Everyone today wants to live a healthy lifestyle. You need to get all the basic nutrients your body needs. You also want to get added vitamins, minerals and beneficial substances in your body to help fight off disease and improve your metabolism.
Scientists have sometimes termed certain things superfoods. This is mostly a marketing term embraced by lifestyle personalities to express the idea that particular foods are much denser in nutrients than most others you might find. The science behind superfoods is relatively sound although you have to be careful about the claims made by some people.
Avocados are considered a superfood today with an incredibly high amount of vitamins and nutrients in the flesh. They also contain an exceptionally large amount of antioxidants. Your body benefits from antioxidants because they help you to fight off diseases, carcinogens and free radicals that can cause damage to healthy cells.
Antioxidants are known to be in many different foods although an avocado has them in a highly concentrated state. What many people do not know is that the flesh of an avocado is possibly the least nutritious part. You should really be looking at the center of the avocado for maximum health benefits.
Around 70 percent of the total nutrition and antioxidant count in avocados is located in the pit. This is the large stone-like seed that everyone who cuts open an avocado has to deal with. The pit is really a seed. It can be taken carefully out of an avocado, placed in soil and then grown into an actual avocado tree after many years if cared for properly. The seed has everything that it needs to live and grow by itself once planted and given water. This means it is far denser in nutrients than the protective flesh around it.
Something that is often overlooked is that the seed of an avocado is edible. It is not like some other seeds that contain toxins or irritants to hurt your body. The seed really has major benefits. It can potentially be used as an anti-inflammatory treatment. The seed has catechins and procyanidins inside that will help to cut down on swelling in your joints.
The hard structure of the seed shows that it contains a large amount of natural fiber to help regulate blood sugar and prevent hunger cravings and loss of energy. Fiber also improves your digestive system over time. A final benefit is that the seed can be turned into a beauty product to fight dry hair and skin. You just need to powder the seed and mix it with some castor oil to make a cream you can apply.
The main hurdle you have to cross when trying to use an avocado seed is the outer shell. It is very hard and difficult to crack. A popular suggestion for getting through it is to just take long and powerful swings at the seed with a very sharp and heavy knife. Split it several times over to get to the inner flesh. You could put it in a food processor … although this could break the machine. A more practical option is to grind the seed down slowly using a grater box.
You can eat the seed, incorporate it into smoothies or mix it into a paste for topical applications. If you do decide to eat the seed, then you need to be prepared for a little discomfort at first. Your body has likely never experienced something as dense as an avocado seed before. This means you can potentially experience some indigestion or digestive issues when you first start eating the seeds. This discomfort does pass in time.