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Squash is FULL of many different nutrients so if you are looking to create a healthier diet plan, then you need

to include squash as part of it. The serving size I am referring to in this article when I speak of nutrients if based on 1 cup. In a one cup serving of squash there is 79 calories, 11 calories from fat, 17.94 grams of carbohydrates, and 1 gram of fat. One of the best nutrients found in squash yet is the fiber at 5.74 grams which is excellent. Fiber is needed in your daily diet in order to promote roughage since it add bulk to stools, and it also helps in lowering of cholesterol. One of the things that squash is richest in is vitamin A, at 7291.85 IU a serving. This is excellent! Vitamin A is very preventive for cancer cells, keeping them from multiplying in the body, and it is also a good vitamin for building up the immune system, as well as helping the vision. As far as vitamin C in squash, you'll get 19.68 milligrams per each serving. Vitamin C works against free radicals in the body which cause ill health and disease. Vitamin C is also partly responsible for collagen production in the bones. You'll get 895.85 milligrams of potassium in a serving of squash, and potassium is our main electrolyte in the body which keeps the whole body functioning. Not only does potassium regulate and control our heartbeat, but it also provides us with muscle energy, and has a lot to do with fluid balance in the body. Manganese in squash totals 0.43 milligrams which is very good. Manganese is a trace mineral that helps to process many of the body's central nutrients. Manganese has been classified as an enzyme activator. It works on processing glucose, biotin, and fatty acids, thiamine, and other essential key nutrients. Squash has folate in it at 57.40 micrograms. Folate is in the B vitamin family, and one of its biggest roles is to prevent homocystine from building up to extremely levels in the blood. Folate also is supportive to red blood cell function as well as in playing a role against having dementia. There is 0.34 grams of omega 3 fatty acids found in squash. Omega 3 fatty acids are essential to preventing bone inflammation, supporting our heart health, and play quite a role in the health of our skin. Niacin is found in squash at 1.44 milligrams a serving size, and niacin which is vitamin B3, is cholesterol lowering vitamin, as well as helping the body to process fats, and works on the stability of glucose levels too.

Health Benefits Antioxidant Support While we've become accustomed to thinking about leafy vegetables as an outstanding source of antioxidants, we've been slower to recognize the outstanding antioxidant benefits provided by other vegetables like winter squash. But we need to catch up with the times! Recent research has made it clear just how important winter squash is worldwide to antioxidant intake, especially so in the case of carotenoid antioxidants. From South America to Africa to India and Asia and even in some parts of the United States, no single food provides a greater percentage of certain carotenoids than winter squash. (In the United States, a recent study that has determined winter squash to be the number one source of alpha-carotene and beta-carotene among Hispanic men ages 60 and older living within the

