Avocado Benefits

Avocado Benefits

Not only are avocados so delicious, they are also extremely beneficial to your health. They provide a large but healthy amount of monounsaturated fatty acids. They can be eaten at any age, with teeth or without. They grow in warm environments and have the potential to improve digestion, protect against cancer, and decrease the feelings of depression. Follow along to hear about all of this amazing fruit’s (yes, fruit) benefits.

Depression

Avocado contains a bunch of folate. Folate helps prevent the build-up of a homocysteine. Homocysteine is a substance that might cause the delivery and circulation of nutrients to the brain to be slowed down. It can also interfere with your mood, sleep, and appetite since it may affect the production of norepinephrine, dopamine, and serotonin. You can check out Authority Reports to find supplements to give you an extra boost.

Nutrients

A serving of avocado is actually only one-fifth of it. That 1 serving sure packs a nutrient-rich punch. It contains 64 calories, about 6 grams of fat, 3.4 grams of sugar, and almost 3 grams of fiber. They also contain vitamins B-6, C, E, and K. In addition to that, they contain omega-3 fatty acids, beta-carotene, lutein, potassium, magnesium, pantothenic acid, niacin, riboflavin, and as already mentioned, folate. Avocados may have a lot of fat, but it’s good and healthy fat so don’t let that stop you from eating them. A healthy diet needs fat to slow down the breakdown of carbohydrates which will leave you feeling full and stabilize your blood sugar levels.

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Eyesight

The phytochemicals lutein and zeaxanthin that are found in avocados are also found in your eye tissue. They help decrease eye damage even from ultraviolet light and provide antioxidant protection.

Heart

There are 25 milligrams per ounce of beta-sitosterol in avocados. It comes from a natural plant called sterol. This ingredient has been shown to help maintain healthy cholesterol levels.

Cancer and Osteoporosis

There is a possibility that folate can help protect against certain cancers such as, cervical, pancreatic, stomach, and colon. This isn’t a definite fact but it is believed since some researchers feel that folate prevents against unwanted mutations during cell division in DNA and RNA. Avocados may also play a role in cancer treatment. Some phytochemicals may be able to stop the growth of precancerous and cancerous cells. They also have been shown to lessen the damage caused by a chemotherapy drug. Vitamin K, which is also found in avocados, is essential for bone health. Half of an avocado provides about 25% of the recommended daily dose of vitamin K. It can help by reducing excretion of calcium in urine and increasing calcium absorption, which can prevent osteoporosis.

Pregnancy

Folate is great to consume during a healthy pregnancy. It can reduce the risk of neural tube defects and a miscarriage. Even after giving birth, getting a chance to eat is hard and grabbing an avocado will provide you with a lot of nutrients that will also be beneficial to your nursing baby. Avocado is also a great first food for a child since it can be mashed up and made completely smooth.

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Detox and Digestion

Avocado is packed with natural fiber. Fiber is extremely necessary and beneficial to naturally detox and for a healthy digestive system. Enough fiber helps keep bowel movements regular and easy. Healthy bowel movement are extremely important to remove toxins. Dietary fiber may also be able to help in regulating inflammation and your immune system.

Ripeness

You can’t eat this wonderful fruit unless you know how to tell when it is ripe. The trick to see whether your avocado is ready to eat is to check under the stem. If the stem can be pulled off easily and is a nice green color underneath then you know you’ve got a good one. Another way to check is to squeeze it a bit, it it bounces back just a little then it is good. You don’t want the avocado to be too soft or too hard. You should store avocados at room temperature until they are ripe. It usually takes 4-7 days for an avocado to ripen. If you want to speed up the ripening process, put them in a paper bag with an apple. This can ripen them in 1-3 days. If your avocado is ready to eat but you aren’t ready to eat it, store it in the refrigerator for 3-5 days. Enjoy!