Avocado – the wonder fruit?

What makes the avocado a wonder fruit? (yes, it is a fruit!)

1/3 of avocado (approx 50 grams) contains nearly 20 vitamins and minerals which makes it a perfect nutrient-dense food. Here are just a few reasons why you should add it to your diet. Avocado contains the following goodness:

Folate: key nutrient for your baby`s developing brain and spinal cord. Folate has been shown to lower the risk of birth defects (we have talked about it in my previous blogs)

Potassium: beneficial for high blood pressure, and for common leg camps during pregnancy

Magnesium: supports insulin sensitivity and energy metabolism

Vitamin K: involved in blood clotting and bone metabolism

Avocado is one of the few foods containing significant levels of both vitamin E and C, both required in higher amounts by pregnant and lactating women.

Moreover, avocado is the only fruit to contain monosaturated fat (healthy fat! yes fat can be healthy:). Your body will use it as slow burning energy and pregnant women, those who are trying to be pregnant or those with babies need lots of energy! On the contrary sugar has the opposite effect and act as fast burning energy, leaving you drained very quickly.

Avocado also acts as a nutrient booster – due to its fat content it helps the body to absorb fat soluble nutrients (vit A, E and K are all present in the fruit) and carotenoids, which is a type of antioxidant – so eat your tomatoes and carrots with avocados.

Fiber: beneficial for constipation – quite common in pregnancy, fiber will help keep you regular.

There any many different ways you can eat avocado. You can add it to dips, sandwiches (as butter substitute), salads, wraps, smoothies, desserts (it makes yummy chocolate cream – recipe in my previous post about cacao).

To ripen an avocado put it in a brown paper bag with a banana. It does work! Enjoy your avocado feast:)

For more info on avocado health benefits see: https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC3664913/