The prickly pear cactus or the sonoran nopal is one of the native plants of Sonora Desert. The desert is located in the parts of California and New Mexico. In these areas, they prickly pear is known to be one of the most delicious and healthy fruits. The flesh and juice is refreshing and tasty but you can only enjoy it when you are able to remove the thick skin and survive the removal of the fruit from their strong and sharp thorn stems. The fruit is perfect to be eaten raw or made into juice, smoothies, sauce for salads, or cooked into so many savory dishes.
The fruit has gained popularity as it claims to have health benefits as well as has the ability to help with the weight lost program. One cactus fruit weight 103 grams in average. This is equal to 4 ounces. In the weight, their calories content is 42. So, you will only eat that much calorie and you can fell full. After all, we gain weight if we eat more calories that we actually expend. The lower calorie food that we eat, the more we have low calorie intake. Moreover, the cactus pear is similar to pineapples as they have high level of water content that can make us full but will not make us gain any weight.
The fruit can also help reduce the bad cholesterol level in the blood. Each of the cactus pear contains almost four grams of dietary fiber. This will result on the lowering of the unhealthy LDL cholesterol level. The result has been agreed by the Linus Pailing Institute Micronutrient Information Center. The healthy level of 2000 calorie diet should also include 28 grams of the dietary fiber at the least every day. In addition, we should also consume vegetables, fruits, whole grains as well as legumes. The prickly pear is also free of cholesterol and saturated fat that can raise the level of bad cholesterols in the body.
The prickly pear can also reduce the level of blood pressure. Each of this tiny 4 ounce prickly fruit can provide potassium for about 227 milligrams which makes 6 percent of the total daily body needs. In addition, it has 5 milligrams of sodium or making the 2 percent out of the total daily needs of our bodies. Both can result on the prevention of high blood pressure and treat the high blood pressure.
