When You Eat An Avocado Every Day, This Is What Happens To You

When people talk about the fat content in avocados, they'll usually refer to it as what's colloquially known as "good fat." But what does "good fat" even mean? Healthcare organization Cedars-Sinai explains that good fats usually encompass monounsaturated fats and polyunsaturated fats, which avocados are a source of. When you eat these monounsaturated and polyunsaturated fats, your body is able to lower the amount of LDL, or low-density lipoproteins, in your blood. This helps maintain healthy cholesterol levels or even lower cholesterol levels for people whose numbers might be higher than ideal.

In fact, a study released by Penn State in October 2019 looked at test subjects who were either overweight or obese and found that eating an avocado every single day as part of a diet with moderate fat content was enough to improve LDL levels compared with eating a low-fat diet or a moderate-fat diet without avocado (via Science Daily).

What if the fountain of youth were actually a tree — an avocado tree, to be specific? Although avocados aren't magically going to keep you young forever, they do have nutritional properties that can help you achieve the brighter, clearer complexion that so many people yearn for (and that makes them look a few years younger). Everyday Health attributes avocado's complexion-clearing abilities to its vitamin C content, as this nutrient is able to prevent skin inflammation. Additionally, vitamin C gives your body its ability to heal wounds and defend itself against dry skin (hello, moisturized complexion).

The benefits of vitamin C for your skin go even further, according to Healthline. Vitamin C is a necessary nutrient for producing a structural component known as collagen. Without collagen, your skin would not be supple and strong. Healthline also points out that avocados are a source of vitamin E, a nutrient many Americans are lacking. Vitamin E is great for your skin because it reduces oxidative damage we sustain from sun exposure — and so many of us understand how excess sun exposure leads to prematurely aged skin! It's great to know that avocados might be able to help fend against that.

Because avocados are so smooth, creamy, and buttery — and even a little bit sweet — it might come as a surprise to find out that they could potentially be helpful for individuals who are trying to lose weight. But they are, according to Everyday Health. This once again goes back to the fat content of avocados, which can help you feel satiated and stay satisfied between meals.

Another nutritional component that's good for satiety? Fiber. And fiber is found abundantly in avocados. Everyday Health points out that a 100-gram serving of avocado contains about 7 grams of fiber, which will ensure your stomach feels full. This idea was put to the test in a small study published in Nutrition Journal in 2013, which traced a small group of overweight adults and found that those who ate an avocado at lunch reported greater feelings of satiety throughout the hours that followed. Although these results warrant further study, they do indicate promise for people who want to include avocados in their diet and still slim down.

Did you know that avocados are a source of about 20 vitamins and minerals? Not to mention antioxidants! Health explains that all of these nutrients play important roles in a functioning body, and that includes the strong immune system you develop from a healthy amount of vitamin E.

But it's not just about the immunity you develop against short-term diseases. Avocados are important for fending off chronic conditions too. Take heart disease, for example. The cholesterol-lowering properties of avocado means that this fruit is able to help your body prevent a whole range of life-threatening conditions: heart disease, fatty liver disease, type 2 diabetes, and high blood pressure, according to the Produce for Better Health Foundation. This notion is supported by Integrative Cancer Answers, which adds that the carotenoids and antioxidants found in avocados are good for preventing the development of cancer; however, it's important to note, as Integrative Cancer Answers explains, that there's no single nutrient (or any single food, for that matter) that can protect against disease, so it's important that health-boosting avocados are consumed as part of a varied and healthy overall diet. Colorado Primary Health Care even points out that phytochemicals found in avocado are effective in stopping precancerous and cancerous cells from growing. Meanwhile, these phytochemicals can actually boost your body's production of lymphocytes, the white blood cells that serve your immune system in the fight against disease.

One of the big struggles of getting older is the risk of osteoporosis, a condition in which your bones lose density and are at a greater risk of breaking (via MedlinePlus). People with osteoporosis can lose much of their independence if a simple fall or bang causes a broken bone that doesn't heal. And among the nutrients that are important for strong, healthy bones is vitamin K, according to Colorado Primary Health Care. Although most people associate the mineral calcium as the necessary nutrient for bone health, vitamin K is just as important because it can boost your body's ability to absorb calcium. Sufficient vitamin K will also prevent too much calcium from being excreted via your urinary system. In other words, calcium won't do you much good if you're not getting enough vitamin K.

