Find Out How An Avocado A Day Can Drastically Improve Your Health

Find Out How An Avocado A Day Can Drastically Improve Your Health

If you could only eat one thing for the rest of your life, what would it be? A lot of people would probably like to say pizza, but that might not be the best choice for breakfast, lunch, and dinner for years to come. This then begs the question, what might be the most versatile, healthy food around to eat often? Those who like guacamole and all things avocado are in for some good news: the green, creamy, seeded wonder-food is one of the best things you can add to your diet on a daily basis.

 

While the avocado may look unassuming by its hard, dark-skinned exterior, peeling back that skin reveals a food that contains vitamins, minerals, and unsaturated, healthy fats that many other foods just can’t pack in one punch. Avocados are said to contain vitamins B, B-6, C, K, E, and a host of essential nutrients such as panthothenic acid, thiamine, folate, riboflavin, omega 3s, polyphenols, and cartenoids, among many others. They’re also a great source of soluble and insoluble fiber, which can help digestive functions while also lowering cholesterol levels, they can aid in better insulin control, and they can boost the liver’s production of the antioxidant glutathione.

While fatty foods may have gotten a bad rap in the past, modern dietitians and scientists have found that some fats are much healthier than others. In particular, saturated and trans fats are to be avoided as much as possible, while the monounsaturated fats in foods like avocados are actually good for overall health. Although avocados have high fat content, eating an avocado a day is a very different thing than eating fried chicken, a quarter pound cheeseburger, or a large order of fries every day.

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Additionally, avocados have a natural ability to keep the brain satiated for longer, meaning that the body feels fuller after meals. This can cut down on increased snacking and overeating due to pronounced feelings of hunger at later meals throughout the day. This is because avocados are a calorie and nutrient-dense food. However, it should be stated that there are a lot of calories within an avocado. While they might look like just another vegetable (even though they’re technically a fruit), avocados are said to have around 320 calories each. That’s more than most people might expect, but that doesn’t mean that avocados should be avoided. If anything, they should be included regularly within a diet, just with an understanding of the full number of calories for each serving of avocado consumed.

Finally, avocados are great because they’re versatile and pair with almost everything. They can be sliced, made into guacamole or a spread, put into a shake, or even eaten whole. The key is in getting an avocado that’s ripe and ready to eat, which can take some planning. It’s best to purchase avocados that are at different levels of ripeness so they can be eaten on different days, as the window for an avocado being perfectly ripe and ready to eat is typically only about one day.

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