There is much focus on macronutrients these days.
Fats, protein, and carbs.
And that is not without merit.
Macronutrients do provide energy as well as the building blocks for cells and tissues.
But micronutrients are what make those cells and tissues tick.
They are healing, make us feel good, lively, and able to achieve our biggest dreams.
They keep our tissues and organs functioning properly.
They help to prevent disease.
And that is why I am a superfan of the great avocado and have named it one of my top two sooperdooperfoods.
Many amazing foods have been given the moniker of “nature’s multivitamin,” but the truth is none of them stand up very well to avocados.
The health power of avocados
Take a look at these two avocados.
They may look like two humble fruits, but in reality they have much to be proud of.
Just these two avocados represent the fulfillment of 37% of the recommended amounts of all your major vitamins and minerals.
Just two avocados.
But what does all of that nutrition ultimately mean?
What can eating a couple of avocados a day really do for you?
You might be surprised.
Let’s check out the laundry list of benefits of eating avocados.
Here we go:
Avocados could help boost your heart health
Avocados are rich in many B vitamins, along with vitamin K, potassium and magnesium
Two avocados have about 60% of your recommended daily amount of vitamin B6. Vitamin B6 is known to maintain homocysteine levels in the blood. An excess of homocysteine can lead to blood clots, hardened arteries, or even heart attacks.
Some studies suggest vitamin K could play a role in preventing cardiovascular disease. And two avocados have about two-thirds of your daily recommended vitamin K intake.
Avocados are also high in both potassium and magnesium. Both of these amazing nutrients play an important role in regulating your heart beat as well as your blood pressure.
Avocados could help protect your cognitive health
Vitamin K, of which you can find about two-thirds of your daily recommendation in these two avocados, has been shown to help protect your cognitive abilities.
Magnesium is crucial for brain development, memory, and learning. And these two avocados have almost 30% of the recommended daily magnesium intake!
Not to mention the fact that avocados are high in the monounsaturated fat oleic acid, which has been shown in research to potentially protect against age-related cognitive decline.
(https://www.neurology.org/doi/10.1212/WNL.52.8.1563)
Avocados could help improve sleep quality
Sleep is a vital component of health and magnesium helps big time to improve the quality of sleep. These two avocados can go a long way towards helping you get a good night’s sleep.
Avocados could help reduce symptoms of depression
While the beneficial magnesium in these two avocados are helping to improve your heart health, cognitive health, and get a good night’s sleep, multiple studies show it may also be helping to reduce symptoms of depression!
Avocados could help strengthen bones
Calcium may get the headlines when it comes to bone health, but vitamin K, found in big amounts in avocados, plays a huge role as well. Vitamin K helps prevent low bone density by incorporating minerals like calcium into the bones and not into other places like arteries.
Pretty important stuff.
Avocados could help boost your metabolism
We now know that avocados are chock-full of B vitamins, but did you know that many of the B vitamins play very important roles in your metabolism?
A deficiency in these vitamins could have very negative effects on your body’s ability to metabolize food sources for energy.
And when that happens, it becomes harder to keep the weight off, to feel good, and to function properly.
Avocados could help prevent that.
Avocados could help create healthy blood cells
As you might imagine, having good health is near impossible without healthy blood. And B vitamins serve to help create healthy blood cells.
Avocados and their heaping helping of B vitamins can help create the healthy blood cells we need.
And last but not least…
Avocados could help you lose weight!
Yes, this calorie-heavy fruit does have properties that can aid in weight loss.
We also now know that avocados are high in oleic acid, which has been shown in studies to aid in weight loss efforts.
A systematic review published in the journal Advances in Human Nutrition found that diets enriched in oleic acid can help reduce abdominal fat and obesity.
(https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/32135008/)
Not too shabby!
So let’s recap:
Avocados are chock full of important nutrients that could help:
- Boost heart health
- Protect brain health
- Improve sleep quality (which can improve overall health)
- Reduce symptoms of depression
- Strengthen bones
- Create healthy blood cells
- And boost metabolism and lose weight
That is a pretty amazing list. And that list does not belong to some hard-to-find food that is totally inaccessible.
That list belongs to avocados, which are sold in virtually all the major grocery stores, including places like Target and Walmart.
What do you think?
Should you add more avocados to your diet?
Let me know in the comments below!
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