Wellness Wednesday Tip #4: Swap for Spaghetti Squash

Happy Wellness Wednesday everyone!

     This week’s tip involves a minor swap in food groups, bringing more vegetables to the table while keeping your delicious tasting dish. I’m talking about swapping your pasta for spaghetti squash. I hadn’t started making this swap until about a year ago, and yes at first I didn’t believe it could be done. If you’re not familiar with spaghetti squash there’s no need to worry; it’s a relatively simple vegetable to cook. Once cooked, the inside of a spaghetti squash honestly looks like spaghetti, except of course for being a brighter yellow. 

     I’m sure there are many ways to cook spaghetti squash, but I’m a fan of simply poking some holes around the outside and popping it in the oven at 350 degrees Fahrenheit for about an hour. Some prefer to cut it in half mid-way and place them face down to speed up the cooking time. Either way, once you’re done, you’ll scoop out the seeds and scrape the walls. The most recent hint I’ve gotten for using spaghetti squash was in a buffalo chicken casserole, where the recipe suggested using paper towels to soak up some of the additional moisture after cooking.

     Now this swap isn’t meant to limit carbohydrates or whole grain consumption. It’s intended to increase your vegetable intake and reap the numerous health benefits from doing so. Eating spaghetti squash will add dietary fiber, Vitamin C and A, potassium, and some omega-3, omega-6 to your day, providing antioxidants and cardiovascular health. So give it a try next time you cook something that typically goes with pasta. 

Thanks for reading this week!

-       Dr. Patrick Berner, PT, DPT

-       Dr. Eric Uveges, PT, DPT