One fruit that often gets left out of the mix is the avocado. Avocado’s are slightly different than your usual piece of fruit because of the fact that they actually contain rather high levels of overall dietary fat.
Does this mean you should be avoiding them?
Not a chance! While you will certainly have to watch how much of them you eat to keep your calorie level in check, the fat they do provide is a healthy source and will go a long way towards promoting overall good health.
Let’s take a closer look at what the avocado is all about.
Major Nutrients Found In An Avocado
The first main nutrient that you must know about when thinking about avocado’s are their monounsaturated fat content, or more specifically oleic acid. This is a particular acid that’s gong to really help to lower your overall levels of cholesterol and reduce the chance of heart disease.
Avocado’s are also a rich source of folate with a one cup serving containing 23% of your total daily value. Folate is important in order to prevent heart disease and stroke so if you have a family history of either of these diseases, it’s one nutrient to really focus in on.
The third big nutrient that’s found in avocado’s is the carotenoid lutein, which is going to be important for helping to prevent the development of cancer cells in the body.
Finally, you can’t overlook its fiber content. At 9.8 grams per one-cup serving, that easily tops many other fruits for this nutrient.
Storing/Selecting
When selecting an avocado, look for one that has no darken spots that are sunken into the flesh and try and found one that has a slight neck rather than something that looks very round. Ideally your ripened avocado will be somewhat softer but if all the ones that are available are firm to the touch, not to worry as they will soften sitting at home on your counter. If you want to increase the ripening process, try placing the avocado in a paper bag as well.
Once you’ve cut into the avocado, to maintain freshness you should store the remainder of the fruit in the fridge.
Eat It With:
Avocado’s can be eaten in a number of different ways from on their own if you really enjoy that taste to mixed up to form guacamole or sliced and added into a variety of different salads.
Some people will also use avocado’s blended up to form the base of a sauce or dressing, so that’s something else you may want to consider.
Burn Off Calories In An Avocado:
To burn off the number of calories in avocado you would have to do:
- 40 minutes of low impact aerobics
- 20 minutes of vigorous cycling
- 19 minutes of skiing
- 50 minutes of mowing the lawn
- One hour of housecleaning