My Favorite Fats # 2: Avocados!

I can not even begin to count the number of times that I have had clients say that they stay away from avocados because of the fat content. Oddly for me, the avocado is one “fattening” food I haven’t ever feared; I think it’s partly because I feel so good after eating avocado. These days, I especially love it sliced on sprouted bread, with a little olive oil drizzled over it and some hot pepper flakes sprinkled on top! When I first met my husband, he turned me onto avocados; adding avocado and mango to a salad gives it so much life! It’s undoubtedly delicious even to those who are salad skeptics.

Avocados are high in oleic acid (also known as Omega 9), a mono-unsaturated fat that research has shown to help prevent heart disease and even cancer! As if that isn’t enough good news, avocados can actually help increase the absorption of nutrients from other vegetables! This is a concept I call nutrient fusion. For instance, a salad with lettuce, carrots, some spinach, and salsa is rich in carotenoids (example: beta carotene), which are extremely health-promoting. Add an avocado in your salad, and you automatically increase your body’s ability to absorb those nutrients! Why? Because these catotenoids are lipophilic (which means they are soluble in fat, not water); if you eat them along with a healthy fat, like avocados, you enhance their bioavailability! A 2005 study published in the Journal of Nutrition proves this point. Adding avocado to salad increased absorption of alpha-carotene, beta-carotene and lutein 7.2, 15.3, and 5.1 times higher, respectively, than the average amount of these carotenoids absorbed when avocado-free salad was eaten. Amazing stuff, isn’t it!

My Favorite Fats #1: Olive OIl

As I promised back in December, I will be blogging about my favorite fats in 2010. I have tons of favorite fats, so hopefully that will translate into tons of interesting blogs for you all!

Let me first give you a brief background of my history with fat. I used to be terrified of fat! I have been a competitive runner since the age of 12 and all throughout my adolescent years, I abhorred the idea of eating fattening food: my diet was extremely unhealthy basically consisting of bagels and bananas. Through college, my repertoire expanded a bit, but still, I would steer clear of fat. I remember dining out with a professor and several students who were in my honors class and I ordered a salad without dressing. It was at that point I realized I had a problem. I wasn’t full-fledged anorexic, but my eating was certainly disordered!

With the encouragement of my boyfriend at the time, I invited more food into my life. He was a fantastic cook and introduced me to homemade hummus. I loved it so much. And the ingredient that made it so delicious? Olive oil, of course!

I soon became an olive oil snob of sorts. I would buy specialty bottles of olive oil and began making salad dressings with it. I started cooking with it. I would even dip bread in it for a snack! To this day, I use olive oil almost daily. My husband and I go through a large bottle every 4-6 weeks.

Let me tell you something. When I first began eating olive oil and incorporated more fat and protein in my diet in general, I felt far less fatigued. I felt focused and strong. A few years ago, my mom found out she had alarmingly high cholesterol levels. I convinced her to stop frying food in corn oil or butter and use olive oil. That was the only major health change she welcomed and guess what? Her cholesterol levels are now within a normal range! For that, how can I NOT love olive oil?