Persea American, which is a member of the flowering plant family Lauraceae, is the tree responsible for the avocado fruit, a pear-shaped, nutrient-dense fruit. The term avocado refers to both the tree and the fruit.
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Source: Wikipedia
Avocado is a fruit, not a vegetable and actually belongs in the berry family.
Avocados are not just healthy fruits; they're undeniably delicious and can go with many varieties of food and can also be simply scooped out with a spoon and be eaten plain.
Below is why avocado is considered a super fruit!
1. NUTRITION
Avocados are very nutritious. They contain healthy fats, fiber, over 20 different vitamins and minerals among other nutrients. They’re also rich in folate, which is a good boost for your mood!
Sliced Avocadoes (Photo by Anne from Pexels)
The fat in avocados does not contain any cholesterol or sodium. It is low in saturated fat.
FUN FACT!
Avocadoes contain more Potassium than bananas!
Potassium in the body helps regulate fluid balance, muscle contractions and nerve signals. What's more, a high-potassium diet may help reduce blood pressure and water retention, protect against stroke and prevent osteoporosis and kidney stones.
Better antioxidants absorption
Some nutrients like Vitamins A, D, E and K are fat-soluble and for them to move from the food to the digestive tract where they can be digested, you should consume them with fats so your body can properly absorb them.
Avocado is what should definitely come to mind when you think of this it increases the nutrition value of other plant foods that you consume.
Fatty acids which are good for the heart
As earlier stated, avocado contain a lot of fats. Actually, over 75% of the calories in avocadoes are from fat. This makes avocadoes the fattiest plant foods in existence.
Better Eye Health
Avocadoes contain carotenoids lutein and zeaxanthin that are good for great eyesight. These reduce risk of cataracts and macular degeneration, very common in older adults.
Prevent Cancer and Relieve Symptoms of Arthritis
Inasmuch as there is minimal proof, preliminary research has shown avocadoes are crucial in cancer prevention and treatment by reducing side effects of chemotherapy in human lymphocytes.
Also, avocado and soybean oil extracts (soybean unsaponifiables) can reduce osteoarthritis.
Avocados can be great for pregnant women
Avocadoes are high in folate, potassium, fiber, monounsaturated fats, and lipid-soluble antioxidants. This combination of nutrients is said to improve maternal health, birth outcomes, and quality of breast milk hence healthy babies and moms.
2. SEX
No one wants to be a weakling in bed, with low sex drive and low in confidence. Energy and a healthy libido are crucial for great sex, and avocados can give you both. Avocadoes are loaded with minerals, monounsaturated fats (the good kind that protect the heart and lower cholesterol), and vitamin B6 all of which help keep your energy and sex drive up.
Avocadoes are also a top source of omega-3 fatty acids, which naturally boost your mood, making you more likely to feel ready for bedroom action.
3. WEIGHT
Eating avocado may help you check on your weight. Some research has shown that people who include avocadoes in their meal are unlikely want to eat again in the next 5 hours after that meal.
This means, that if you included avocadoes in most of your meals, you would eat less and improve your eating habits.
Avocados are also high in fiber making it promote weight loss as well, at least in the context of a healthy, real-food-based diet.
4. HAIR
Besides the inside, Avocados also have a great role to play on how you look on the outside. Great hair is admirable and here we look at what avocadoes have to do with shiny healthy hair.
Hair Moisturizer
Blow drying your hair over time makes it weak because you expose it to chemicals. Avocado on the other hand is full of vitamins A, D, E and B6, proteins, amino acids, magnesium, folic acid, copper and iron which are all important for your hair.
The oils in avocados penetrate the cuticle and actually moisturize, nourish and strengthen hair strands. Avocado is natural and contains no parabens or other ingredients that can be damaging to your hair and may also stimulate new growth and help unclog blocked follicles.
Promotes Hair Growth
Almost all of us want hair that grows pretty fast. Hair growth, we should understand, is a metabolic process that we can assist or stall depending on a variety of factors.
One of the commonest reasons for slow hair growth is nutritional deficiency. By not eating the right food or underfeeding, our immediately looks dull and its growth is slowed down. The right food is like fuel in our bodies. People have often used vitamin supplements to get their hair healthy and growing well.
Other than food, our hormones also influence the rate at which hair grows. Things like pregnancy, menopause and some things like oral contraceptives can all interfere with hair’s appearance, texture, and growth rate.
Avocados are high in vitamins B and E, which work at the cellular level to protect and strengthen hair. Vitamin E helps repair damage on the scalp, which may slow or prevent hair growing. Vitamin B is essential for hair growth. Avocado locks moisture into hair cells, nourishes hair cells, and strengthens hair roots, shaft and strands.
Prevent Dandruff
Dandruff is just dead skin tissues caused by massive flaking of dead skin tissues resulting in redness, itching, flaking and irritation. In an attempt to fight back and restore moisture, the scalp produces excess sebum, which then blocks the hair follicles and leads to bacterial and fungal infections.
Sometimes stress and diet can contribute to dandruff, meaning you have to make sure you take care of your whole body and just your head!
Dead skin tissues are also triggered by other external reasons such as:
· Very cold and/or dry weather
· Using wrong shampoo
· Washing hair too frequently
· Using hot water while rinsing hair
· Improper cleaning when rinsing hair
When it comes to moisture, the avocado comes to your rescue, all the time. With a rich source of proteins, amino acids and vitamins, avocado helps soothe the scalp and promotes long, strong, healthy hair growth.
CAUTION!
If you’re prone to migraines or are allergic to latex, avocados might not be the fruit for you.
For more on avocados' health benefits, check out "The Amazing Power of Avocados."
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