I don’t know about you guys, but avocado is one of my favorite food. I remember that it was really hard to find it, but after a while, it became available on the market.
In the beginning, I was curious what is it, a fruit, a vegetable, how to eat it and how to prepare it. I start asking on the local market at the people who were selling them. I went home and began my research.
As more, I was reading as more I wanted to buy it. From all the sources, it was clear that avocado and health benefits were tremendous immense.
I think the persons who do not eat avocado are very few. From my point of view, there is nothing to dislike about it.
From the researches which I have done, I found out that avocados are a rich source of essential fatty acids, but the benefits they pose to health come from many other important nutritional properties.
Avocado is a fruit that belongs to the Lauraceae family, alongside other flower plants such as camphor, cinnamon or bay. Didn’t you know this? Amazing!
The thick consistency of the pulp and the specific flavor of avocado make it similar to oleaginous fruits such as nuts and seeds. The scientific name of the fruit is American Persea.
The avocado fruit turns dark green or dark purple when ripe, and inside it has a brown seed like a round piece of wood. Each fruit weighs around 300-700 g.
Scientists have discovered, in their studies on the benefits of consuming avocado fruit, that they have a protective role against cardiovascular disease, help control body weight and improve the body’s ability to absorb essential nutrients from food in optimal parameters.
Since I buy avocados, I find that I like the big ones, with a big seed inside. Even if the out layer is green, inside is ripe.
Avocado In Your Diet
If you have a low protein diet, you can replace the low proteins by eating more healthy fats found in avocados, coconut oil, olives, olive oil, butter or nuts.
An avocado fruit contains almost 23 g of fat, of which two-thirds are beneficial for your health.
An important quality of avocado fruit is that it contains a small quantity of fructose which it is associated with predisposition to gain weight and about 20 essential nutrients such as fiber, potassium (in a double amount compared to bananas), vitamin E, vitamin B complex and folic acid.
Benefits Of Eating Avocado
Let’s see some benefits:
– They have strong antioxidant properties, helping to prevent the occurrence of various cancers.
– They can protect the liver against cirrhosis and viral hepatitis
– It helps increase good cholesterol in the body (HDL) and reduce bad cholesterol (LDL) and decrease triglycerides in the blood;
– Maintain cardiovascular health through the content of folic acid and vitamin B6, two substances that regulate the level of a compound associated with an increased risk of heart disease called homocysteine;
– Because they contain vitamin E, avocado supports cardiac activity and protects the heart;
– The high blood pressure is adjusted by the high content of potassium;
– Protects the healthy cells of the body from free radicals, thus reducing the risk of developing degenerative and inflammatory diseases;
– Improve vision;
– It regulates blood glucose levels and controls diabetes, reducing insulin resistance of the body, healthy fat and soluble fiber content;
– It delays the aging of the body process by the antioxidants in the composition, which strengthen your immune system, protect the cells and balance the functions of the nervous system;
– Combat halitosis, cleanse the intestinal system and regulate the number of toxins in the body, as well as removing the dry mouth phenomenon;
– It increases the competence of the body to absorb important nutrients for skin view and health, especially carotenoids (beta-carotene and lycopene);
– Enhances skin and hair, giving them brilliance and vitality (that’s why avocados are also used in many cosmetic masks);
– Helps people underweight grow healthy and harmonious (100 grams of avocados containing 200 calories), helping to develop muscle tissue and not that of fatty tissue (as it happens by eating saturated fats and sugars) ;
How To Consume Avocado?
Avocados can be eaten in salad or individually, seasoned with salt and pepper, maple syrup or various aromatic herbs and spices.
It can also be consumed instead of fat used to prepare baked foods (replacing oil, butter, etc.).
Avocados can also be consumed as deserts in different recipes of cookies or protein shakes prepared in the blender. Yummy!
It should not have dark or very soft parts with a gelatinous consistency. Also, a significant aspect, for both taste and nutritional qualities, is that avocados are sufficiently ripe.
Ripeness can be tested by pressing a little with your finger: if your finger leaves a slight trace, then the fruit is ripe. The ripped avocados must be consumed in 1-2 days.
I usually buy 5 to 7 avocados for a week, but if you purchased more avocados, place a few of them in the refrigerator, because will stop the ripeness process. Take one by one out of the fridge as your current ripe stock decreases.
Some Recipes
As I mentioned earlier, you can make delicious recipes using avocados.
I include in the breakfast a slice of toast with avocado cream. Look how I prepare it.
Toast 1-2 slices of bread.
Take one avocado, pill it off, remove the seed and the pulp place it in a bowl.
Mash the pulp with a fork, add some lemon juice, taste and add more lemon juice if you want, add salt or not, it’s up to you – I do not use salt. Mix all together and spread on a toast.
Here you have it, you breakfast toast with avocado cream.
For lunch, it’s really easy to choose and combine the vegetables with avocado and other grains and cereals. One of my salads consists of spinach, tomatoes, cucumbers, paprika, onion, a mix of green leaves, one avocado, 1-2 spoons of beans/quinoa, olives oil and that’s it.
Just mix them all, and your lunch is ready.
You can add a bit of desert, mousse of Chocolate.
Ingredients: an avocado, 30 grams of raw cocoa powder, 60 ml of almond milk, 2 teaspoons of almond butter, mint, almonds, forest fruits.
Directions:
Place the avocado and cocoa powder in a blender. Add the almond milk and the almond butter. Give it a swirl and transfer in a bowl.
Garnish with forest fruits, mint or almonds.
Usually, I have something light for dinner, like spring rolls.
Take 5-6 rice papers of large green leaves like Mangold. Chop one red, one yellow pepper bells, slice one cucumber, avocado, red cabbage, spinach.
Place small portions of each mentioned ingredients and add a spoon of hummus on the top. Now roll and serve.
If you use rice paper, do like this. Add warm water in a big plate or large bowl, take one rice paper and soak it for 1-2 seconds on each side.
Don’t keep it too much in the water, because it will be too soft and you will not be able to roll it.
Important note:
Don’t use avocado in all your daily recipes, for example, 3 avocados in a day, one in each meal. Even if consuming avocado helps with weight loss, for some people, the effect is reversed.
Try to stick with one avocado per day.
Conclusion
Avocado is an indispensable food for anyone who wants to have a healthy life. We saw together the health benefits, just to recap a few:
– It is a rich source of vitamin C, an important antioxidant.
– Contains large amounts of vitamin D, essential for bone health.
– Keep cholesterol levels under control,
– Avocado contains vitamins A, C, B6, B12, and K
You can use avocado on all your meals, and I share with you some recipes which you can have during a day, but do not forget about the warning: one avocado per day.
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How do you use avocado? Have you notices any changes in your health?
Happy to hear your thoughts.
Stay healthy!
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