Advocating avocados

The U.S. imports tons of avocados from Mexico — and some sources say that more than 2.7 billion pounds of those luscious green berries (yes, they are berries) are consumed by Americans every year, including more than 54 million pounds of guacamole on Super Bowl Sunday. But even so, only about 2% of Americans eat avocados daily or almost daily.

That is a shame because according to a new study from Penn State’s Department of Nutritional Sciences, published in Current Developments in Nutrition, an avocado a day keeps unhealthy foods away!

The researchers looked at the overall food choices that around 500 folks with abdominal obesity made when they ate an avocado daily and those that another 500 made when they simply ate their usual, avocado-free diet. Over a 26-week span. the avocado-eaters consumed fewer refined grains and sodium and ended up increasing their vegetable intake.

We’re betting that the healthy monounsaturated fats, fiber (10 grams in a whole avocado) and added calories (about 240 in a medium one) made folks feel full and satisfied, leading them to eat fewer unhealthy foods. And there are other benefits: Avocados deliver twice as much potassium as a banana and they increase your healthy HDL cholesterol level and improve the quality of lousy LDL cholesterol, according to the Mayo Clinic.

For recipes like Avocado Tapenade Bruschetta check out Dr. Mike’s “What to Eat When Cookbook” and learn more about the benefits of avocado’s monounsaturated fats at iherb.com’s blog “Top 3 Healthy Fats To Incorporate in Your Diet.”