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I am a big fan of breakfast burritos.
It’s easy to throw together some of your favorite foods, wrap them up, and eat them burrito-style for any meal of the day.
This burrito is one of my favorite combos- the avocado takes it over the top!
I love not only the flavor that it adds, but avocados are also loaded with nutrients (like potassium and protein).
And even if you don’t have ham, throw in some bacon or turkey sausage for a delicious breakfast.
Avocados are the new superfood that are taking over the food world. They make practically any recipe better and are incredibly delicious, healthy, and versatile.
Avocados are a nutrient-dense, heart-healthy food. You may have heard that avocados are “good fats.” This is true- the main type of fat from avocados is monounsaturated fatty acids. Avocados are one of the only fruits (yup- did you know that avocados are technically a fruit?) that contain these healthy monounsaturated fats.
But why does your body need fat anyway? Fat from our diet is vital to our health- it provides our body with essential fatty acids that are important for growth, development, energy, cell function, and also nerves and brain function.
Fat also helps with the absorption of important nutrients– so when you eat avocados you are increasing the amount of fat-soluble vitamins (vitamins A, D, E, and K) that your body can absorb.
Also, good fats do not raise your body’s cholesterol but can actually help lower your LDL (bad) cholesterol levels to reduce your risk of heart disease and stroke.
AVOCADO NUTRITION
There’s more to an avocado than just the taste, the nutrients in avocados have important health benefits.
Avocados are a great way to get these healthy fats, as well as other nutrients in your diet. They also provide a good source of dietary fiber, vitamin K, and folate as well as some potassium, vitamin E, B vitamins, and small amounts of many other vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients important for your health.
For a balanced diet, it is recommended that 20-35% of your calories should come from fat sources each day, especially from the healthy fats- unsaturated fatty acids.
That means for a 2000 calorie diet, 400-700 calories per day should be coming from fat, or 44-77 grams of fat per day.
One medium avocado has about 24 grams of fat. You could technically eat 3 medium avocado per day and still be within your fat recommendations, but that doesn’t leave room for fat from other sources.
Avocados have amazing health benefits, but have more fat and calories (80 calories per 1/3 avocado) than most fruits and vegetables. Keep your avocado intake within reason- perhaps to 1/2 of a medium avocado or less per day.
Avocados are a great way to replace some of your saturated fat intake (like butter, sour cream, dressings, cheese) for heart-health benefits.
What should you eat for breakfast?
Find yourself craving a sweet breakfast? Popular American breakfast foods are high in sugar and saturated fat such as pastries, waffles/pancakes, cold cereal, bagels, muffins etc.
Instead, you should focus on starting your day with a breakfast that fuels you with the nutrition you need so you don’t spike your blood sugar and have a mid-afternoon “crash.”
Focus breakfast on foods with lean proteins and fiber, these will help you to feel full and energized for your day. Great breakfast examples are oatmeal with fruit, eggs and a banana, greek yogurt and granola, a breakfast burrito, or whole-wheat cereal.
Start your day off right to prevent over-eating later in the day- try this breakfast burrito recipe.
