Pumpkin Spice Isn’t Always So Nice

Hello fresh fallen leaves, hello sweater weather, hello warm beverages, hello pumpkin. It seems the beginning of a new season always brings something exciting and new to look forward to. And fall never disappoints. It is in fact, the season of pumpkin spice!

Pumpkin Spice is everywhere we turn now. From scented candles, lotions, and soaps to lattes, cookies, and… Spam? Yes! Even Spam has jumped on this pumpkin wagon.

Pumpkins and spices are so yummy and good for the body. The main ingredients in pumpkin pie are of course, in their natural state, packed with many health benefits.

• Pumpkin is a good source of vitamin A and Vitamin C, which makes it a great immune boosting food to add to your fall dishes. It is low in calories, being about 94% water, and believe it or not has more potassium than a banana. Pumpkin also contain a good source of fiber, iron and vitamin B and E.
• Cinnamon not only tastes good on almost everything, but it is a powerhouse spice! It is a really great source of antioxidants, which helps to fight free radicals in the body. It is great for your health as an antbacterial, an anti-inflammatory for joint and muscle pain, a good regulator of  blood sugar levels in type 2 diabetics, helps to reduce bad cholestrol, and helps with indigestion. It is also great for your mental health by improving cognition and memory. And it is great for beauty because it promotes better sleep and can help improve dull and aging skin (1).
• Ginger is one herb that has very high medicinal properties and was even used by doctors to treat wounds during WWI and WWII (2). I use garlic a lot during cold and flu season for its antibacterial, anti-viral, anti-fungal, AND antioxidant properties. Wow, that’s a lot of antis! All those benefits help stimulate your immune system and kill all the bad bacteria. Ginger is also known to decrease nausea.

But watch out this fall for artifically flavored pumpkin pie spice. Most pumpkin spice flavored items are made with natural and artificical flavors, contain high amounts of sugar, and are usually in processed foods. Many companies marketing pumpkin spice are actually trying to sell the nastalgia of a warm, fresh baked pie and not the health benefits its ingredients provides. Because of this, most companies forego those healthy spices in leu of “chemical flavorings” that give that nice warm pumpkin pie feeling.

What to look out for

Natural and Artificial Flavors: I always thought that “natural flavor” meant, well natural! It would make sense. When a company labels something as natural, we of course think of something that’s good and healthy for us. It made me sad and frankly a little upset to find out the truth. And it actually wasn’t until recently that I found out the truth. Natural and artificial flavorings are both chemically altered in a lab to reach a desired flavor and experience for the consumer. The difference between the two are where they are derived from. Natural flavoring is derived from plant and animal ingredients and artificial flavoring can be derived from any other ingredient, like paper pulp (3). Now, even though natural flavoring is originally from a natural ingredient, because of its altered chemical state, it no longer is safe for the body to consume. The body does not know what to do with these foreign chemical compounds, and like medicines which are derived from nature, they can have a negative outcome to your health if frequently consumed.

Processed Foods: A good majority of seasonal products advertising pumpkin spice tend to be processed foods. Processed foods in general, whether pumpkin spice flavored or not, are bad for the body because most of them contain preservatives, hydrogenated oils, lack of nutritional value, processed sugars and even high fructose corn syrup. A diet high in these ingredients can lead to diseases such as heart disease and diabetes(4).

Sugar and High Fructose Corn Syrup: Of course checking the labels to make sure that sugars are low and that there is absolutely NO high fructose corn syrup (HFCS) is a great way of consuming healthy pumpkin spice flavored items. But what about when you don’t have a product label, like when ordering a latte at your favorite local coffee shop with a mythical sea creature as the logo… I mean just speaking hypothetically. I want to say as a general rule of thumb, most syrups used in flavored beverages contain high amounts of sugar, and likely it may even contain HFCS. Both sugar and HFCS beak down into fructose and glucose in the body. While sugar is 50/50 glucose and fructose, HFCS has higher amounts of fructose. in addition to causing type 2 diabetes, insulin resistance and obesity, high levels of fructose can also cause fatty liver disease. When the liver gets an abundance of fructose in the body, it has a hard time breaking it down, turning into fat that can surround the liver (5).

What to do instead

The best way to get the flavors of the season without exposing yourself to too many harmful ingredients is by using fresh spices. Purchasing whole spices and grinding them up in a coffee grinder (use a seperate grinder than the one you use for your beans because the oils in the spices will linger) will give you the most vibrant flavors. When making a cup of coffee in my french press I like to throw in a couple of ground cloves and ocassionally toss in a little piece of a cinnamon stick if I want a little spice.

If you tend to be a bit lazy with making your morning coffee… trust me, I get it, that’s me majority of the time… then try Simply Organic’s pumpkin spice pre-brew. Super easy to make! Just grab your favorite fall mug, add it to your coffee grinds or black tea before brewing, brew, and about 5 minutes later you got the warm spices of cinnamon, ginger and clove! All the spice, and oh so nice! Shop below to try it out for yourself.

So throw on your big, comfy, over-sized knit sweater, brew yourself a nice spiced beverage and cozy up to your cup and enjoy! Happy sipping Greenies!

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