The Amazing Avocado

Moms on the go need all the help they can get. This is where the avocado comes in. It’s a superfood with benefits far beyond its nutritional content.

It’s that rare fruit (yes, it’s a fruit) that provides us with the “good” fats we need as part of a healthy diet.

A whopping 85 percent of its calories come from fat, but that shouldn’t scare us off.

“The fat contained in an avocado is unusual and provides research-based health benefits,” said Janet Blum, a New Jersey-based nutritionist and health coach.

“As a monounsaturated fatty acid, it has been shown to help lower our risk of heart disease. Like other high-fat plant foods (for example, walnuts and flax seeds), the avocado provides us with unique health benefits precisely because of its fat composition. And the avo has omega-3 fatty acids in the form of alpha-linolenic acid. The high fat content also leaves us feeling full, which helps reduce overeating,” she said.

That’s not all.

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“It doesn’t just provide mono and polyunsaturated fats,” said Randi Luckman, a health and wellness specialist based in Riverdale, New York.

For women, especially for new moms, this fatty, creamy fruit offers a whole range of other benefits:

• It contains bone-supportive vitamin K and vitamin C.
• It’s a good source of energy-producing vitamin B6 and vitamin E.
• It’s high in potassium, a mineral that helps regulate blood pressure.
• It also has fiber, folate and copper as well as an amazing array of phytonutrients.

So how do you eat this highly beneficial food, aside from in the near-ubiquitous guacamole?

“For a quick mini meal on the go, cut an avocado in half and slice it,” Blum said. “It will give you 160 calories, 8 grams of carb, 2 grams of protein and 14 grams of ‘good fat.’”

Others like it in a green smoothie mixed with apple, apple juice and spinach or kale.

Still others feature it as a key ingredient in a light summer salad. Take one chopped-up avocado and mix it with chopped-up fresh tomatoes, a few pieces of onion and a few squirts of lime juice. Delicious!