The Perahera season is starting in a few days in Kandy and a variety of home grown fruits are galore and the vendors are making preparations for their harvest.
The smell of durian fruit is all over, in the streets and most homes. Mosquitoes so abundant have disappeared temporarily when normally they buzz, and the biting starts at dusk. Meanwhile, the monkeys on coconut trees wait to aim a nut on your head, which could be hazardous.
Let’s talk about avocados found abundant in the markets and in most home backyards once seen blocking the drains as their worth was not known 50 years ago.
Today, such trees are baring more but the climbers are hard to find. The children of the tree climbers are now graduating in the universities to earn a degree.
The value of these fruits was not known until the five star hotels opened up with flourishing tourism. We did, once upon a time play football by picking them from our home backyards and drains when we were youth.
Today we see the unique and versatile additions to recipes, such as salads or soups and used in sandwiches instead of butter.
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Their nutrition is unusual and has many health benefits, having over 20 vitamins and minerals. Vitamin K a blood coagulant is present in avocado and that would be about and 25 % of your daily requirement. The other vitamins in avocado include vitamin A, folate, vitamin C, vitamin B5 used for allergy avoidance, vitamin B6, vitamin E and so on. Avocado contains minerals like magnesium, manganese, iron, zinc, phosphorus.
Fruits have fats, and avocados are full of them. They have mainly monounsaturated fatty acids, quite friendly to the heart. There are good fats and bad fats, and fats in avocado are good and friendly. This fat reduces blood cholesterol unlike the saturated fats, and lowers the risk of heart disease and stroke.
Avocados are high in oleic acid another unsaturated fatty acid, (omega-9 fatty acid) much more than in sunflower oil and almonds. Beef, chicken and eggs are good sources as well. Oleic acid comes with several benefits, which includes reducing risk of cancer, especially against breast cancer
Avocado has high levels of lutein, zeaxanthin, alpha-carotene and beta-carotene. These three carotenoids are cancer fighters and shown to inhibit the growth of prostate, head and neck and oral cancers. Lutein and zeaxanthin are essential for good eye health and reduce the risk of cataract and protects from macular desecration.
Avocados are cooling. You are supposed to eat avocado following eating durian considered ‘heaty’.
Avocados are anti-inflammatory, helps maintain healthy DNA gene function and keeps the body cells active and strong.
Avocados are high in fibre, each 100grams serving contains about 7grams if fibre which is about a quarter daily recommendation.
There are many more health benefits in avocado fruit. You wonder whether it would be better eating an avocado a day or swallow a multivitamin tablet. The choice is yours.
Good advice from Dr harold
