What Are Avocados Good For?

by Dr. Joseph Mercola

(non-affiliate)

 

Hello, Everyone! The avocado is such a nutritious food, I am highlighting its benefits again!


Health Benefits of Avocado
When it comes to nutrition, avocados are in a class by themselves because of the unusually large number of benefits they offer - more than 20, last count. Loaded with fiber, one avocado contains 36% of the daily requirement of vitamin K, 30% of the folate, and 20% each of the daily requirements of pantothenic acid (vitamin B5, needed to break down carbohydrates), vitamin B6, vitamin C, and potassium - more than twice the potassium of a banana. Vitamin E, niacin, and riboflavin levels deserve honorable mention. Eaten with other foods, your body is better able to absorb the nutrients, such as alpha- and beta-carotene and lutein. Avocado is one of the few fruits that will provide you with "good" fats. That means it can help keep your cholesterol levels already in the healthy range, and help lower your risk for heart disease. Avocados are one of the best fruits for your health. See: The Best and Worst Vegetables to Eat


Studies Done on Avocado
Loosely described, lipids, their derivatives, and related substances are fatty acids. Scientists discovered only 40 years ago or so that they're not just simple building blocks, but perform complex, cell-regulating tasks on a molecular level, like messaging hormones, for example. One study was undertaken to see if avocados might have more lipids than other fruits and vegetables, which, while rich in carotenoids, are lipid challenged, impeding nutrient absorption. Researchers found that adding

avocados to salad and salsa (foods used in the study) can significantly enhance your body's ability to take up the benefits of carotenoids, due primarily to the lipids in the avocados1. The yellow-green color of avocados prompted another study, since color in other plant-based foods indicates carotenoid and other "bioactive" action, indicating possible cancer-fighting properties. The premise was that the monounsaturated fat in avocados might help your body absorb important bioactive carotenoids in combination with other fruits and vegetables, and therefore significantly reduce your risk of cancer2. Another study showed that the lipids extracted from avocados might prove photo-protective against harmful effects of radiation, such as sun damage, inflammation, and even skin cancer, if ingested before exposure3.


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Avocados for the Body

Avocado: Botany
Production and Uses

Avocados: Good for the Body

Hello, Everyone!

Today, we are looking at the avocado and some of its benefits to the body, and therefore, the scalp's hair. The avocado tree (Persea americana) is native to Central Mexico, and is classified in the flowering plant family Lauraceae along with cinnamon, camphor and bay laurel. 'Avocado' or 'alligator pear' also refers to the fruit (botanically, a large drupe that contains a large seed) of the tree, which may be pear-shaped, egg-shaped or spherical.

Avocados are commercially valuable, and are cultivated in tropical and mediterranean climates throughout the world, producing a green-skinned, pear-shaped fruit that ripens after harvesting. Trees are partially self-pollinating and often are propagated through grafting to maintain a predictable quality and quantity of the fruit.

Culinary Uses
The avocado fruit of horticultural cultivars has a higher fat content than most other fruit, mostly monounsaturated fat, and, consequently, serves as an important staple in the diet of various groups where access to other fatty foods  such as high-fat meats and fish, dairy, etc. is limited.

When held in the palm of the hand and squeezed, a ripe avocado yields to gentle pressure. The flesh is prone to enzymatic browning which means it turns brown quickly after exposure to air. To prevent this, lime or lemon juice can be added to avocados after they are peeled.

Indonesian-style avocado
milkshake with chocolate
syrup

Avocado fruit is not sweet, but savory, yet subtly flavored with a smooth, almost creamy texture. However, It is used in savory dishes and sweet dishes, in many countries yet not for both. The avocado is very popular in vegetarian cuisine, as substitute for meats in sandwiches and salads because of its high fat content.


Generally, avocado is served raw, although some cultivars, including the common Hass, can be cooked for a short time without becoming bitter. Caution should be used when cooking with untested cultivars because the flesh of some avocados may be rendered inedible by heat. Prolonged cooking induces this chemical reaction in all cultivars. 

Around the globe avocado culinary use as a dessert is:

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Apples for the Body

Apples: Good for the Body

Hello, Everyone!

Today, we are learning a bit more about the apple and how it benefits the body, including the hair of
the scalp, when eaten.

Apples - Image courtesy, Wikipedia

Facts About the Apple

• The apple is the pomaceous fruit of the apple tree, species Malus domestica in the rose family (Rosaceae). It is one of the most widely cultivated fruit trees, and the most widely known of the many members of genus Malus that are used by
  humans. 
• The tree originated in Western Asia, where its wild ancestor, the Alma, is still found today. There are more than 7,500 known cultivars of apples, resulting in a range of desired characteristics. Cultivars vary in their yield and the ultimate size of the tree, even when grown on the same rootstock.
• Apples are often eaten raw without consuming the seeds, which are slightly poisonous (see below), the whole fruit including the skin is suitable for human consumption. Varieties bred for this purpose are termed dessert or table apples.
• Apples can be canned or juiced. They are milled to produce apple cider (non-alcoholic, sweet cider) and filtered for apple juice. The juice can be fermented to make cider (
  alcoholic, hard cider), ciderkin, and vinegar. Through distillation, various alcoholic beverages can be produced, such as applejack, Calvados, and apfelwein. Pectin and apple seed oil may also be produced.
• Sliced apples turn brown due to the conversion of natural phenolic substances into melanin, upon exposure to oxygen. Different cultivars vary in their propensity to brown after slicing. Sliced fruit can be treated with acidulated water to prevent this effect if it isn't going to be eaten immediately after slicing.
• 
  Organic apples are the better choice, as compared to non-organic apples, since non-organic apples have a significantly high level of pesticide residue on them.
• Eating fallen apples,  rather than eating apples picked directly from the tree,  may put the eater at the risk of food poisoning if the apple orchard is also the area for keeping cattle or other animals.  This is true due to the fact that fallen apples may become contaminated with animals' fec
  
  es. Furthermore, the risk may be significantly higher if the fallen apples are used to make home-made unpasteurized, unfermented cider or juice
  , thus letting E. coli multiply.
• A ripe, raw apple digests in eighty-five minutes.
• The cultivated apple tree is at its prime when it is, approximately, fifty years old
• The cultivated apple tree  will bear fruit for more than one hundred years

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