9 Great Benefits of Avocado
If you’re looking for a healthy, yet highly versatile and delicious food to enjoy, avocado could be right up your street. Avocados are technically a fruit and are packed full of healthy fats, essential fatty acids, antioxidants, vitamins, minerals, and much more besides.
Recently, avocados have gained popularity due to their many health benefits, not to mention the fact that everybody seems to love a good avocado and poached egg post on Instagram.
In today’s article we’re going to be taking a look at several great benefits of avocado. Take a look and see what you think.
Avocado keeps you smart
If you want to stay mentally sharp and focussed, avocado is the perfect brain food. Avocado is loaded full of essential fatty acids proven to promote cognitive health and function. On top of that, it is also rich in vitamin E, which again, has been found to promote optimal brain health and function. If you’re looking to enhance your mental clarity and focus levels, avocado is ideal as it is very good for the brain. In particular, avocado contains ingredients which enhance blood supply to the pre-frontal cortex. This is the part of the brain responsible for planning and decision making.
Avocado gives you energy
If you’re feeling tired and sluggish, avocado will soon set that right. Avocado is loaded full of healthy fats, which are actually the body’s preferred source of energy. The fats in avocado can be instantly broken down and utilized for fuel, rather than being stored as body fat for use at a later date. If you want an instant burst of energy, perhaps before jogging or working out, avocado is a great food.
Reduced bad cholesterol
When talking about the benefits of avocado, you can’t overlook the fact that avocado has been found to reduce bad cholesterol. LDL cholesterol is what people are referring to when talking about bad cholesterol. It is this cholesterol which clogs the arteries and puts you at risk of cardiovascular disease, heart attack, stroke, atherosclerosis, hypertension, and more. Avocados are a source of monounsaturated fat which helps to lower harmful LDL cholesterol and increase HDL cholesterol, which is good for us. HDL also lowers LDL, so you get two benefits in one.
Boosts the immune system
Another of the many awesome health benefits of avocado which we’ll be looking at today is the fact that it has been found to boost the immune system. Your immune system is what protects you from illness and disease. Keeping it strong and functional is essential if you want to enjoy optimal health and well-being. Avocados are packed full of nutrients that help to strengthen the immune system. This is why avocado is considered by many to be a superfood, due to the fact that it helps to keep you so fit and healthy.
Very nutritious
There are plenty of foods out there considered to be healthy, yet avocado is certainly one of the most beneficial. In terms of the health benefits of avocado, we can’t overlook its incredibly impressive nutrient profile. Avocados are packed full of nutrients that do the body a world of good. They contain several B vitamins, vitamin C, vitamin K, Potassium, calcium, magnesium, zinc, iron, vitamin E, Folate, fiber, and much more besides. Each of these nutrients play their own unique roles in countless physiological processes within our bodies, so the more avocado we consume, the more nutrients we consume.
Great for bulking up
Now, to most people, bulking up and gaining weight is the last thing they want to do. People generally want to lose weight but occasionally the need to bulk up and gain weight arises. Bodybuilders for example, may want to bulk up and gain weight so as to increase their muscle mass. People that are underweight for medical reasons may also need to gain weight safely. Avocado is rich in healthy fats, making it a very great source of fat. Because of this, it’s a high calorie food that will make it much easier to create a caloric surplus required when gaining weight.
Delicious
Let’s face it, one of the main reasons why avocados are so popular is because they’re delicious. When we talk about the health benefits of avocado, the fact that they taste great may not be directly linked to physical health, but eating great-tasting food will provide psychological benefits. Avocado is known as ‘nature’s butter’ because of its rich and creamy texture.
Great source of potassium
When you need a potassium boost, you eat a banana, right? You could, or you could eat an avocado, as avocados contain more potassium than bananas. Potassium helps regulate your hormones, it buffers lactic acid production, it’s essential for the heart and cardiovascular system, and it helps to keep your cells healthy. Therefore, the more you consume, the healthier you become. In terms of the health benefits of avocado, you can’t overlook its naturally high potassium content.
Versatile
One of the best things about avocados is the fact that they’re so versatile. You can prepare avocado in a variety of different ways, and enjoy it with so many different dishes. Avocado can be sliced and served in burgers, sandwiches, or salads. You can mash avocado and spread it on toast or bagels, you can turn it into guacamole, you can serve it with sushi, or you can enjoy it with seafood, perhaps in a shrimp cocktail.
So there are just a few great health benefits of avocado that you can enjoy if you add this fruit to your diet. Providing you find a perfectly ripe avocado, you’ll be blown away by the taste and you’ll look and feel better in the process, as well as being healthier.