Avocados for Preventing Heart Attacks

Avocado is great for weight loss diets, scientists say. But many of us unknowingly avoid this fruit. Perhaps some of us think avocado contains too many calories and are afraid of ending up with excessive fat on the waist. Well, there are two sides of the medal. If you're one of those thinking like that you're right and wrong at the same time. You are right when you're saying avocados have too much fats and calories, but you're wrong thinking it would make your body heavier.

What a paradox! How is it possible to eat high calorie food and stay slim? It is possible only if you consume mono unsaturated fats. Monounsaturated fats are one of the four types of fats known to the mankind. In short, fats are categorized as follows: saturated fats, monounsaturated fats, poly-unsaturated fats and fatty acids. Now, avocados contain up to 70% monounsaturated fats compared to their overall fats content. These fats are healthy fats and do not cause obesity problems. Furthermore, these fats are good to various vital functions of a human body.

Avocados contain oleic acid - a monounsaturated fat predominating in avocados. Oleic acid was found to be very good for preventing heart diseases. It reduces low density lipoproteins in blood stream, which is thought to be "bad cholesterol" and at the same time it increases the level of high density lipoproteins - "good cholesterol". And if you might happen not to know how cholesterol deals with your heart, here is a brief explanation: bad cholesterol or LDL contributes to formation of atherosclerosis plaques in your arteries, eventually leading to heart attacks. But the good cholesterol or HDL neutralizes these effects and hampers the progress of atherosclerosis. By the way, atherosclerosis causes memory loss problems in addition to heart diseases.

High content of oleic acid is not the only asset of avocado. If you take a deeper look at avocados you'll be astonished how many nutrients and minerals it contains. For instance, avocado is rich in potassium. Potassium is known to be very good for prevention of cardio-vascular diseases. Like oleic acid it slows down the rate of atherosclerosis plaques formation. The high content of potassium makes avocados outstanding, because even bananas are left on the second place.

Avocados are rich in vitamins. This fruit contains more than a dozen of vital vitamins. Vitamins A, C, E and B group vitamins are among them. Vitamins B6 and B12 are very important to help produce certain compounds of amino acids (namely Homocysteine). If these vitamins are not present in blood stream sufficiently, the body suffers from the lack of the essential compounds that are very important for certain organs to function properly. Moreover, it is a proven fact that unconsumed Homocysteine causes heart attacks even if you have a good cholesterol level.

Even if you have a strong heart and are healthy as a bull, avocado could be of use for you. Eating one avocado every two days would refill you with nutrients your body desperately needs constantly. Keep in mind that avocado nutrition is a healthy way of life.

Barry writes articles about helthy nutrition. He enjoys healthy lifestyle with his beautiful wife.

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