Avocados are back in Season! 5 Reasons Why You Should Enjoy Avocado Every Day
What’s green, delicious and best friends with your heart? The humble avocado. A mini powerhouse of of good fats, vitamins and antioxidants, an avocado a day really could keep the doctor away. Best of all, you can enjoy the creamy texture on toast, in a salad, as a dip, in a smoothie or even on your face as a moisturising marvel.
Let’s take a look at 5 reasons why you should enjoy avocado, every day.
1. Nourish Your Skin
As a rich source of antioxidant carotenoids, such as alpha-carotene, beta-carotene and zeaxanthin, eating avocados can help to reduce visible signs of aging. These compounds provide protection from environmental damage, which can lead to fine lines and wrinkles.
Add to the mix vitamins C and E, plus monounsaturated fatty acids and the avocado becomes a superhero, helping to create elastin and collagen to maintain firmness and hydration. Next time you want to relax in the bath with a face mask, mash an avocado and slather it over your skin, to nourish and revitalise.
2. Help Your Heart
Gone are the days when the poor avo suffered scrutiny for being a ‘fatty fruit’. Naturopaths have been recommending for decades to include healthy fats in your diet and avocados are a fantastic source.
These include monounsaturated fats, which are known to lower ‘bad’ cholesterol and raise ‘good’ cholesterol. Boosting your diet with the good fats like found in avocado helps to reduce your risk of heart attacks and stroke, by giving your heart one of its favourite foods.
3. Fill up on Fibre
Dietary fibre is a vital ingredient in maintaining good health and avocado contains large amounts. You can keep your bowel happy with insoluble fibre and soluble fibre feeds the friendly gut bacteria in your intestines.
Not only that, but keeping up your fibre intake can actually play a role in helping you lose weight, balance hormones, reduce the risk of disease and lower blood sugar spikes, making it the perfect fruit for a morning or afternoon snack.
4. Protect Your Pregnancy
Just a small amount of avocado provides you with some of your daily recommended intake of folate. This vitamin helps to protect your unborn baby, by lowering the risks of birth defects.
It contains calcium and vitamins C, E, K, B1 and B6, all of which are important for the health of you and your growing baby. Best of all, you can decrease the risk of anaemia, due to the iron content and it may even help to reduce nausea, with the help of vitamin B6.
5. Delight Your Tastebuds and Refuel
When all’s said and done, no amount of information can make us choose to eat foods we don’t like. Thankfully, no matter your preference, avocados are so versatile you’re sure to find a recipe you love! When you do, you’ll be providing your body with healthy fats that release a slow, steady stream of energy to get you through the day.
If you want to branch out from guacamole and salads, try zucchini pasta with avocado pesto, chilled avocado soup, avocado smoothies or even raw vegan chocolate pudding – made with avocado!
So, what are you waiting for? Pop avocados on your shopping list this week and look forward to the far-reaching benefits of this superfood fruit.
