Butternut squash is one of the most nutritious and healthiest vegetables you can eat, with a rich array of vitamins, minerals and antioxidants.

It not only tastes great, it is also low in calories, yet surprisingly filling due to its high levels of dietary fiber for weight loss and digestive health.

Many people would do well to replace fattening potato products with the far healthier and nutritionally superior butternut squash. Here’s why.

Antioxidants in Butternut Squash

Butternut squash is loaded with antioxidant carotenoids to protect your body’s cells from free-radical damage that can lead to cancer and skin aging.

Read moreWhy is Butternut Squash So Good for You?

There is a method for cooking butternut squash that retains the most vitamins, minerals, antioxidants and other nutrition when you eat them.

This way of preparing butternut squash is also quicker and simpler than any other I’ve tried. Personally, I think it tastes the best too. Here’s how to do it.

Selecting Butternut Squash

Choose butternut squash that are relatively heavy for their size and have a bright and consistent color to the skin.

Read moreHow to Steam Butternut Squash for Extra Nutrition and Taste

Beta-carotene is the best known of the carotenoids and a powerful antioxidant for disease prevention and general good health. A good intake of beta-carotene in your diet may also help protect your face from sun damage that leads to skin aging.

Carotenoids are a family of phytonutrient pigments that occur naturally in many fruits and vegetables, particularly ones with colors like orange and yellow and in dark green leafy vegetables (where the green chlorophyll takes dominance).

Whilst there are hundreds of carotenoids, only a few are known to be significant in the American diet. Alongside beta-carotene, which is the most commonly occurring, there is also alpha-carotene, gamma-carotene, beta-cryptoxanthin, lycopene, lutein and zeaxanthin.

Read moreUltimate Guide to Beta-Carotene Benefits for Better Health

Forget about synthetic multivitamins, carrots are nature’s big orange nutrition boosters. Full of beneficial vitamins, minerals and other nutrients, carrots eaten regularly can really improve your health and energy levels. Here’s why.

Vitamins in Carrots

In the vitamin stakes, carrots are of course an extremely rich source of beta-carotene (it’s even named after them) for Vitamin A, with testing usually showing over 16,000 IU’s per cup of carrot.

Read moreCarrot Nutrition, Antioxidants and Many Benefits for Your Health

Making carrot juice is easy but there are a few important points to keep in mind for the best results. Let’s take a quick look at them.

Juicing Carrots

To start you’ll need a good juicer. They are various types of juicing machines available and carrots, being one of the more solid vegetables, will be easier to juice with a well-built machine.

It doesn’t have to cost a great deal, but the cheapest are usually the cheapest for a reason and over the longer term it pays to get a juicer of decent quality. Many people start with a centrifugal juicer as these are usually less expensive.

However, if you enjoy the health benefits of juicing enough to do it regularly, a good masticating/auger type juicer becomes a wise investment.

Read moreBest Way to Make Carrot Juice

Here are 4 very healthy carrot juice recipes to detoxify your body while improving your skin, enhancing your immunity and boosting your energy levels.

Each are quick to make, use just a few ingredients and, enjoyed regularly, they can make a really difference to your overall health and well-being. I hope you like them.

A Carrot, Beet and Pineapple Juice for Liver Detoxification

Read more4 Detoxifying Carrot Juice Recipes for Better Health

The antioxidant carotenoid alpha-carotene is found primarily in orange vegetables like carrots, pumpkins and many leafy greens.

While often found alongside the more well known beta-carotene, new research is showing alpha-carotene to be an even more powerful antioxidant for cancer prevention and protecting your cardiovascular system.

Heart Disease and Cancer Studies Using Alpha-Carotene

Read moreAlpha-Carotene for Heart Disease and Cancer Protection

Lycopene is a potent antioxidant that gives foods like tomatoes, goji berries, watermelon, red bell pepper and guava their red color.

Tomatoes, and in particular processed tomato products like tomato sauce, tomato soup and ketchup, are by far the biggest sources of lycopene in the American diet.

There has been a lot of interest in the strong protective properties and potential health benefits of lycopene in recent years. Consequently, it is one of the most studied and researched of all the antioxidant carotenoids.

Here’s how getting more lycopene into your diet can help protect your body against many life-threatening diseases, like cancer and cardiovascular disease and even slow down the visible signs of aging.

Lycopene is a Powerful Antioxidant

Read moreWhat Is Lycopene Good For? Skin, Heart and Cancer Protection with Tomatoes

Lactose sensitivity is a very common cause of digestive problems. A person who is sensitive to the lactose in milk will often experience symptoms such as bloating, intestinal cramps and excessive gas after consuming dairy products.

Ahead is what causes lactose sensitivity and intolerance, how to know if it’s affecting you, what foods and drinks contain lactose and how to greatly reduces symptoms if you do have milk or one of the many other sources of lactose.

What Is Lactose Sensitivity?

Read moreLactose Sensitivity and Why Milk Gives You Gas

In herbal medicine fennel seeds are recognized as a powerful carminative — a herb that assists in expelling gas from your intestinal tract.

Here’s how these powerful little seeds reduce gastrointestinal problems and flatulence, a few potential precautions to be aware of and two ways to use fennel seeds to help prevent or treat intestinal cramps, bloating and embarrassing gas.

How Fennel Seeds Help Digestive Problems

Read moreHow to Use Fennel Seeds for Gas, Cramps and Bloating