It seemed like it was only recently that we were being told to be very careful not to eat too much avocado.
They are high in fat, and everybody considered the word "fat" as something to avoid at all cost.
This fruit (yes it is a fruit, having a single large pit) are sometimes thought to be vegetables because they are not sweet and are often used like vegetables in salads.
Other cultures do eat them as desserts, but no matter how you consume your avocados they should be a large part of your diet.
Here are a few ways in which avocados directly and indirectly affect our weight: 1.
Regulating blood sugar levels.
We are all aware that diabetes and pre-diabetic conditions are one of our greatest health hazards.
It was brought to light in a recent test with avocado on 26 healthy but overweight people.
They were divided into three groups: people who ate no avocado at lunch, those that replaced other foods with avocado and those that added a half of a fresh avocado to their meal.
Blood glucose and insulin levels found that the third group that simply added avocado to their lunch tested much better, and had much greater appetite suppression than the other two groups.
2.
Rich in heart healthy monounsaturated fat.
Many people have gone to low carbohydrate diets but found hunger to be hard to control.
If a person has frequent hunger pangs it could be that they are not eating correctly.
The loss in carbohydrates must be compensated for with greater amounts of good, healthy fat plus additional vegetable carbs.
Overcompensating with more non-vegetable carbs and grains, which are not as hunger satiating than fats will make battling our appetite a constant problem.
3.
Maintain optimal potassium-sodium ratio.
Avocado is very high in potassium, much more than in bananas, which is vital in keeping with what we want our potassium-sodium ratios to be.
This is in the category of heart health, but all of these health issues such as hypertension and obesity really are linked.
Keeping a healthy heart allows us to be more active, which in turn assists in keeping our weight down.
The Center for Disease Control and Prevention has stated that potassium may actually neutralize the damaging effects of salt on the heart.
Heavy salt intake without potassium is considered a major heart risk.
4.
Inhibits inflammation compounds.
Tests have shown that those with elevated cholesterol levels found that a diet high in avocado reduced total cholesterol by 16% within a week.
It also showed increases in HDL, or "good" cholesterol.
One other large benefit of avocados is they are relatively safe from chemical contamination due to the thick skin that I doubt anyone would ever consider eating.
As a result unless you buy organic produce only because you just do, testing has shown no real contamination with non-organic avocados.
But the phytonutrients found in the fruit are more concentrated near the skin.
So the California Avocado Commission has issued guidelines for the best way to prepare your avocado.
They recommend peeling them with your hands as if they were bananas.