state off Massachusetts. And we've seen studies ranking foods from this Cucurbita genus at the top of the carotenoid list in Cameroon, Sri Lanka, and the West Indies!) The unique carotenoid content of the winter squashes is not their only claim to fame in the antioxidant department, however. There is a very good amount of vitamin C in winter squash (about one-third of the Daily Value in every cup) and a very good amount of the antioxidant mineral manganese as well. Recent research has shown that the cell wall polysaccharides found in winter squash also possess antioxidant properties, as do some of their phenolic phytonutrients. Anti-Inflammatory Benefits Most of the research to date on winter squash and inflammation has either been conducted using laboratory animals, or has been focused on laboratory studies of cell activity. Still, results in this area have been fascinating and also promising with respect to winter squash as an anti-inflammatory food. In some of the more detailed studies, specific inflammation-related molecules, enzymes, or cell receptors (for example, nuclear factor kappa-B, nitric oxide synthase, or cyclo-oxygenase) have been studied as targets for the activity of the cucurbitacin molecules found in winter squash. Cucurbitacins are glycoside molecules found in a wide variety of foods, including the brassica vegetables, some mushrooms, and even some ocean mollusks. But they are named for the gourd-squash-melon family of foods (Cucurbitaceae) due to their initial discovery in this food family. Cucurbitacins can be extremely bitter tasting to animals as well as humans, and they are considered to be part of the plants' natural defense mechanisms. Yet the same properties that make cucurbitacins potentially toxic to some animals and microorganisms also make them effective as anti-viral, anti-bacterial, and anti-inflammatory substances when we consume them in winter squash. While winter squash should not be treated as a high-fat food, it does contain fats, including the anti-inflammatory omega-3s. One cup of baked winter squash will provide you with approximately 340 milligrams of omega-3 fats in the form of alpha-linolenic acid (ALA). While that amount is only about one-third as high as the concentration of ALA found in the "best of the best" omega-3 plant foods like walnuts, it is still a valuable amount being provided by a low-fat food. (Less than 15% of the calories in winter squash come from fat, compared with almost 90% of the calories in walnuts!). With winter squash, we have a fantastic anti-inflammatory food opportunity in which we can get a valuable amount of our anti-inflammatory omega-3s without much of a change in our total fat intake. Promotes Optimal Health It's the combination of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory compounds in winter squash that have shown this food to have clear potential in the area of cancer prevention and cancer treatment. Prostate cancer is the cancer type that has been of greatest research interest in this regard, followed by colon cancer, breast cancer, and lung cancer. We have yet to see cancer-related studies that involve everyday amounts of winter squash consumed in food form. Most of the studies in this area have involved extracts from foods in the Cucurbita genus, or isolated, purified substances (like cucurbitans) that can be obtained from those foods. Still, given the clear antioxidant and anti-inflammatory benefits of winter squash, we expect to see cancer studies in humans eventually identifying this food as a risk reducer for certain cancer types. Potential Blood Sugar Regulation Benefits A second area of high potential for winter squash and its health benefits is blood sugar regulation and prevention of type 2 diabetes. We've already seen evidence in animal studies that show improvement in blood sugar and insulin regulation following intake of cell wall polysaccharides from winter squash and other Cucurbita foods. Likewise, we've seen research pointing to other nutrients found in winter squash as beneficial for blood sugar control. These nutrients include the B-vitamin like compound d-chiro-inositola nutrient we expect to see moving up on the radar screen with respect to blood sugar regulation. It's also important to remember that blood sugar regulation is closely tied to our overall supply of B-complex vitamins, and that winter squash is unusual in its B-vitamin composition. This food provides a good amount of five B-complex vitamins! Those vitamins are B1, B3, B6, pantothenic acid, and folate.

February 24, 2014 To whom it may concern: Saint Ferdinand College has been my family for almost eight years. They completed me as to whom I am right now. The school gave the best education and of course the best mentors everyone needs to a successful path in life. I would like to thank and congratulate first our adviser ___________________ and our instructors for their eagerness of teaching us. You showed us what teachers really are. Also, thank you so much for the warm acceptance of the institution to a student like me. So, to all the faculty and staff, to our brilliant instructors, and to our well-rounded adviser, my utmost gratitude to all of you. You have molded me to a better individual. May the odds be ever in your favor? Your student, Reynalyn Buraga Dear Ma and Pa, As your eldest daughter, I know you clamor something on me someday. Me as professional and not just staying in the house the whole day waiting for luck. Ma and Pa, I prove you both that I have got something you can be proud of me. Something that will prove the world that I am not just an ordinary child but somebody who will play great role to others lives. I wont promise you everything but I will assure you of helping my younger siblings to finish their education for I can imagine how happy will you be if I will do that. Ma/Pa, thank you! I may not tell everything but those words means a lot. Because if I am to enumerate why am I thanking the both of you, it will be countless. I will just need lots of paper and a hundred of years thinking, telling and writing those entire things you did for us. With all my sincerity, I will be the best daughter I can for you. You deserve all the happiness. All the successes. I love you Ma and Pa. Your daughter, ` Reynalyn Buraga

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