Skip to main content

Food Trends: About the Avocado

I’m often surprised when clients tell me that they are afraid ofAvocado’s.  How in the world could a fruit so versatile have ever gotten such a “bad” reputation?  Not only does an avocado provide natural unsaturated fats but it also acts as a nutrition booster.  You see the fat provided in the avocado helps with absorption of fat soluble vitamins A, D, E, and K, all which are very important for your immune integrity, bone strength, eyesight, and blood clotting factors.

Let’s go back to that bad reputation.  My client’s have admitted it’s really the fat that makes them nervous.  Every other fruit has little to no fat. So let’s clear some things up. It’s important to note that the fat in the avocado is mostly monounsaturated.  Instead of getting nervous about that I think it’s a bonus!  Remember monounsaturated fat in food has been proven to lower our “lousy” or LDL cholesterol and potentially increase your “healthy” or HDL cholesterol.  Both of these factors prove to decrease cardiovascular risk.

In addition to the nutrition benefits, the fat in the avocado can help with satiety as well as add additional texture to meals.  You can even use an avocado to substitute a saturated fat when using it as a spread or more. I love this resource from the Loveonetoday.com site that provides tips on how toeat Haas Avocados.

The lesson here is that the avocado is a great example of a food that needs to be analyzed in its entirety. Yes it contains monunsaturated fat but also protein, fiber, and over 20 vitamins, minerals, and phytonutrients.  It also acts as one of your 5-a-day servings of fruit.   Forget about the fat and look at the whole picture. Could this be the perfect fruit? Challenge yourself and incorporate avocados into your day.  It's worth it. Need some recipes

Disclosure and Disclaimer:
Although I did receive financial compensation for writing this post, all views and opinions expressed on this blog are purely and entirely my own and based on my own unique experiences.  For nutrition information on avocados, please be sure to visit LoveOneToday.com website.

Comments

Popular posts from this blog

Miraculous Misconceptions: Raspberry Ketones

The interwebs are abuzz about the supposedly “miraculous” Raspberry Ketone supplements. Raspberry Ketone popularity started with Dr. Oz's show in February 2012, when he nicknamed it a “miracle weight loss drug.” Some even credit Raspberry Ketones with stimulating hair growth, but for our purposes here, let’s talk about weight loss. Raspberry Ketones are derived from red raspberries. Proponents claim that the supplement will stimulate your metabolism causing weight loss. However, there are no reliable studies to prove this.   Specifically there is no scientific evidence to show how it alters metabolism to promote weight loss. There is also no scientific evidence to determine a proper dosage. If you find a study that claims otherwise, check the funding source. Most likely, that study was funded by a company who produces or funds raspberry ketone products. As far as I know, no major pharmaceutical companies are investing in Raspberry Ketone research. And it is my opinion ...

Family Nutrition: What’s the deal with Multivitamins?

This is definitely one of my top ten questions from clients and frankly it’s a hard question because there isn’t a generic answer.   The internet and such stores as the Vitamin Shoppe and GNC continue to place a lot of focus on vitamins and minerals and some of my clients swear by their regimen.   I’ve even had some clients tell me they can tell a difference within hours of taking certain supplementations.    Since this is a subject I try to tame my responses too, I was very glad to see the article “Multivitamins, So Many Types, So Many Labels” by Melinda Beck in the Wall Street Journal published June 21, 2001.   Did you know that the multivitamin is the number one dietary supplement producing $4.8 billion back in 2008 and that one third of American’s take multivitamins religiously?   As Melinda points out there are many different varieties of multivitamins yet there is no specific formulation that specifies what a multivitamin should look like.  ...

You are what you eat BUT it takes longer than a day!

Recent research by Cornell University published a week ago in the New England Journal of Medicine proves that holiday weight gain does happen and most of it is from October to about ten days after Christmas.  The study analyzed 3,000 individuals over a years time focusing on daily weights that were collected and analyzed by a wireless Withings Scale. Although the average weight gain from October to November was only 1.3 pounds this may prove that holiday weight gain is not a myth. Of interest, the study also showed that fifty percent lost the weight shortly after the holiday season while it took the other fifty percent about five months to lose the excess weight, shortly after Easter. Author Dr. Wansink advises  “Instead of a New Year’s resolution to lose weight, have an October resolution  not to gain too much weight  in the first place. Then you won’t have to worry about five months of struggling." At Kindred Nutrition we tend to agree with Dr. Wansin...