Food of the week: Avocado

Food of the week: Avocado

The Avocado, while most would admit is seriously delicious – and they would be correct, has gotten a bad rap for having a lot of fat. But I’m here to debunk the anti-avocadoists and spread the truth about these wonders of the earth.

Benefits:

• The avocado is high in fat, but get over it! The majority of the fats are healthy fats and have nutritional benefits.


• Not only do avocados have no cholesterol, making them the single most healthy way to get good fats in your diet, they also contain oleic acid, a monounsaturated fat that may help to lower cholesterol.


• They are digested slowly, which is great for sustained energy in athletes.


• Avocados are great for babies due to their consistency and nutrients that help the development of the central nervous system and the brain. (Smart babies eat avocados!)


• Avocados contain nearly 20 vitamins, minerals and phytonutrients, including 4% of the recommended Daily Value (DV) for vitamin E, 4% vitamin C, 8% folate, 4% fiber, 2% iron, 4% potassium, with 81 micrograms of lutein and 19 micrograms of beta-carotene. These things help to fight against high blood pressure, heart disease, stroke, and even breast cancer.


• Avocados help you lose weight by reducing saturated fat in the diet (when they are consumed in place of saturated-fat containing foods).


• Avocados are grown in California, a warm and sunny climate. Eating avocados remind us of warm and sunny times.
  

Drawbacks:

• They are so delicious that you will want to eat lots of them, and although there are lots of benefits, they are still high in fat and calories. Like everything, they are best when eaten in moderation, with a balanced diet.


• I cannot think of one other drawback of the avocado.
  

Ways to eat avocados:
How do I love avocados? Let me count the ways…

• I add them to almost any salad I make.


• Um, guacamole!


• Slice up some avocado, red onions and tomatoes, and then drizzle on some of your favorite salad dressing or olive oil and spices. Or just eat it dry, it’s good that way too.


• A sandwich with avocado makes a yummy lunch. Here are some ideas: ALT (with lettuce and tomato); turkey lunch meat, cucumber and avocado; mix mashed up avocado as a replacement for mayo in tuna salad; mix with lemon juice and a dash of tobasco sauce for a sandwich spread and use instead of mayo.


• A lovely garnish to many dishes (see my taco dip recipe below)
  

Little known facts:

• Although the avocado is commonly eaten like a vegetable, it is actually a fruit.


• You can grow your own avocado tree from the seed of your eaten avocado. Who knew?


• To ripen an avocado, put it in a brown paper bag with a banana (it speeds up the ripening process) at room temperature.