What Happens To Your Body When You Eat Squash Regularly

Winter squash varieties become plentiful as soon as the season of apple festivals, haunted hayrides, and colorful foliage arrives. However, some types of squash are available all year, meaning you can regularly eat this nutrient-dense food. 

What would happen if you added squash into your diet rotation? For one, you might find that it's a good trick to beat boredom snacking. Here's why: All squash contains quite a bit of fiber per serving. In one cup of raw, cubed Hubbard squash, you get 4.5 grams. (Side note: The Hubbard is a beast of the squash world because each squash can clock in at 15 or more pounds). Given that the Mayo Clinic recommends eating 14 grams for every 1,000 calories you consume, that's a sizable head start.

As it turns out, Hubbard squash has more fiber than other kinds of squash. Similar portions of butternut squash and acorn squash check in at 2.8 grams and 2.1 grams, respectively. But any amount of fiber can help you avoid overeating by increasing your satiety.

When you increase your consumption of fiber-based foods, your digestion slows down. Since your stomach is busy breaking down foods into nutrients, you won't be as susceptible to the cravings that can accompany a growling gut.

As a result of taming your hunger, you may find that it's less effort to maintain a healthy weight, as well as prompt changes in your BMI or body fat percentage. And if you can hit a goal of around 28 grams of fiber daily (even if you aren't eating 2,000 calories), you may start to lose weight, according to the results from a 2013 study in ISRN Obesity.

During the study, adult subjects systematically increased their fiber intake to about 28 grams over four weeks and naturally began eating fewer calories, dropping from around 1,600 calories to 1,300 calories a day. This resulted in a modest yet measurable mean weight loss of 1.4 grams among subjects.

Maintaining the health of your heart helps keep your risk of cardiovascular disease as low as possible. To be sure, some heart disease risks are out of your control. For example, a family history of high blood pressure and even reaching a certain age can increase your chance of heart disease. But you have a say over what you put on your plate. And squash can be a heart-healthy choice.

The compounds in squash are what turn it into a powerful agent against the side effects of inflammation and oxidative stress damage on your cardiovascular health. Because squash contains antioxidants, it may reduce your chances of a heart attack or stroke.

Squash also contains potassium (371 milligrams for a serving of Hubbard squash and 493 milligrams for butternut squash), which helps flush excess sodium out of your body. To get the most possible potassium, you may want to invest in organic squash; a 2020 study in Food Research International found that organic butternut squash had more potassium (and a few other minerals) than non-organic butternut squash.

Sodium is a recognized problem for the heart when it gets out of control because it may cause a rise in blood pressure. By eating squash, attempting to keep high sodium from becoming a destructive force. That said, if you start suddenly eating a lot of squash, its fiber content may create bloating, gas, and other gastrointestinal discomfort, so you may need to ramp up slowly.