Avocados, The Superfood

Each month, Morrison Healthcare, Western Missouri Medical Center’s (WMMC) food services partner, features a different Superfood. WMMC highlights these superfoods in our “The Superfood” blog series. This month features avocados.

Some people are completely turned away from avocados due to their high fat content, but these fruits are definitely worth paying extra for!

Fiber, Fiber, Fiber

Avocados are an AMAZING source of fiber, offering 13 grams each! Fiber is a crucial nutrient for your digestive system and avocados contain both types of fiber: Soluble and insoluble. Insoluble fiber helps keep you regular by adding bulk to your stools and helps prevent constipation. Soluble fiber absorbs excess fluid and helps to firm up your bowels if you have diarrhea. Together both types of fiber work to keep your gut happy!

Heart-Healthy

Avocados can help to lower low-density lipoprotein (LDL) cholesterol. If you aren’t familiar, LDL is “bad” cholesterol. But not only that, avocados are a wonderful source of monounsaturated fats that boost high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol (the good kind) meaning that your heart gets double the benefits from you having some home-made guacamole. Guac is extra? We say worth it for the extra benefits!

Boosting Vitamin Absorption

Avocados offer nearly 20 different vitamins and minerals including Potassium; Vitamin K; Folate; Vitamin B6 and Vitamin C. But they don’t just offer them, they also support the absorption of fat-soluble nutrients from the foods that you are eating with your avocado. So not only does avocado taste amazing as an added condiment on your sandwich, it also boosts the value of the other ingredients! How cool is that!?

Nutrient Dense

These superfoods have many nutrients that help aid in a variety of health benefits. Rich in carotenoids-antioxidants, which protect cells, avocados can play a role in blocking the early stages of cancer.

Folate helps prevent certain birth defects and is necessary for DNA duplication and repair, which also helps to prevent cancer.

Vitamin K, found in avocados, provides multiple health benefits like protecting bones from osteoporosis and fighting inflammatory diseases.

Just one ounce of avocado contains 81 micrograms of lutein and zeaxanthin, nutrients that are essential to good eye health!

Concerned about the calories in avocados? Just practice portion control. One serving is 1/3 of an avocado.

If you are looking for ways to integrate avocados into your diet, check out one of the recipes below! (Provided by Morrison Healthcare.)