The Great Zucchini

When you’re looking at vegetables that can do the most good for your weight loss or fitness diet, zucchini should be one of the top choices. Zucchini has many major health benefits without many disadvantages. As a part of the summer squash family, zucchini not only offers delightful taste and texture to many dishes, but also carries with it many health benefits. Growers cut zucchini only days after the fruits pollinate. Tender zucchini squashes need no cooking. One raw baby zucchini weighing 16 g contains only 14 calories and yields about 1 cup of sliced or grated raw zucchini. The squash holds 0.2 g of tender fiber, 0.5 g of carbohydrate and 0.43 g of protein. Sixteen grams of zucchini provides 73 mg of potassium and 15 mg of phosphorus, with 5 mg of magnesium and 3 mg of calcium. You gain 5.5 mg of vitamin C from a large baby zucchini and 78 IU of vitamin A. Zucchini contains traces of many other essential nutrients.

It’s a Low Calorie Food with High Water Content

Zucchini is incredibly low in calories. A healthy serving of this vegetable delivers less than 25 calories, an almost unheard of number in the general roster of calorie counts, and 10% of the RDA of dietary fiber, which aids in digestion, prevents constipation, maintains low blood sugar and curbs overeating. That makes zucchini a great way to get full without loading up on calories and sinking a diet plan. Opting towards more plant-based foods in your diet is a very powerful way to lose weight.  Hydration is another important element of diet. Folate, this ingredient of zucchini is good for pregnant women. Potassium. Potassium is another nutritional element that you need for good health. Zucchini includes a generous amount of potassium for a balanced, healthy diet. Beta-carotene.

Another element that zucchini has is beta-carotene. This essential vitamin is found in the rind of the zucchini, so to get all of the available nutritional value, don’t skin this plant before cooking it. Do wash the rind thoroughly before cooking.  Vitamin C zucchini also has this vitamin, which is a powerful antioxidant. In general, lots of green plants contain antioxidants. This is important, as scientists have found that antioxidants help to fight off a lot of different illnesses, including heart conditions and some kinds of cancer. Vitamin C, in particular, is also a source of nutrition that your body needs to avoid health conditions like scurvy, where a vitamin C deficiency produces severely unhealthy results. The dietary fiber in zucchini helps lower cholesterol by attaching itself to bile acids that the liver makes from cholesterol for digesting fat. Because fiber binds so well with bile acid, thus crowding its ability to immediately digest fat, the liver is charged with producing more bile acid. The liver then draws upon even more cholesterol to produce bile acid, consequently lowering the overall cholesterol level in the body. Furthermore, the high levels of vitamin C and vitamin A prevent cholesterol from oxidizing in the body's blood vessels, thus hampering the onset of atherosclerosis. High in Manganese
A trace mineral and essential nutrient, manganese provides many health benefits and contributes to a slew of normal physiological functions. One cup of zucchini contains 19% of the RDA of manganese, which helps the body metabolize protein and carbohydrates, participates in the production of sex hormones, and catalyzes the synthesis of fatty acids and cholesterol. The manganese in zucchini also increases the levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD), the enzyme responsible for protecting mitochondria against oxidative stress.

Cancer Prevention
Because dietary fiber promotes healthy and regular bowel movements, the high amounts of fiber in zucchini also help prevents carcinogenic toxins from settling in the colon. Moreover, the vitamins C and A, as well as folate, found in zucchini act as powerful antioxidants that fight oxidative stress that can lead to many different types of cancer. Both protein and fiber are good for your diet. Dietary fiber helps to bond vitamins and minerals for the best nutritional delivery, and protein gives you energy for the day. Both of these are in zucchini in significant amounts.

Prostate Health
Studies show that the phytonutrients in zucchini aid in reducing the symptoms of benign prostatic hypertrophy (BOH), a condition in which the prostate gland enlarges and leads to complications with urination and sexual functions in men.

Anti-Inflammatory

Vitamins C and A not only serve the body as powerful antioxidants, but also as effective anti-inflammatory agents. Along with the copper found in zucchini, these vitamins deter the development of many hyper-inflammatory disorders, including asthma, osteoarthritis, and rheumatoid arthritis.

Heart Attack and Stroke Prevention
A one cup serving of zucchini contains over 10% of the RDA of magnesium, a mineral proven to reduce the risk of heart attack and stroke. Zucchini also provides folate, a vitamin needed to break down the dangerous amino acid homocysteine, which – if levels in the body shoot up - can contribute to heart attack and stroke.

Lower Blood Pressure
Along with magnesium, the potassium found in zucchini helps lower blood pressure. If unchecked, hypertension, or high blood pressure, can lead to arteriosclerosis (blood vessel damage), heart attack, stoke, and many other serious medical conditions. Both the potassium and magnesium in zucchini, however, can help alleviate the stress on the body's circulatory system.

Cooked Content

Because you harvest zucchini when immature, this summer squash contains fewer nutrients than mature winter squashes that develop large stores of starch and sugar. As with cucumbers, most of the weight of a fresh zucchini comes from water. Zucchini provides good flavor and only a few calories, whether raw or cooked. Zucchini offers useful amounts of some vitamins and minerals, but cooking reduces its nutritional value.

Over 90 percent of a zucchini squash consists of water. Cooking releases some of the water and leaches or vaporizes some nutrients. Boiling zucchini in salted water removes more protein than carbohydrate and reduces the total energy content to 10 calories. Zucchini loses more than one-half of its potassium and one-third of its phosphorus through boiling. Magnesium content drops to 3 mg, and calcium remains stable at 3 mg. Boiling reduces vitamin C in zucchini by more than 50 percent, but increases vitamin A. One 16-g boiled baby zucchini contains 179 IU of vitamin A, according to the USDA National Nutrient Database.

Raw Dishes

Choose only the freshest zucchini to serve raw. Zucchini should have a firm texture and no soft or brown spots. Any bruises or cuts shorten storage life. Storing zucchini in the refrigerator in a perforated plastic bag keeps the squash fresh for up to three days. Trim off the blossom end and stem, but don't peel the zucchini. Cut into sticks or slices, zucchini goes well with salads or by itself with dips. Any fatty dip or dressing added to zucchini contributes more calories to the meal than the zucchini does. Low-calorie dips, hummus or vinegar-and-oil dressings add flavor without the extra calories of high-fat condiments.

Cooked Dishes

Flavorings contribute both calories and nutrition to cooked zucchini dishes. The 2 cups of chopped zucchini in "Lemon Rosemary Zucchini" contain only 32 calories. Adding 1 tbsp. of olive oil for sautéing this mixture of zucchini, bell pepper and herbs increases the calorie count to 184. Baked zucchini requires only enough oil to slightly grease the baking pan. Combining tomatoes, onions and seasonings with the sliced zucchini adds flavor without greatly increasing calories. One serving of this baked vegetable medley provides only 31 calories and 32 percent of your daily vitamin C, according to the Universityof Maine Cooperative Extension. Think about all of these positive aspects when considering whether to buy zucchini and use it in meals. All of the above make zucchini a treasured part of a weight loss diet, or any kind of meal schedule for encouraging better health. Eating enough fruits and vegetables is so important that many top nutritionists are taking more time to promote healthy food choices that will keep you more fit and capable during every stage of your life. That’s why zucchini is in our list of Most Powerful Foods.