Do You Fear Avocado Weight Gain? Fuggeddabouddit!!

Jan

Hello Jane,

Because we have just completed the excellent 21 Day Avocado Smoothie Power Plan I thought it would be fitting to extol the virtues of this amazing little fruit – yes it is a fruit not a vegetable although some may call it a vegetable fruit!!

How do we define a fruit or a vegetable ? Easy! A fruit has seeds inside (or in the case of strawberries, on the outside) whereas a vegetable does not but relies on its flowers to produce a seed pod. Even a cabbage, if left, will have flowers and seeds hence the expression “gone to seed.” This little beauty (here beauty is not in its looks but in what it has to offer!) the avocado, in my opinion as I am sure many others will agree, is the King of the edible plant Kingdom.

Don’t Fear Weight Gain

Ripening avocados.

There are in fact over 500 varieties of avocado but the most commonly known one universally is probably the Haas. Beneath the rough, green exterior leather- like skin lies a powerhouse of nutrients. Some people may be afraid to eat avocado for fear of putting on weight, well don’t be. The average sized fruit contains approximately 330 calories but you do not have to eat a whole avocado at one sitting, this can be halved or even quartered and to my mind it is well worth sacrificing a few calories somewhere else to get the benefits contained within.

So what makes the Avocado so special? Once you open up the skin and remove the large stone a rich, creamy, buttery flesh is revealed that is not only versatile but absolutely bursting with life sustaining nutrients – Natures ultimate “fast food” if you like. “Yes but they are full of fat ” I hear you say – this is true bút it is the kind of fat that your body needs, an essential fat, these are monounsaturated fats (found in olive oil and nuts as well) and are absolutely vital to our health and even help lower the LDL – bad cholesterol. You would have to eat a great many avocado at one sitting for them to add significantly to your weight problem and they most certainly do NOT contain bad cholesterol as this can only be found in animal products.

So what DO they contain?

Pretty well everything you need to grow and be a healthy individual, a true anti- aging ingredient to add to your daily smoothies.

They contain water, fat, protein, sugars, vitamins and minerals in abundance plus soluble fibre that slows down digestion thus enabling the body to absorb the valuable nutrients in any smoothie or dip, etc. Potassium , phosphorus, magnesium, calcium, sodium, iron, selenium, manganese, copper, zinc, Vitamin A, vitamin C, Vitamin B1 (thiamine), vitamin B2 (riboflavin), niacin, folate, pantothenic acid, vitamin B6, Vitamin E and vitamin E plus small amounts of other vitamins and minerals are all there for us.

So go ahead, get out your blender and enjoy the wonderful smoothies that you can make with this not so humble avocado fruit. I always add some lemon or lime juice to my smoothie as this helps to slow down the oxidation that occurs when a smoothie with avocado (or banana for that matter) is left standing as it is the oxygen in the air that turns them brown.

Must your avo be organic?

There’s a bright note on whether or not to buy organic or regular avocado and I must add that although I advocate buying organic whenever possible, avocado is among those least chemically treated. So go ahead and buy whatever avocado are available to you.

I hope you enjoy reading about this much misunderstood little fruit and if you would like me to do a series on other smoothie ingredients just let me know in the comment box below. Brightest Blessings be yours, Jan