Halloween is just a couple of weeks away. Though the ancient origin of this holiday is as a harvest festival, today it's mostly about ghosts and goblins, trick or treating and scary decorations in the neighborhood, including candle-lit creepy carved pumpkins.

But what should really scare you are the consequences of not including pumpkin in your family's regular diet. Here's why.

Pumpkin may be the greatest single source of bioavailable carotenoids. (Bioavailable means that a nutrient is in a form that our bodies can readily use.) Carotenoids are yellow, orange, and red pigments synthesized by plants. The most common carotenoids in North American diets are alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, lutein, zeaxanthin, and lycopene.

Scientists have found more that thirty different carotenoids in human blood and breast milk. They're found concentrated in different tissues through out our bodies. They help our immune system work properly, protect our cells from oxidative stress, and probably play a major role in shielding our skin and eyes from the effects of ultraviolet light.

Carotenoids in pumpkins are important in helping our bodies fight disease. In a host of studies, higher blood-levels of cartenoids are associated with lower levels of many chronic diseases like: atherosclerosis, colon cancer and cataracts, to name a few.

Well, you say, "I don't eat pumpkin, I'll just buy some carotenoid pills at the drug store". WRONG! Important studies also show that the very best, and safest, way to get carotenoids into our system is from consuming whole foods rich in this vital nutrient. That's the SuperFodsRx way.

Check out the affordable and easy ways to get more pumpkin in your regular diet on pages 104 through 108 in SuperFoodsRx, Fourteen Foods That Will Change Your Life.