Are avocados and tomatoes good for you?

Historically I have loathed avocados but now I see them in a different light and really enjoy them.  Besides, some foods just seems to go well with each other: cheese and pickle, peanut butter and mayonnaise (yes, really!) and now I can add avocados and tomatoes to the list.

Before, I happily bought them for Coach Mrs Ramblings but I always used to loathe them - horrible slippery, slimy and expensive.  However I now see them in a different light.  Why?  Individually they are nutritious but together they're even better.  Read on....

Avocado

I think of avocados as being a savoury fruit which grows from a rather beautiful tree.  Once we have bought the fruits, we store hem at room temperature but it is said you can speed up the ripening by keeping them with apples.  We haven't needed to try that as they ripen at a nice steady pace.  They're ripe when they are slightly soft when given a gentle squeeze - not too much though, they bruise easily.  

They contain glutathione, a powerful antioxidant which is a phytochemical and soaks up free radicals.  This lowers the likelihood of cancers developing.  There's also quite a lot of monounsaturated fat which is useful in reducing bad cholesterol in blood.  There is also a useful dose of Vitamins E, K (useful for recovery) B1, B2, B3 and B5.  In fact, take the time to look elsewhere on the Internet and you'll find nothing but praise for avocados and also some comments about them being fairly high in calories, weight for weight.

Tomato

In spite of tomatoes being rather watery, they're still very healthy through containing Vitamins A, B3 and C.  It is the Lycopene which is present in tomatoes which is especially valuable.  It is an antioxidant carotenoid which is useful (see avocados above) for mopping up free radicals.  To derive the real benefits of this, interestingly the tomatoes should be cooked and then combined with fat.

And then together....

You know the saying, the sum is greater than the individual parts?  This is a good example.  Through combining these two wonderful foods together, you can then derive so much goodness and real health giving benefits. Put simply, it is the fats in the avocado that bring out the best in the tomato (just like peanut butter and mayonnaise, I reckon!)

I just wonder, if ever I had high cholesterol, whether I could treat myself by diet changes, rather than having to give in to those drugs the Doctor would prescribe.  It would certainly be worth a try.