This high-fat fruit with a soft creamy texture is rich in minerals, vitamins, and other nutrients.

Here are some of the key health benefits of this fruit.

Helps in Weight Management

One of the benefits of avocado is its role in weight management.

It helps in weight loss by increasing satiety and suppressing hunger.

An analysis reported that avocado consumers were less overweight or obese as compared to non-consumers. Another study showed that people eating this fruit gained less over time.

Additionally, people consuming avocado weigh 3.4 kg less than non-consumers. Moreover, high fiber content (6-7%) in avocado can also help in reducing weight.

Avocados have Hearty Nutrients:

Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a major problem around the world. Diet rich in fruits and vegetables can reduce the risk of CVD.

Avocados are a good source of heart-healthy nutrients.

High blood pressure can have an adverse effect on the heart. Avocado contains a high amount of potassium mineral. It is believed that an adequate amount of potassium in a diet can lower blood pressure.

Avocados are rich in fiber content (80%). Fibers play an important role in lowering risk factors (cholesterol, inflammation, and hypertension) that can cause CVD.

There is a significant amount of antioxidants (Vitamin A and C) in Avocados. Undoubtedly, these antioxidants play an important role in lowering cholesterol and slowing the oxidation of LDL.

Improves Eye Vision:

Lutein and zeaxanthin are two components in avocado that help to improve vision.

The macula of the eye is a portion in the retina that determines the vision of the eye. This eye part takes up Lutein and zeaxanthin to keep the vision healthy.

The amount of these two compounds increase with age. It is believed that a low amount of these compounds can cause eye-related disorders in elders.

Avocado contains 185 mcg of lutein/zeaxanthin in it. This amount is considerably good as compared to other fruits.

Furthermore, it was reported that consumers who eat more avocado have healthier eyes.

Avocados are Good for Skin:

Fruits and vegetables are known to have a positive effect on skin. They can result in glowing skin either you consume them or apply them.

Avocado plays a role in skin health.

Our skin frequently come in contact with sun. The rays from sun can be damaging and may cause inflammation.

Carotenoids control this damage. It is reported that carotenoid concentration increase with consumption of more fruits and vegetables.

The bioavailability of carotenoids like lutein and zeaxanthin in avocado protects from U.V rays.

It is also studied that components in avocado can protect skin by increasing wound healing.

May Prevent Cancer:

Avocados are rich in anti-carcinogenic compounds. The concentration of these compounds is enough to be effective.

However, the studies on this subject are limited. Most of the studies are preliminary and are based on in-vitro studies.

The study done on prostate cancer cell showed anti-tumor effects of avocado extract. Lutein compound was mainly responsible for this effect.

Although, it should be remembered that there are no studies on human that shows lutein potential in reducing prostate cancer.

May Reduce Risk of Osteoarthritis:

Osteoarthritis is a prevalent condition in elderly and obese people. Oxidative stress and inflammation cause joint deterioration.

Some studies indicated the effect of avocado and soy extract mixture. This mixture is anti-inflammatory and analgesic.

The major compound like zeaxanthin and lutein in avocado is considered to lower cartilage defects.

Protects DNA from Damage:

Prolonged exposure to harmful radiation can damage DNA.

In some cases, extreme exposure to radiation like cosmic rays can cause aging. While in worst scenarios, exposure to UV radiation may lead to cancer.

Many clinical study suggest that xanthophyll in avocado may have DNA protecting effects.

Other studies found lutein, an antioxidant in avocado, to decrease oxidative damage to DNA.

Avocados are Highly Nutritious:

Avocados have a surplus amount of nutrients in them. These include fiber, vitamins, potassium and magnesium.

A study in U.S adults showed that avocado consumer intake more key nutrients than non-consumers.

Nutrition data for avocado indicate that 100g of fruit contains surplus amount of nutrients.

• Vitamin K – 26%
• Dietary Fibers – 27% of the daily value
• Vitamin C – 17%
• Vitamin E – 10%
• Folate – 20%
• Potassium – 14 %
• Vitamin B-6 – 13%

Additionally, avocados contain monounsaturated fatty acids. These fatty acids enhance nutrient availability. Besides fatty acids, other nutrients found in avocado include vitamin B-5, magnesium and vitamin-A.

The post 8 Promising Health Benefits of Avocados appeared first on Wellness Pitch.

Whether it's for sport, a lifestyle choice or to feel confident working towards fitness should be one of the many choices as a teen you need to make. See the bigger picture, will you?

Say Hello to Fitness Goals for Teen: These are inspirational times!

If you have ever watched some good chick lits or seasons revolving around a high school theme what is the most common thing you notice? All the jocks are in good shape. As if that wasn’t enough to inspire the teens, the new role play of Robin from Teen Titan, Peter from Spiderman has hit hard with the youth of the century big time!

