With the popularity of healthy diet and fitness, avocado, a small and fresh food, has changed from unknown to “net red” in the catering industry. It seems that whenever avocado is mentioned, it becomes a synonym for healthy diet.
Is this really worthy of the name, or is it everyone’s hype?
Don’t take fruit for calories
Although the name is avocado, it has nothing to do with cattle. Avocado is also called avocado, which is called avocado because it tastes like butter.
As a kind of fruit, butter is really a wonderful flower. No matter in taste or nutrition, it does not look like a [serious] fruit.
In my impression, the fruit should be sour and sweet, with juice overflowing in one bite, either crisp and refreshing, or soft and sweet. However, ripe avocados are satiny in taste, fresh in smell but have no taste. Dipped in soy sauce is comparable to salmon sashimi, and frozen with sugar becomes delicious ice cream, which is completely unfolded according to the routine of fruits.
In addition, the oil content of common fruits rarely exceeds 1%, and the calories are generally maintained at the level of 30 ~ 60 kcal/100 g.
However, avocado, a wonderful flower, has a fat content of 15% and a calorie of 161 kcal/100 g.
Do you think it’s okay? Is it not too high? If I tell you, the fat of pork chops is only 20%, and the calories are 264 kcal/100 g; Does the fillet have less than 10% oil and 155 kcal/100 g calories? Do you feel a little alarmed?
You know, an avocado is about 130 ~ 150 g, and eating one is about 200 kcal of calories, which is about the same as a small bowl of rice.
Then the question arises. For those dieting and weight loss parties, they dare not eat meat, staple food or fruit… Why dare they eat avocado with confidence?
Avocado is a healthy little angel?
As an imported product, avocado can be said to have been introduced into China by the fitness industry, so there is always a feeling of bringing its own [health aura].
Apart from fat, the calorie is a little high. In fact, it has many nutritional advantages. For example, it is rich in B vitamins, with prominent mineral content such as dietary fiber, potassium, magnesium and zinc, and the composition of oil is mainly various monounsaturated fatty acids and polyunsaturated fatty acids.
But now many websites and publicity have taken avocado to the sky, and even released [wild words] saying: One avocado a day, no longer need to worry about heart disease and cancer, weight loss and beauty care are no problem at all.
My God, is this still food? This is a magic medicine!
In fact, these statements have changed, and the core theory is the grease composition of avocado.
We know that there are mainly three kinds of fatty acids: saturated, monounsaturated and polyunsaturated, of which less saturated fatty acids need to be eaten.
Butter commonly used in western food has a high proportion of saturated fatty acids, with a content of more than 50%, which is not conducive to health.
However, 70% of avocado oil is monounsaturated fatty acid, of which oleic acid has the highest content, accounting for more than 61% of the total. Overall, its oil composition is very similar to olive oil.
However, these indicators only mean that avocado is a good source of fat in diet, which does not mean that avocado is a magical food, nor does it mean that avocado is healthy no matter how it is eaten.
Because grease is grease, the calorie content of 9 kcal per gram of grease will not change. If you only eat avocado without changing your unhealthy eating habits, you will not only lose weight, but also become fatter (avocado calories are not low).
As to whether avocado can prevent heart disease and cancer, it can only be said that the existing research is not enough. There are indeed some literatures that show that avocado may have antioxidant, anti-inflammatory and blood lipid regulating effects. However, ordinary vegetables and fruits also have these effects, and they are cheaper and low in calories.
In a word, there is really no need not to be superstitious about avocados.
Do you want to eat or not?
Although he sang a lot of negative songs, the canteen king did not want to suppress avocado. After all, it has a delicate taste and unique flavor, and has been recognized by the vast number of eaters. It is a very good ingredient.
However, as a wise eater, what we have to do is to avoid exaggerated propaganda and look at this different fruit rationally.
As to whether to eat or not, the canteen king’s answer is:
- If you don’t like the taste of avocado, there is absolutely no need to force yourself because of its [healthy] title. If you like avocados, of course you can eat them, but you should eat them in principle.
This principle is very simple and crude: if you eat avocado, you will eat less oil.
More specifically, you can use the healthy fat in avocado instead of the unhealthy fat in your diet. Add avocado with other ingredients to make sauce instead of common butter and mayonnaise, and use it to spread bread, mix pasta, make salads, make desserts…
This is because avocado, known as “forest butter”, has a similar taste, but has much lower calories and healthier fatty acid composition than butter and mayonnaise, which are super-fatty condiments. Therefore, it can be said to be a healthy substitute for these oils.
Of course, if you don’t want to make sauce, eating avocado sashimi alone (in fact, eating avocado with Japanese soy sauce and mustard after peeling) is no problem, and it is good to reduce the amount of other oils used during the day.
It should be noted that avocado is easy to oxidize [turn black and smelly] because it contains many phenols, polyphenol oxidase and rich unsaturated fatty acids. Therefore, once ripe and cut, it is best to eat it as soon as possible, or add lemon juice to help protect the color, otherwise it will change from fresh to dark.