Colorado Primary Health Care explains that avocado is a great option for getting sufficient vitamin K and preventing osteoporosis. When you eat half an avocado, you're getting about one-quarter your vitamin K needs for the day — so if you eat a whole avocado, you could be getting half your vitamin K needs. Sounds like a good excuse to slice up the green fruit and keep your skeleton strong.

It can be tough to keep a positive outlook on life sometimes. Although there are outside factors to psychological illnesses like depression and anxiety, good nutrition can make a difference in the way you feel mentally and emotionally (via Harvard Health Publishing). For example, some nutrients will have bearing on the way your body produces and distributes the hormones in charge of certain moods and functions. Think of homocysteine, an amino acid produced in the body (via Cleveland Clinic). This is a substance that in excess amounts can interfere with your body's ability to create hormones like serotonin, dopamine, and norepinephrine, according to Colorado Primary Health Care. When homocysteine negatively affects your hormonal ability to achieve good sleep, have a good appetite, or just hold a good mood, your mental health suffers. Additionally, homocysteine stops necessary nutrients from getting to your brain, so your mental processes are impaired.

Don't worry though — the same folate in avocado that ensures a healthy pregnancy can also stop your body from storing up too much homocysteine. Therefore, you're more likely to have better mental clarity and better moods.

If your doctor has told you recently that your blood pressure is too high, they might have also advised you to cut back on your dietary consumption of sodium. But there's another important dietary component to managing your blood pressure: potassium. The American Heart Association explains how potassium is an important mineral for fluid balance, because it prompts your body to excrete sodium via urine. Additionally, as Harvard Health Publishing points out, potassium relaxes your muscles, including the muscles that form the walls of your blood vessels. When these blood vessels relax, your blood pressure decreases. For these reasons, a person with high blood pressure should increase their consumption of potassium.

While most American diets tend to be too high in sodium and too low in potassium, people who eat avocados regularly are less likely to run into this problem — the USDA lists that a 100-gram serving of avocado offers 10% of the potassium you need in a day. So reach for the avocado and reap the heart benefits.

Metabolic syndrome is a common condition among American adults, characterized by the presence of a large range of health indicators (per Eat This, Not That!). High blood pressure, unhealthy cholesterol levels, and a higher waist circumference are some of the symptoms of metabolic syndrome, and the condition can raise your risk of a frightening number of equally frightening chronic conditions like cancer, cardiovascular disease, arthritis, and kidney disease.

But avocado-lovers are in luck. The risk of developing metabolic syndrome in the first place is reduced if you're a regular consumer of the stoned fruit, according to research published in Nutrition Journal. Looking at the eating habits of over 17,500 U.S. adults, researchers found that those who ate avocados had a whopping 50% lower likelihood of developing the syndrome. The avocado-eating adults were also seen to have way more nutrient-rich diets in general. The researchers recommended that those who were at increased risk of developing metabolic syndrome might do well to increase avocados in their daily diet.

On average, period-havers will experience around 500 periods throughout their lifetime, according to the Absorbent Hygiene Product Manufacturers Association (or AHPMA). With that number in mind, finding methods to influence your hormones during a period and make it as easy as can be becomes somewhat of a higher priority.

Enter a daily dose of smushy green goodness. Avocados could be the perfect food to add to your diet during your period, thanks to their composition of healthy fats, fiber, vitamins, and minerals. "It's full of healthy fats, fiber, magnesium, potassium and vitamins E and B6 to help balance out your hormones," registered dietitian Linda Booth says of the humble avocado to Cosmopolitan. The fiber, in particular, could be your best friend during your period, says Booth, thanks to its ability to provide pain relief by reducing the effects of pain chemicals (or prostaglandins) in your system. You don't need to eat loads of avocados for them to have an effect, either: Half of an avocado per day may help make a difference during your period.