Your Weight! Your Health! Your Skin!

While the avocado fruit has become internationally popular due to its unique texture and subtle taste, are avocados good for you? Research seems to think they are. This tropical fruit is becoming known for a being a powerhouse of nutrition, with many health benefits. Vegetarians use this fat-rich fruit as a healthier substitute for meat or butter, while others use it in place of cheese, which is high in animal cholesterol. In most cultures, avocado is popular in the raw form in desserts since its nutritional benefits are quickly destroyed by heat. Avocado health benefits are thought to include positive effects on cholesterol levels, natural anti-inflammatory action, skin health improvement, general immunity and well-being.

Nutritional value of avocado

• As much as 75 percent of the calories in a healthy avocado fruit come from monosaturated fats, making it unique among commonly eater fruits. This type of fat is known to be heart-healthy as compared to fats from meats and other natural sources.
• Avocado is also rich in fibre, of which nearly 75 percent is insoluble. While bananas are a more popular source of potassium, the avocado fruit actually has almost 40 percent more of this important nutrient.
• Avocados are rich in a number of different natural vitamins, including vitamin E, K, and a variety of the B vitamins. Most other fruits do not offer such a unique combination.

Another advantage is the high levels of monosaturated fats in avocado can also bring about a reduction in the levels of bad LDL cholesterol and rise in good HDL cholesterol.

This fruit not only contains antioxidants of its own, but can also improve the ability to absorb carotenoid antioxidants from other foods eaten in the same meal. The vitamins and antioxidants in avocado help improve skin health and tone when applied directly as a paste. They also have anti-inflammatory properties.  The high fiber content in avocado makes it a tasty, healthy way to enjoy the weight loss benefits of fiber, which include reduction in appetite and improved digestion. There is also on-going research with the potential use of avocado extracts in lowering the risk of certain types of cancer.

Getting the best of avocado benefits
The avocado fruit begins to ripen once it is harvested, so it needs to be eaten immediately or refrigerated for transport. In most cultures, it is consumed raw as pieces in salads, sandwiches, desserts, or as a side dish. It is also popular as a puree spread, blended in milkshakes, or as part of some desserts.  Cooking avocado is rare, since the avocado health benefits are quickly destroyed by heat.

There seems to be some of confusion and a lot of differing views surrounding which diet is ‘best’. Just go to some of the forums to see all the debate regarding which diet is superior. High protein low carb, high fat zero carb, vegan or raw. Everyone seems to have a version and some show a degree of hostility to those that aren’t like-minded.

Some quote studies showing the Inuit people living off whale blubber and seal meat with very little fruit and vegetables to validate their version of a high fat diet.

Or studies that show the Katavans who eat a high carbohydrate diet and who are passionate about smoking, show remarkably low incidents of cardiovascular disease and strokes to endorse a low protein way of eating. Both groups though, despite being poles apart in their eating habits, are equally healthy. How can this be?

I believe that it’s because both diets are heavily weighted towards natural un-refined foods and both groups avoid refined carbohydrates and denatured foods. They often have some form of fermented ‘soured’ food to get beneficial gut bacteria.

There’s not the huge reliance on white flour, white sugar and fructose syrup we see in the standard American diet.

So whichever way of eating you choose make sure it a high percentage of it comes from real whole foods. Try do get a portion of homemade fermented food daily. Whether it is a good quality commercial yogurt, homemade sauerkraut or kefir.

Presently I’m trying to make a yogurt from sunflower seeds and sea salt. I’ll let you know how that goes in a later post.

Made from ground almonds, almond milk is filled with nutrients. Unlike animal milk it has no cholesterol or lactose, and if used as a substitute for milk can provide numerous benefits including a lower fat content.   It is an ancient food source dating back to the Middle Ages where it was also called amygdalate.

The benefits of almond milk are simply immeasurable. If you are overweight or if you are allergic to dairy then almond milk can be an excellent alternative. It is one of the healthiest substitutes for milk because of its nutritious composition. Being plant based it is suitable for vegetarians and vegans.

Drink Almond Milk for Weight Loss
Almond milk is very low in its fat content compared to dairy milk. It only contains 3 grams per 8oz. of serving. Calories in almond milk are lower also, with only 40 calories per 8oz. serving.
It provides a high number of vitamins and minerals like vitamin E, phosphorous, potassium, magnesium, manganese, iron, zinc and calcium. Given these benefits almond milk is a great alternative for those wishing to lose weight or looking to reduce their caloric intake.

