Squash/Butternut Squash

Butternut Squash

Squash is a vegetable and like other squashes such as butternut, buttercup and pumpkin are starchy vegetables containing more carbohydrates than their leafy green vegetable family like leafy greens, cauliflower and bell peppers.

For example one-half cup of cooked butternut squash, has 11 grams of carbohydrate and 41 calories while the same sized serving of cooked broccoli has 5.6 grams of carbohydrate and 27 calories.

In terms of nutrition, squash is a good source of potassium, fiber and beta- and alpha-carotene, antioxidants thought to help prevent heart disease and certain types of cancer. Higher intakes of alpha-carotene have also been linked to a lower risk of dying from upper digestive tract cancers, type 2 diabetes and chronic lower respiratory disease. (BodyScience Medical, 2013)