Avocados are one of those healthy super foods that I’m working at adding to my diet.
Avocados contain 25 essential vitamins and nutrients. They are also full of antioxidants. The avocado provides nine key antioxidants!
Below are 10 reasons I’m adding avocados to my diet.
Avocados:
- Contains vitamin B6, vitamin E and folic acid to promote a healthy heart
- Lowers cholesterol
- Controls blood pressure
- Has anti-inflammatory properties
- Fights free radicals
- Protects against cancer
- Regulates blood sugar levels
- Is anti-aging
- Promotes good eye health
- Increases nutrient absorption of other foods
An avocado is ripe and ready to eat if it is slightly soft when you place it in your palm and barely squeeze it. You don’t want sunken dark spots or a mushy feel – this indicates over-ripeness. If the avocado is hard, it is not ready to eat and will be very difficult to remove any of the inside.
Need to speed up the ripening process? Place the avocado in a brown paper bag and close tightly; this should ripen it in 2 days or so. You can also add another piece of fruit, like a banana, in the bag with the avocado to speed up the process.
Keep your eye out in the months ahead as I try some avocado recipes and share them with you!
Have you ever tried an avocado? What’s your favorite way to eat them?
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I normally eat an avocado every day. I absolutely love them and would eat more if they weren’t so high in calories and fat. I love to make guacamole with them, slice them and put in a bean burrito, or just slice and eat plain. They are also good chopped and put on my salad. So many possibilities! 🙂
I love them in salads too! Thanks for sharing!
Sandy has made me SO hungry for guacamole!
I really like sliced avocado on a sandwich of 12 grain bread with either (1st choice) arugula or (2nd choice) radish sprouts. Yumm!!
I agree! Sandy made me hungry too! 🙂
Hello Jill,
I LOVE avocados! Here’s another way to test for ripeness, and avoiding buying ones that are over-ripe and have brown spots. You just pop off the little stem on top and check the color of the indentation it left in the bottom. If the little cavity is nice and green, the avocado is just right. If the color is slightly brownish, that means the inside will have brown spots too.
We chop our avocado in small cubes and mix with a bit of apple cider vinegar, lots of lemon, salt, pepper, and olive oil to taste. Then add chopped green onion, or minced garlic in the mix. It’s delicious! You can also add other spices too.
If you ever try out this recipe let me know how you liked it! 🙂
That sounds yummy, Rebekah! I love ACV!
I love them!!! I have been eating one and yogurt for lunch every day now for 5 months. I have a fruit smoothie for breakfast that often has avocado in it too. Since I have started this “diet” I have lost 40 lbs….have tons more energy and my skin is looking so good someone asked if I had a face-lift.
That is awesome! I look forward to eating more of them 🙂
I eat them whenever I can get them, which is pretty often around here. Unfortunately, avocados are an endangered food source. They are being wiped out in our state and others will probably follow.
Believe it or not, I have a fabulous chocolate pudding recipe that uses avocado as the main ingredient. But most of the time, I use it in salads or on sandwiches. Good stuff!
I have seen a recipe in recent months for the avocado chocolate pudding – can’t wait to try it!
Mmmm, I love avocados.. Miss you, Jill! Happy New Year xoxo
Thank you! It’s great to hear from you!
I like avocado!
Guacamole, the famous Mexican sauce is very good.
The original recipe for guacamole was made of mashed avocado mixed with lime juice and salt.
After it was modified by adding tomatoes, chili, onion, garlic, pepper, cumin and fresh coriander.
Try sliced avocado or guacamole on sandwiches, burgers, on scrambled eggs, or in salads.
Favorite way to eat them: blended with yogurt, cocoa powder and maple syrup or raw honey!
So happy to have just now found your site. Avocados, a dreamy food! But after cutting one, how to store it for more than one day? So far, it never lasts.
We always eat avocados within a day of cutting it. Avocados are like other fruits that spoil if you cut them and don’t eat them soon.