The Superfood of the 21st Century: Avocados

Avocados 

The well-known characteristics of fruit, which is light, low-calorie, and fat-free, do not apply to the avocado. An avocado contains a lot of calories, 360 or more. And it is also one of the few fruits with a measurable fat content, about 30 gr. each. That’s almost half the daily recommended amount for an adult.

If you have doubts about the fact that a food that contains so much fat could be good for you, ask a dietitian. He will tell you that adding some avocado to your diet, could improve your health.

Avocados have high folate and potassium content. They are also rich in fiber and monounsaturated fat, both are important for people who are concerned about diabetes and heart health.

A favorite part of a diabetes diet people with diabetes has always been told to eat more carbohydrates and cut back on fat. In general, that’s good advice, but it hasn’t to be the best advice for everyone.

Doctors have discovered that when some people with diabetes eat a lot of carbohydrates, they tend to develop high levels of triglycerides, a type of blood fat that may contribute to heart disease. However, when people replace some of those carbohydrates with fat that’s found in avocados, the dangerous fats in the bloodstream tend to decline.

The monounsaturated fat in avocados is called Oleic acid. They have found that this type of monounsaturated fat control fat levels in the body and helps control diabetes.

Scientists in Mexico put sixteen women with diabetes on a relatively high-fat diet, with about 40% of calories coming from fat. Most of the fat comes from avocados. The result was a 20% drop in triglycerides. Women on a higher carbohydrate plan, by contrast, had only a 7% drop in triglycerides. Someone on a 2000-calorie-a-day diet might be advised to eat 33 grams of monounsaturated fat. You can get about 20 grams from just one avocado.

Lowering High Cholesterol Apart from people with diabetes, people with high cholesterol levels can also benefit from the oleic acid in avocados.

In Mexico, where guacamole is considered almost a food group, researchers compared the effects of two low-fat diets. The diets were the same, except that one included avocado. While both lowered levels of dangerous low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol, the avocado diet raised levels of healthy high-density lipoprotein, (HDL) cholesterol, while slightly lowering triglycerides.

 

Avocados also help in another way to lower bad cholesterol. They contain large amounts of fiber, and fiber adds bulk to the stool, causing it with the cholesterol it contains, to be excreted from the body quicker. One avocado contains more fiber than a bran muffin 10 grams or 40% of the Daily Value for fiber.

 

Support the Heart Avocados are also a rich source of potassium. Half an avocado provides 548 mg of potassium. 16% of the DV for this mineral. That’s more than you’d get from a medium banana or a cup of orange juice. Studies prove that people with a potassium-rich diet, like avocados, have a significantly lower risk of high blood pressure and related diseases like heart attack and stroke.

In addition, some research has shown that oleic acid can reduce markers of inflammation in your body. Inflammation plays an important role in the development of artery-clogging atherosclerosis.

Rich in Folate Another benefit from avocado is that it’s rich in folate, a B vitamin that helps prevent the threatening birth defects of the brain & spine. Many women don’t get enough folate in their diets, but avocados can go a long way toward fixing that problem. One avocado contains 114 micrograms of folate, which is 28% of the recommended Daily Value, or nearly 20% of the 600 micro grams that pregnant women need daily.

Minerals for your Bones Avocado can help you to keep your bones healthy. A cup of mashed avocado contains 120 mg of phosphorus, which is 12% of the DV. This mineral is a major component for your bones and teeth, and having plenty of phosphorus on hand also helps your body produce energy from the foods you eat.

Zinc for Good Nutrition You’ll also find 147 mg of zinc swimming in the green depth in a cup of mashed avocado. That’s just under 10% of the DV. Zinc conducts countless activities in your body. The mineral helps keep your immune system working properly, for example, and plays a role in wound healing.

Zinc also aids in your senses of smell and taste, which are necessary to be able to enjoy the food you eat.

Shopping for Avocados If you live in the US, get your avocados from Florida or California. They provide all the nutrients without all the fat. They have about 2//3 of the calories and half the fat of Hass avocados. The best time to buy avocados is between November and March. They may have one-third of the fat of those picked in September or October.

Warning for Drug Users People who are taking warfarin should take care when eating avocados. Researchers in Israel found that eating between one-half and one avocado could make the drug work less efficiently. While the effects didn’t last long, when people stopped eating avocados, the drug started working better again – this could be dangerous for some people. So, if you’re taking warfarin, check with your doctor before adding avocados to your meals.

Help them ripen Like bananas, avocados ripen better off the tree, so they are picked and sold unripe. Once you get them home, leave them on the counter for several days until the fruit is slightly soft. Or if you’re in a hurry to eat them, place them in a paper bag with an apple or banana to soften them. Never place hard avocados in the refrigerator, then they will ripen too slowly.