Strength of Avocado

Avocado health benefits make a persuasive case for why you should be eating more avocados today.   Yeah, they’re loaded with “fat”, but not all fat is bad for your body.  Monounsaturated/Omega-9 fat in particular is what constitutes the first health benefit of an avocado.  In a typical avocado, most of the calories you receive come from monounsaturated fat.  The monounsaturated fat in an avocado is healthy for you.  All foods similar to avocados that contain monounsaturated fat lessen your LDL cholesterol, which is harmful to your body. On the other hand, HDL cholesterol has been called “good cholesterol,” and there is evidence that monounsaturated fat actually raises this type of cholesterol.

A typical avocado will contain both insoluble and soluble fiber; that alone makes it very powerful, since not many foods can brag about containing both kinds of fiber.  The breakdown in an average avocado is approximately 75 percent insoluble fiber to 25 percent soluble fiber.  The benefits of each type of fiber are already well known.  Insoluble fiber is great at cleaning out your bowels by way of increasingly efficient bowel movements.  Soluble fiber is great for appetite control.  It has the effect of making you feel full, because it turns into a gel that sits in your stomach for a while when it comes into contact with water.

My favorite bragging rights to avocado is the vitamin and nutrition content contained.  You can find B, K, and E vitamins along with a notable amount of potassium (almost double the amount of the infamous banana).  B vitamins help your body’s metabolism and its maintenance of a healthy skin tone, while vitamin K plays a fundamental role in making sure that your bones grow properly and that your bone density is maintained in later life.

So how to apply this healthy advantage-  Avocado’s creamy texture means you can substitute it in place of mayo or other unhealthy spreads in your sandwiches and wraps. Simply add thin slices of avocado to your meal, or mash the avocado with a fork and spread over your eggs or into your sandwich.

FUN FACT:  The two main U.S. producers of the fruit are California and Florida. The Golden State far outranks the Sunshine State, however, with more than 6,000 groves accounting for about 90% of avocado crops.