10 Reasons Avocado Is A Superfood
An avocado contains numerous health benefits, not only for living a longer life, but a healthier one as well. These include helping weight loss, supplementing essential prenatal nutrients, strengthening skin and ligaments, and lowering disease risk. Today, we'll outline reasons why you should add this fruit to your regular diet, if you haven't already.
Number one: It improves cardiovascular health. The biggest killer in the USA and UK is coronary disease, an inflammatory disease, which is further inflamed by consuming polyunsaturated vegetable oils. Meanwhile, avocados contains healthy monounsaturated fatty acid (oleic acid), which lowers detrimental LDL blood cholesterol, and raises healthy HDL cholesterol. They also lower triglyceride levels, a common sign of cardiovascular problems. Therefore, all fats are not equal, and you need to get enough of the best ones, to maintain a healthy, happy life. You can do this by substituting healthy avocado oils, for other vegetable oils, when cooking or frying (and it is often more effective too). Fat isn't the only heart-healthy thing about avocados though. They also contain high amounts of vitamin E, potassium, folate, phytosterols, and dietary fiber, which further fight cardiovascular issues, cholesterol, diabetes, and constipation. KEY FACT: Many people lack enough folate in their diet, and it is an essential for pregnant women.
Number two: Avocados also help to fight high blood pressure, since they contain more potassium than even bananas. Potassium is a commonly lacking mineral in our diet, which leads to high blood pressure, stroke, heart attack, or kidney disease. As mentioned above, avocados also stabilize blood sugar with oleic acid and fiber, lower diabetes risk as well.
Number three: Avocados provide key antioxidants to prevent cancer (especially breast cancer), by protecting your cells from free radicals and diseases. These antioxidants include vitamin C, vitamin E, alpha-carotene, beta-carotene, lutein, and zeaxanthin. Additionally, the monounsaturated fats assist with the absorption of these carotenoids. Studies have also found that the antioxidant effects from vitamin C and E are more successful when obtained from food, instead of supplements.
Number four: Avocados have positive effects on your skin health. Their monounsaturated fats improve skin feel and appearance, by insuring healthy moisture levels in the epidermal skin layer. They also reduce inflammation and redness, as they repair damaged cells and reduce facial issues, by controlling sebum production. Lastly, avocados help to protect your skin from wrinkles and aging, as its antioxidants protect you from sun damage and create elastin and collagen.
Number five: Avocados fight diabetes, which is becoming a world-wide problem, putting strain on the medical system. This is because the most common cause of undetected diabetes is strong, random thirst and hunger or a very dry mouth. If you experience this often, please consult your doctor for a test. Anyway, if you already have diabetes, the oleic acid and potassium in avocados help to control cholesterol levels, improve insulin effectiveness, and lower glucose in the blood. Similarly, the vitamin C strengthens capillaries, immune system, and blood vessels; meanwhile, the vitamin E may protect diabetics with peripheral neuropathy from nerve damage. Whether you have diabetes, or just want to prevent it, avocados are a healthy food to include in your diet.
Number six: Avocados can treat arthritis pain (osteoarthritis), because of it's anti-inflammatory ingredients. These include fats, phytosterols, carotenoids, and antioxidants. Another food choice, when eaten often, that helps arthritis is pineapple.
Number seven: Avocados help potential and expecting mothers obtain proper nutrients. Avocado provides about 45 mcg of folate (more vitamin B than any fruit) for every half cup eaten, which prevents birth defects. Another vitamin found in avocados is vitamin K, which prevents deficiency-based bleeding in a newborn baby.
Number eight: Avocados help relieve constipation, because they contain 8 grams of fiber per cup, which improves digestion and maintains proper bowel movements. This fact causes avocados to be used as a mild laxative, for losing weight, and to lower risk of colon cancer.
Number nine: Avocados help with weight loss, because your body is more likely to used their fatty acids for energy, rather than stored body fat. This provides you with stable energy and satiates hunger, thus reducing appetite. This benefit applies to all healthy fats, such as almonds and walnuts, that you incorporate into your diet when trying to lose weight. Contrary to popular belief, limiting fat, starving yourself, and counting calories fails most people, because only eating fat burning foods gives you a real chance of losing weight. Thus, you don't have to be hungry to lose weight. You only need to choose the right foods, that prompt your body to burn fat.
Number ten: Avocados also contribute to better health overall, as a recent study found out. In their research, regular avocado consumers had higher levels of vitamins and minerals in their bodies, in addition to higher fiber, fat, and lower sugar intake. These improved nutrients led to healthier body weight, BMI, and waist measurements. In the same way, they have 50% lower rates of metabolic disease, which leads to heart disease and diabetes.
In summary, scientific recommendation is to eat avocados for lower risk of disease, improved health for you and future children, and weight loss. Hopefully, these 10 benefits have inspired you to pick up a few of these amazing fruits next time you're at the store. I'm about to go enjoy a few myself, on some tasty traditional bammy....please share this information to spread the power of avocados. Happy EATING!