So, if you want to stay fit, healthy and confident in your own body then without any further delay down below are the initial steps of fitness goals for teen you need to follow a.s.a.p.:

Take all the time you want!

It doesn't mean to go at a turtle's pace but invest your time in your routine. Usually, kids not exercising regularly have little tolerance for physical activities. Even before they start they want to quit.

So before hitting yourself with a hulk routine, ease yourself with the most basic routine. Start with small steps, let’s say a 10-minute walk is best for you if you are not used to taking walks. Just fish out those air pods, play the music and walk. Before you start, always remember to warm up a little bit so that your joints don’t feel stiff.

Once you can get used to the walking routine, spend twice the time you used to before. Small minutes can bring in big rewards.

Screen out guys

This step is very crucial. I know it's hard to stay away from your beloved cell phones, but hey if you want to do this then be committed to yourself 100%. Instead of spending time on the computer or in front of a TV opt for outdoor activity. The reason why you are as slow as snail is because you lack the stamina built during outdoor activities.

Count the hours you spend watching any screen and limit your time. Fitness goals for teens may sound cruel to your ears right now, but trust me, using that screen is not doing you any good (besides reading this article of course).

It's time for building a little stamina, after all, what's fitness goals for teens without some push-ups or leg lifts? A little mix and match with screen time give you just enough of the ample time to do pushups during a commercial. If one of the parents is reading this, then know this you are a role model for your kid, they look up to your lifestyle so if you are fitness and health-oriented yourself, kudos to you.

Workouts for teens do not have to be boring

The exercise plan must be realistic, not imaginary like superman. If your kid loves to sprawl outside take him/her out. To engage them with the right exercises in the right setting is way important than you can know. Sure enough, there are outdoor gym sessions too! So yeah, that's pretty great too.

Workouts for teens are enjoyable as long as they do not feel confined in their fitness routine. One common inspiration you can take is from the future Olympians. Their routine is rigorous to the point of killing hours and calories while maintaining muscle weight.

You do not have to strive the utter perfection but fitness goals are just the baby step towards a healthy and happy life ahead. So if you want to schedule training, never delay it.

How about some extracurricular?

There's so much ground to cover in this tutorial; school dramas, speech competitions, essay writing, and what not but let’s keep the interest outside in the open field for now.

Its time you start participating in whatever sports your school is offering you. The gym hour at school is perhaps one of the easiest ways to occupy your time running or building your stamina. Some teens are so enthusiastic they want diversified skill but buddy don’t overcharge your body. Keep your interests balanced.

It's good to talk to the coach about your interests and sharpen your skills too. Coach gets the player, you get your favorite sport to play, and it's a total win-win situation. Not so bad for a fitness goal for teens right?

Carve your cravings

Oh, don't you just love the pizza and other junk food? Well, you can kiss it goodbye for good if you slack even a little in your workout routine.

Learning to control what goes inside your mouth is the strongest of wills. If you crave superficially do you know what that means? You lack the required nutrients in your diet. Exercising will do you no good if all you inhale is the double-decker cheeseburger.

Dehydration during a workout is quite common so before you reach a burnout stage start taking fluids that bodes well with your taste. Stop munching the chips and even a pack of gum, intake the food with nutritional values.  It's not so hard to trust me on this.

The movie is a deal-breaker for the teens

You got to speak the language of teens. They surely are unpredictable and their mood changes more than the outside weather.  Fitness goals for teens must influence them to do the workouts out of inspiration rather than feeling like an obligation. Iron man was a man of his will and sheer sarcasm right? Let them learn and grow just push them in the right direction.

The post From Teen Titan to Superman: what are the good fitness goals for teens? appeared first on Wellness Pitch.

Everyone’s life has turned upside down ever since the Covid-19 pandemic struck the world.

One day you are planning a vacation and then all of a sudden stepping out of the house is a matter of life and death.

By staying at home our lives have spiraled downward. Lifestyles have become unhealthy. Panic buying and developing bad eating habits aren’t helping the situation.

It is noted that people following healthy eating habits are possibly safer from virus.

Along with social distancing and following SOPs it is also important to have a healthy diet.

Why Healthy Diets?

Healthy eating involves following a balanced diet and eating such foods that will keep you away from obesity and chronic diseases.

That means munching on broccoli or berries rather than a bag of chips and snickers.

During this pandemic, it is noted that people with certain health conditions are at more risk.

Keeping the disease away by healthy eating will boost your immunity. This immunity will make you feel safer than sorry.

The best diets were ranked by U.S. News and world report. These diets were ranked by experts based on their health potential.

Starting these diets rather than some fad diets might be a smarter move for you.

Mediterranean Diet

Originating from the Mediterranean Sea, this diet has been ranked the best diet for two years now.

This diet has been around for decades and is considered a lifestyle rather than a diet. People in the Mediterranean suffer from less chronic disease as compared to average Americans.

