When it comes to health benefits, the avocado could be the crown jewel in a healthy, plant-centered diet, even though it’s a fruit, not a vegetable. Often ignored by weight watcher types because of its high-fat content, avocado’s high and complete protein content makes it a great heart-healthy option and can also help you lose and maintain your weight. Here are some quick avocado health benefits:
Avocado Fat Facts
At one point or another, we have all heard that we should avoid eating foods high in fat content. While this is true in many cases, not all foods are created equal. I think we can all agree that incorporating donuts into our daily diet would be much less healthy than avocados or walnuts.
But cutting out all fat isn’t the answer. It’s important to understand that a body needs healthy fats to survive and thrive. Most western diets are low in or missing Omega 3 fatty acids. This missing fatty acid content is behind a lot of health conditions and diseases. It just so happens that avocados are high in Omega 3 and omega 6 fats. In fact, you can get all of the omega 3 you need from daily avocado consumption.
There is also no cholesterol in avocados. They are simply a rich source of non-toxic healthy fats. The notion that avocados are fattening is false. Processed sugars, white flour, and high fructose corn syrup in processed foods are the key culprits in weight gain, not healthy fats. You will be healthier and leaner by adding avocados to your weekly shopping list and meal plans.
Avocados Offer a Complete Protein
Another avocado health benefit is that it is a complete protein. Unlike a cooked steak, from which it is difficult to digest and absorb the high protein content, avocados have predigested protein. The sun in which avocados grow creates a process that breaks the protein into easily digested amino acids while the avocados are ripening on their trees.
The avocado provides all the essential amino acids needed by a body to create a complete protein. Proteins in amino acid form are easier to digest and go to work rebuilding cells and tissue right away.
Unlike meats, avocados don’t putrefy in the stomach. And with avocados’ high fiber content there’s no threat of constipation. Avocados don’t have the antibiotics, hormones, and GMO corn that are used on mass-market cattle raised for slaughter to fill the meat counters of supermarkets.
More Avocado Health Benefits
Avocados are bursting with enzymes and rich in minerals, including the commonly deficient master mineral magnesium, which is involved in over 300 metabolic functions of the body. Avocados help provide the body with glutathione, the important master antioxidant that helps the liver replenish all other antioxidants.
Vitamins A, much of the B complex, C, E, and even Vitamin K are very available in avocados. Before English sailors became “limeys”, the Spaniards reportedly used avocados on their return voyages to Spain to prevent scurvy after their plundering of Mexico, Central, and South America.
The nutrient order of importance is enzymes, minerals, and vitamins. Vitamins won’t work without minerals, and neither minerals nor vitamins are able to get into your cells without enzymes.
Cooking destroys a lot of any food’s enzymes, while foods that are uncooked preserve their enzymes completely. And uncooked is the only way to eat avocados. There are not many tasty foods that are so easy to find and eat that pack as much nutritional value as avocados. Some consider the avocado a superfood.
How to Tell if an Avocado is Ripe
You can tell when avocados are ripe by color and gentle squeezing. If the normally green skins are turning brownish and you can mush them slightly, very slightly, with a gentle squeeze, avocados are ready to eat. However, if you are not using them right away, pick the green hard ones and let them ripen at home. Like bananas, the really ripe ones turn quickly.
Best Ways to Eat an Avocado
Avocado slices with a little olive oil and vinegar or lemon with some pure sea salt make a quick and easy snack. You can also add chopped onions or tomatoes to the mix for a little more flavor variety. Sliced and put into salads is an ideal way of eating avocados easily and often if you’re a salad eater.
Dressings & Sauces
There are recipes for blending avocados and making dressings or sauces. Use avocado to stretch homemade basil and/or cilantro pesto quantity. Put it into the food processor with the main ingredients, thus creating a more nutritionally dense pesto. This creamy mix is easy to use as a topping for pasta and tastes great!
Guacamole
This party favorite is the big Kahuna for nutrition as well as taste: Guacamole – ole’! The combination of mashed avocado, olive oil, sea salt, pepper, a little chile, chopped onions, and mashed garlic creates a synergistic superfood as well as a tasty treat. There’s no need to buy small quantities of high-priced guacamole from stores when you can make it so easily yourself. It’s cheaper, fresher, and you can adjust the flavor to your own taste. Just make sure your dipping chips are non-GMO!
More Delicious Acovado Recipes
Incorporating avocados into your diet is easy to do. You can eat them on toast or with eggs for breakfast, in a smoothie for lunch, and even in a sushi roll or pasta sauce for dinner. Check out these great avocado recipes on alignlife.com.
- Chocolate Pudding with Avocado and Peanut Butter
- Fudgy Avocado Brownies
- Avocado Toast
- Chicken Avocado Salad with Roasted Asparagus
- Tuna Salad Stuffed Avocado
- Chicken Burrito Bowls
- Easy, One-Skillet Breakfast Tacos
Want more heart-healthy nutrition tips?
Ask your local AlignLife Chiropractor about healthy lifestyle changes you can make today!
