffic would see it during the summer holidays.

Coming in October Powells Pumpkin Patch @PowellsFarmWales

A road that normally has a constant flow of traffic had come to a halt over night. So I spent nights tossing and turning, I had seeds in my basket at three different suppliers, I kept looking at my but it didn't give me any answers. I had to make a decision. On 6th April after a long slog in the lambing shed I pushed my self to make a decision. I felt it was too risky to continue with our original plans so I scaled it back and placed an order with just one of the seed companies. I convinced myself this was a good thing. A chance to see if we could even grown pumpkins in New Radnor. An opportunity to do a trial, plants lots of different varieties and see how they fayre against each other. Try some in seed trays in April and some direct into the ground in May. Then we would know whats best for our farm for the following year.

There was a three week delay on the seed delivery then as I had put the decision off and everyone else in the Country had now seemingly taken up vegetable growing as you couldn't find food on supermarket shelves! I waited patiently and finally they arrived so on a glorious day on 25th April the children and I planted half of the seeds in the seed trays. Well what I mean is the children started helping, I got one good photo, and then they disappeared to play in the garden. I remember thinking that was straight forward enough. Then it was a waiting game.

Had we planted them correctly?! It was only compost and a seed in a tray, how could we go wrong?! Surely even I could manage this. But isn't it funny how as soon as you do something you start to hear all the other ways you could / should have done it in places that you have never heard of before. Soak the seed for 6 hours in warm water before planting; make sure you put the stem end facing downwards; use moist compost; make sure you put the seed 1/2" in. What the ............. This is getting technical now we just filled they trays with the cheapest compost I could find the Hay & Brecon, made a hole with a stick and stuck the seed in and covered it over - job done! No need to water until they germinate or was there??!! (Brain fried emoji).

So we waited and waited and waited, everyday checking to see if any had germinated. 7-10 days they told me. Day 10 came and nothing! I was starting to worry now so I got a fork and starting pocking around in the tray for signs of life. Thank god, there was something happening. Bearing in mind these seed trays are dotted all around the house as the poly tunnel did not get put up. The windowsills were now home to trays of pumpkins and the cats could often be found lying on them! They were like my new babies "baby kins" every morning and night I'd check on them, if it was sunny I'd carry them out to the garden, one tray at a time and put them in the sunniest spot for the day then at night tuck them back in! Seriously how would I have done this with 10,000 lol. But it was worth it, finally on day 15 we had action :)