This possibly explains the recent surge in popularity of this diet.

Many studies have shown that this diet might improve heart health and diabetes. Additionally, it might aid in weight loss, brain health, and cancer prevention.

There is no strict diet plan but the general principle is the same.

• High level of fruits, vegetables, whole grain products, beans, legumes,, spices, herbs, seeds, and nut.
• Moderate level of poultry, fish, dairy, and eggs.
• Red meat only a few times a month
• Olive oil as a primary or only source of fat
• Intake of sugary foods only on special occasions.

Due to its simplicity and ease, the Mediterranean diet could be followed for the long term.

The only downside is that some Americans might have trouble adopting this dietary change.

Weight loss is slow but achievable with this diet and it is also found that this diet doesn’t increase weight significantly. Adding regular exercise and calorie deficit will boost these results.

Just remember to control the portion and reduce that yogurt, olive oil, and cheese intake if you are aiming for weight loss.

DASH diet

DASH is abbreviated for dietary approaches to stop hypertension.

The main goal is to control high blood pressure with a nutritious diet. Other than hypertension, it also plays a role in good heart health by lowering LDL (bad cholesterol) and controlling diabetes.

DASH diet closely resembles the Mediterranean diet with minor changes

• It emphasizes the use of veggies, fruits, whole grain, lean protein, and low-fat dairy.
• This diet discourages the use of high saturated fats like fatty meat, full-fat dairy, and tropical oils.
• High sugar foods and beverages are also restricted.
• Sodium intake is lowered to 1500 milligrams per day.

This diet is easy to follow long term diet but might be difficult in the beginning if you really love your salt.

It is recommended to gradually move toward this diet rather than going for a drastic change overnight.

Weight loss is possible from this diet since most of the sugary and fatty food is avoided.

The Flexitarian diet

Flexitarian is the combination of words flexible and vegetarian. This diet resembles a vegan diet but is not restricted to vegetables.

You can be a vegetarian and still enjoy meat on a few occasions.

There are basically five groups in this diet.

• New meat (non-meat protein like beans, peas or eggs)
• Fruits and Veggies
• Whole grains
• Dairy
• Sugar and Spices

Weight Loss, diabetes prevention or control, and heart safety are few of the perks of this diet. People who are gluten intolerant can follow this diet easily by slight modifications. Salt intake is also limited in this diet.

This diet can be followed for the long term without causing any serious harm.

Of course, there are few downsides too. You have to depend on supplements for some minor nutrients like iron and B-12.

If you hate fruits and vegetables then this diet could be a nightmare for you.

Mayo clinic diet

The main focus of this diet is to break bad eating habits and replace them with healthier ones.

Weight loss and healthy eating are the main goals.

In this diet, you eat low energy density food. Meaning that you can eat more and consume very few calories by moving to healthier choices.

The Mayo clinic diet pyramid focuses on whole grains, fruits, and vegetables. There are two phases in this diet: ‘Lose it’ and ‘Live it’.

In ‘Lose it’ phase you break bad habits like avoiding fatty snacks, sugary foods and eating while watching TV. Bad habits are replaced with good ones by adding whole grains, fruits, vegetables along with 30 minutes of exercise to lifestyle.

The second phase is ‘Live it’. In this phase, you follow what you learned in ‘Lose it' and can occasionally break the rules. This diet becomes your lifestyle in this phase.

Although it is a long term and easy diet, starting it takes some serious motivation.

If you are interested in following this diet be sure to check out Mayo Clinic’s official site to learn more.

MIND diet

The MIND diet takes the two popular diets- Mediterranean and DASH- and focuses on food that impacts brain health.

Eating the diet good for the brain might prevent mental decline.

A study suggests that this diet might lower the chances of Alzheimer's. People who moderately followed this diet lowered Alzheimer's risk by 35%. Those who strictly followed it lowered the risk by 53%.

MIND diet couldn’t be called a balanced diet since it is a low-carb diet. The study is limited but it is possible that it prevents certain chronic diseases like its parent diets.

There are ten main brain-healthy food groups that the MIND diet emphasizes. These are green leafy veggies, all other veggies, berries, nuts, beans, whole grain, wine, fish, poultry, and olive oil.

While red meat, butter/margarine, cheeses, pastries, sweets, and fried/ fast food should be avoided or limited.

The data on this diet's long term effect is insufficient, though it is easy to follow. It could play a good role in weight loss since it focuses on low carbs and vegetables.

Conclusion

• WHO focuses on home cooking and healthy eating during the lockdown. This might be a good time to move toward these healthy diets.
• Although they are not specific weight-loss diets, these are balanced diets. Following them with exercise for the long term will help you shed pounds but slowly. Then again, it took you a lifetime to add those pounds on your body, not months or weeks.
• It is always good to ask the expert for guidance and do proper research before you start anything.

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