Wellness Wednesday: March 24
AVOCADOS
Round, rich, buttery, nutty, creamy, and nutritious, avocados have become the ultimate plant-based millennial’s go-to brunch, lunch, and dinner ingredient—and for good reason! Avocados make for tasty toast toppings, hearty additions to salads, and savory snacks, like guacamole. Not only are they delicious, but avocados can improve your health in a multitude of ways. With that, this Wellness Wednesday, we’ll be highlighting avocados.
Avocados are green fleshy fruits with a dark brown, textured, leathery coating. While their green coloring might lead you to believe they’re part of the vegetable family, avocados are, indeed, classified as a berry! Avocados pass the botanical criteria for the berry classification, including having a fleshy interior and a hard seed in the middle.
The rich nutritional profile of avocados has been shown to improve a variety of health issues. Avocados contain healthy monounsaturated fatty acids, which can improve heart health and decrease inflammation in the body while also lowering bad cholesterol. In addition, avocados boast an impressive fiber content. A mere 100-gram (or 3.5 ounce) serving of avocado, which is one small avocado or half a Haas avocado, offers 7 grams of fiber, or more than a fourth of the recommended daily intake. High fiber intake can have beneficial effects on digestive health and help to reduce blood sugar levels. They’re also higher in potassium than bananas!
Although you might be consuming many nutrient-dense foods, your body needs assistance in absorbing these nutrients in order to reap the full benefits of their nutritional profiles. Consuming avocados can help in this process. Certain nutrients, such as vitamins A, D, E, and K, are fat-soluble nutrients, meaning that they need to be combined with a fat to move from the digestive tract and be fully absorbed by the body. One study found that incorporating avocado or even avocado oil to your salad significantly increased antioxidant absorption.
Additionally, the powerful makeup of avocados can also improve eye health, prevent cancer, and improve symptoms of arthritis.
The next time you make a stop at Juice & Berry, be sure to take advantage of all that avocados have to offer and pick up a Caprese or Refresh avocado toast! You can also enjoy avocados in the Green Goddess smoothie Apple Jacks protein shake, Burrito and Sesame quinoa bowls, or Sweet & Savory açaí bowl.
We can even add avocados into any number of our menu items per request. Try a scoop in your Chocolate Peanut Butter protein shake for a creamy addition that doesn’t impact the taste!
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