Further Benefits of Almond Milk
Almond milk provides nutrition to your body in a way that no other dairy milk substitute can. It helps keep the heart healthy and fit, as it is lower in cholesterol and contains only 5mg of sodium per serving. One serving has approx. 150mg of potassium. Potassium is a crucial mineral to keep the blood pressure levels moderate and helps prevent hypertension. It contains 30% of our daily recommended intake of calcium and 25% daily recommended intake of vitamin D. It helps strengthen the bones and enhances our immune system. Almond milk is also rich in vitamin E. This helps to keep your skin vibrant, healthy and glowing. It is also said to reduce acne and other skin problems.

The moderate levels of vitamin A in almond milk go a long way to keep our eyes healthy and functioning even as we get older. It is a rich source of vitamin B and iron. Vitamin B helps to metabolize protein and iron is responsible for the production of the body’s energy source. It also helps red blood cells to carry oxygen around the body.

Almond milk can be bought commercially or even better can be easily made at home. It can also be successfully fermented to make a vegetarian version of kefir.

With all these health benefits and being so delicious go ahead and make almond milk a part of your daily diet.

Unfortunately many people struggle with weight loss and in a world where we are constantly surrounded by unhealthy food choices we can struggle to find the balance between the foods that are readily available to us, and the foods that we need to eat to become and remain healthy. Well rest assured that there are a number of foods out there that we can consume, that are not only great for our health but that also taste great. One such food (or super food as some people might call it) is the potato.  Potatoes have a number of health benefits some of which will be explained here.

A Little About Potatoes History and Potatoes Nutrition

In the 19^th Century the Spanish and the English sailors would consume potatoes in order to fend off scurvy. For those readers who are unaware potatoes are surprisingly rich in the immune-boosting vitamin C. In fact it is recommended that you consume a medium potato with the skin, preferably organic, each day. Also if you are looking for a good source of vitamin B, folate and minerals such as potassium, iron and magnesium, then look no further than potatoes. In essence when you think of potatoes, think nutrition, as potatoes are loaded with goodness. There is a good reason it is the number one vegetable crop in the world.

Cooking Potatoes for Maximum Benefits

There are a number of different ways to cook potatoes and each with its own health benefits be it weight loss or otherwise.  Potatoes can be cooked in some of the following ways:

• Boiled
• Baked
• Roasted
• Fried (not recommended especially if you are trying to lose weight)

Whichever way you prefer to cook your potatoes, most people will agree that the best way to cook potatoes and retain most of its nutrients is to cook them with the skin left on. A single baked potato with the skin on will give you roughly 10% of the recommended fiber that we need on a daily basis.

The only method of cooking potatoes that is considered to be unhealthy is fried potatoes; and that is not surprising. We all know that most fried food are not good for our health. Occasionally though when I feel the need to have something a bit ‘junky’ I’ll cook a potato rosti (click here for more details) although I use olive oil instead of butter and sometimes I don’t precook the potatoes and it still works out just fine. Just cook the rosti a little longer and on a lower heat.  Rosti’s seem to help my cravings for fried potatoes.

Potatoes and Calories

100 grams of steamed or boiled new potatoes will give you around 75 calories. Therefore you can feel free to include potatoes in a healthy or weight reducing diet.

A Final Note on Potatoes

Apart from being a great food to eat when you are trying to lose weight and remain healthy, potatoes have many other benefits. Just remember try to buy organic and when possible keep the skin on and avoid deep frying when cooking.  Also limit the calorie dense extras like cheese, sour cream or butter.

So go ahead and enjoy this ‘comfort’ food that not only tastes great but is good for your health.

Mid 2010 I was close to my goal weight but was still 5-6lbs over and no matter what I did the scales refused to move.  I had dropped a fair amount of weight over that year and I guess my body had reached a plateau.  Just increasing my cardio wasn’t cutting it.  So I decided to look a bit closer at my diet.

Generally it wasn’t too bad I I thought.  I follow a loose version of ‘The Mediterranean Diet’ (click here for more info on my favorite diet) but decided to make a few minor changes.

First was to change all fats in my diet to a low fat variety.  So I decreased my butter consumption to almost zero.  A lot harder than it sounds.  Why does butter taste so good?

I then changed my full milk to trim. I generally only use milk for preparing kefir.  Click here if you would like some more info on this healthy probiotic.

So far so good. Next was to decrease my portions slightly, especially the last meal of the day. As a side note of this I found I’m getting better quality sleeps.  Not a bad thing for a habitual insomniac.

I think the last significant thing I did was to try a mini fast on one day of the week. I only did this once but I liked the results so much I will be doing this again. Look out for my post on this later. I tried to go 24 hours without any food but keeping my liquid intake high. I got to 20 hours so pretty good for my first attempt I thought.  Also a lot harder than it sounds.  Incredible how many food cravings I had during that short period.  Foods that I generally don’t eat. Pizza or a good Indian bhujia, mmmm!

In total this was done over a two month period and lost three kilos. Now to keep it off.

I hope this helps in some way even if it only gives you some food for thought.