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Love avocado? As it turns out, there are lots of great reasons to love it even more. Avocado has a delectable buttery texture and creamy flavor unlike any other fruit or vegetable. Not only does avocado taste incredible, it has amazing health benefits and is important for weight loss, too!
In the past, perhaps you’ve shooed avocado off your plate due to its high calorie and fat content. But, new research is showing why this tropical fruit (yes, avocado is actually a fruit) deserves its place on your plate. We have heard that the fat in avocado is a ‘healthy fat’ but just how does it work to improve our health and decrease our waistlines?
THE HEALTHY FATS IN AVOCADO
Avocados are high in healthful mono-unsaturated fats, a type of fat that is easy for the body to digest and use as energy. These types of monounsaturated fats help lower your LDL (bad) cholesterol and raise your HDL (good) cholesterol. The readily available raw fats in avocado also help your body to absorb fat-soluble nutrients like those in veggies, so add them to your salads!
The mono-unsaturated fats in avocado have benefits for weight loss as well. These types of fats help speed up your basal metabolic rate (BMR), so regular consumption of avocados can support your weight loss efforts.
HEALTH BENEFITS OF AVOCADO
Avocados are packed with vitamins and minerals! They are an excellent source of fiber (both soluble and insoluble). They also contain potassium (60% more than bananas), vitamin E, vitamin C, B-vitamins, magnesium and folate. Avocados help fight inflammation, protect against liver damage and decrease risk of heart disease. Avocados also contain healthy Omega-3 fatty acids, which are otherwise found only in oily fish, flax and certain nuts. Finally, avocados are a good source of L-carnitine, an amino acid that helps facilitate fat metabolism and promotes fat loss.
AVOCADO EATERS ARE HEALTHIER OVERALL
A recent study by the CDC (Centers for Disease Control) shows that folks who regularly eat avocados are healthier overall than those who don’t. The study found that avocado eaters have better diets overall, have greater intakes of vitamins and nutrients, higher intakes of healthy fats, higher HDL (good) cholesterol, lower BMIs, smaller waist circumferences and 50% lower odds of developing metabolic syndrome.
As you can see, avocados should be considered a true ‘superfood’ since they contain significant quantities of a wide variety of healthy micronutrients, fats and amino acids. Here are a couple ways you can spice things up by getting more avocado into your diet:
1) Smoothies – Throw avocado into a green or fruit smoothie in place of yogurt or milk and still enjoy that creamy flavor that dairy products usually provide.
2) Salads – Add avocado to any salad for additional texture and flavor. The fat in avocado helps salads to feel more satiating!
3) On the Half Shell – Simply cut an avocado in half and place olive oil vinaigrette in the hole where the seed was and eat it on its own!
4) Guacamole – This amazing treat doesn’t have to be so sinful…just eat it with veggies instead of chips! Or top your salad with it!
5) Omelet – Avocados can be a great addition to your morning omelet or mix them into your scrambled eggs!
At Athlean-XX for Women, we’re all about healthy nutrition because it helps us lose weight and have energy for our tough workouts! Our nutrition plan recommends combining proteins and slow-burning carbohydrates at every meal and snack to help keep you feeling full. In fact, the Athlean-XX for Women nutrition plan is anything but a diet – we actually recommend you eat more – 5 – 6 times per day! This type of diet will help turn your metabolism into a fat burning machine – when combined with our killer 30 minute workouts. Yes, with Athlean-XX for Women, eat more, exercise shorter but harder and weigh less! Join us on Team Athlean to start your lifestyle makeover now!
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