Six Ways California Avocados can Help You Eat Healthy

California Avocados are one of my absolute favorite ingredients for several reasons. Most importantly, as a registered dietitian I know that avocados can help with healthy eating. Hass avocados are native to the state where I live, California, and are recognized for their beauty both inside and out. Being locally grown, they are fresh to market and taste great.

HERE ARE MY SIX REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD INCLUDE CALIFORNIA AVOCADOS TO HELP YOU WITH HEALTHY EATING:

1. Eat Avocados for Heart Health – California Avocados are a heart-healthy superfood that provides “good fats” to one’s diet. Fruits and vegetables are an important part of a healthy diet and avocados are virtually one of the only fruits with monounsaturated fat and polyunsaturated fat or good fats. Good fats are important because the body needs some dietary fat to help with absorption of nutrients. Also, good fats do not raise LDL “bad” cholesterol levels. 
    
2. Avocados Help You Feel Full – One of the eating principles that I recommend to my clients, and I have included in all of my books, is to eat every 3-4 hours. This helps to reduce those feelings of hunger and deprivation between meals that can lead to overeating. At meals, it is important to make sure that you include protein and fiber. Avocados provide 11% Daily Value for fiber. The dietary fiber in the avocado adds bulk to one’s diet and can help you feel fuller faster, which can increase satiety, that feeling of being full or satisfied, and help manage weight. Also consuming foods rich in fiber also may reduce the risk of heart disease, obesity, and diabetes. 
    
3. Avocados are a Great Snack Choice… Under 100 Calories Per Serving – I help people lose weight in my practice and snacking is a huge part of that. 100 calories is something people know and understand as a kind of guideline when it comes to snacking. People seldom think of avocados as a snack, however, you should know that California Avocados have only 80 calories in a one-third serving (50 g). 
   
   
    
4. Avocados Can Help Keep Blood Pressure in Check – Another thing many of my clients are working on is reducing their blood pressure. Most of them think they need to work hard on lowering their sodium intake, but what they don’t know is that adding potassium to their diet also plays a role in helping to regulate blood pressure. And here’s some good news… healthy avocados contain 250 mg of potassium (6% DV) per 50 g serving. According to the Dietary Guidelines for Americans, potassium, such as that found in California Avocados, can help lower blood pressure by blunting the adverse effects of sodium on blood pressure. 
    
5. Avocados can Help with Exercise Recovery – As part of a healthy lifestyle, and for some, part of their weight loss journey, I encourage my clients to get moving and break a sweat, and again – I recommend avocados. Why? The body needs to replace electrolytes it loses from sweating. This is where the potassium in avocados also plays an important role. Potassium is an electrolyte that helps muscles contract and regulate fluids and mineral balance in and out of body cells, which helps our muscles to recover after exercise.
   
   
    
6. Avocados Provide an Important Nutrient for Pregnant Women – Early in my career I worked in public health, and I recommended avocados to mothers as a source of folate. Avocados provide a good source of folate per serving which is important for proper brain function. Consuming adequate intakes of folate/folic acid also may reduce the risk for premature births and birth defects. So, the Center for Disease Control & Prevention (CDC) recommends that all women of childbearing age consume enough folate. 

While I’ve given you six reasons to enjoy California Avocados, there are so many more. Discover them for yourself at the links below or reach out to me on Twitter @wholebodyreboot.