The holidays can be tricky when it comes to sex. Oftentimes, it can become nearly impossible after the stress and fatigue of celebration, family visits, and overindulgence. So, as we begin our tour into the lengthy holiday season we’d like to also take a moment to discover the foods and functions that can help you beat the holiday sex coma.

With Halloween behind us and Thanksgiving slowly creeping up, it’s time to begin the preparatory planning of your celebration feast. Many Thanksgiving favorites are packed full of heavy carbohydrates, proteins, and starches that make you feel bloated and tired, which are not the likely ingredients for a night full of hot sex.

But, Thanksgiving also gives us the opportunity to experience lesser-known aphrodisiacs and to experiment with adding your very own special touches. Pumpkin, cranberries, and nuts are the foods of fall. When you think of leaf peeping, you think of Thanksgiving, and when you think of Thanksgiving you think of these foods.

I know what you’re thinking. Pumpkins aren’t exactly the most likely fruit for obtaining such wonderfully magical aphrodisiac affects. The word 'pumpkin' comes from the Greek word pepon, which means “sun-ripened.” This name was reinterpreted by the French as pompon, and Anglicized to become pumpion before being rebranded by the early American settlers as “pumpkin.”

Although this giant squash was the last thing that you were expecting, it should be said that pumpkins have been in cultivation for thousands of years; seeds as old as 9,000 years have been found in caves in northeast Mexico, indicating that pumpkins originated there. There is also evidence that they were grown in Africa, India and China beginning in the sixth century AD, after being brought back from the New World. Pumpkins showed up in Europe around the 16 th century, where they became very popular because of their sweet and exotic taste. An early incarnation of the present day pumpkin pie premiered there.

As you well know by now, versatility is one of the keys to an aphrodisiacs power, and pumpkins are not lacking in this department. A pumpkin can be used to make soups, pies, breads and stuffing. In fact, in early colonial times pumpkins were used as the crust of a pie instead of the filling. Even the seeds and delicate flowers of a pumpkin are edible.

The body of a pumpkin contains high doses of vitamin A and potassium, which are key ingredients in sexual sustenance and health. Potassium helps to regulate blood pressure, alleviates hypertension, restores nerve membranes and assists the metabolism. These four keys to this very versatile fruit help to balance the body’s health and relaxation while simultaneously allowing it to sense an increased circulation and function. Vitamin A keeps your system free of toxins. It also helps the body retain moisture, which helps to fight infection. Vitamin A is also known to improve and help your eyes adjust to light changes—namely night vision—which can be an important benefit for sexual encounters. Interestingly enough, it keeps the membranes of the nostril moist, which can help you smell better. This olfactory benefit is rather handy, as you will see later in the article.

Love the ideas, but hate pumpkin. Try burning pumpkin-flavored candles instead. Scent is another reason you should douse the air you breathe with pumpkin flavor year round. In fact the olfactory sensation caused by pumpkin, studies show, is the strongest of any other aphrodisiac known today. In a recent study done by the Smell and Taste Research Foundation in Chicago, pumpkin aroma is a sexual stimulant for both men and women. Since pumpkin and all things pumpkin-made are the quintessential Thanksgiving food, this is lucky statistic for all of us. The neurological research performed and tested in this study has shown that the scent of pumpkin pie can increase male penile and female vaginal blood flow by up to 40 percent.

Thanksgiving wouldn’t be Thanksgiving without cranberries. Native Americans used cranberries for food, medicine and dyes long before the Pilgrims landed here and Abraham Lincoln declared Thanksgiving Observance a national holiday in 1863. Nevertheless, they have become inextricably bound to our Thanksgiving feast. This is due, likely, to the fact that the berries are native to North America and are ripe from October to December. They would have been a great late fall treat and a good source of vitamin C when summer fruits were long gone.

Cranberries are also the perfect love feast food. These little red berries are the rubies of aphrodisiacs, equal in potency and stimulation to that of strawberries, raspberries, and blueberries, which are all high in vitamin C and significant concentrations of benzoic acid, an important ingredient for the production of sex hormones and neurotransmitters. The juice of a cranberry contains a chemical that blocks pathogens that cause tooth decay. Pretty teeth and healthy breath certainly won’t hurt when it comes to attraction. Ancient wisdom puts cranberries among New England's most potent aphrodisiacs, which may explain our obsession with this scintillating fruit.

Nuts are the perfect for before-dinner warm-up. An appetizer best served with a glass of wine (yet another proven aphrodisiac and social lubricant) and perfect for mingling. Men should eat cashews, pecans, almonds, walnuts, and other nuts to take in a healthy amount of zinc, which keeps men potent and prevents prostate problems. So, keep those dishes full and plentiful while marking the finishing touches of your Thanksgiving meal. They’ll keep everyone happy.

Central Europeans can be accredited with the first relation between pumpkin seeds and aphrodisiac powers. They believed that pumpkin seeds increased testosterone by preserving the prostate gland because of the seed’s high levels of magnesium, which has been an effectively proven treatment for prostate ailments. Pumpkin seeds are also the best source of zinc and phosphorous, both of which are important nutrients for sexual function in men. Zinc is crucial for the maintenance of male potency and in preventing future prostate problems. Nuts are also high in protein, which gives you energy to keep going throughout the day…and night.

Odors are inextricably associated with sexual arousal. Scent alone can act as a psychological Viagra®, the blockbuster anti-impotence drug, which helps the arteries relax and increases blood flow. Scent nourishes sexuality. Smells may trigger feelings of comfort, security and may even trigger nostalgia. These feelings lower anxiety, which is a detrimental mood breaker, and have a positive impact on sexual excitement. Haven’t our mothers been telling us all these years that the key to man’s heart was through his stomach?

Thanksgiving is a smorgasbord of food, family, friends and loved ones. It truly is America’s love fest, designed to provide comfort and loads of love to everyone. Until today, maybe you saw Thanksgiving as merely a family holiday thick in history and tradition, but we hope you’ll take some important sexual glitter from it now as well. Take your cue from the Pilgrims and do your part in spreading the love.