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Question of the Day
QUESTION OF THE DAY....Are avocados good for you? Well, are they? Really?
They're full of fat, of course. But wait! It's good fat. So maybe we're talking about a fair number of calories, but no artery clogging badness. Right?
But are avocados actively good for you, or is it just a case of not being especially harmful? If you had to choose between, say, an apple and an avocado, which one would be healthier? Does adding avocado to a turkey sandwich make it better for you? Worse? No difference? Can I really grow my own avocado tree by sticking toothpicks in an avocado pit and letting it soak in a jar of water?
The fine folks at avocado.org inform me that avocados are rich in beta-sitosterol and carotenoid lutein and better for me than cheddar cheese. Well, duh. Unfortunately, they might be just the teeniest bit biased about the wonderfulness of avocados. So for a straight answer I turn to you, my loyal blog readers. How about it?
Would you rather have a slice of apple on your turkey sandwich or a slice of avocado? Although, if you're into turkey sandwiches, you might not mind a apple on the side.
I don't know, since coffee and coffee beans have their ups and downs, but at least in moderation I guess it's like anything else one eats.
The best sandwiches I've ever tasted were the ones with whole-wheat, alfalfa ?sprouts, avocado, Swiss cheese, and lean meats or no meat at all.
BTW, doesn't corn, potatoes, rice have more calories per serving? And what about wheat? A cup of white flour has about 400 calories per cup, and bread takes at least 5 cups of flour to even make a small loaf. Whole wheat bread contains even more calories, so if we compared it to 322 calories in an single avocado can anyone really say this fruit, (classified as a fruit) can be all that bad?
And this on internet:
Avocados contain sodium and potassium which support a healthy alkaline blood balance. Because of their low sugar content and absence of starch, avocados are excellent for diabetics or sugar-sensitive disorders. This fruit contains vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, C, iron, phosphorous and magnesium. Avocado is high in vitamin E which slows down aging.
People who say avocado's are fatting, never seem to consider that bread, mashed potates, any whole grain are far more fatting.
Would you rather have a slice of apple on your turkey sandwich or a slice of avocado? Although, if you're into turkey sandwiches, you might not mind a apple on the side.
I don't know, since coffee and coffee beans have their ups and downs, but at least in moderation I guess it's like anything else one eats.
The best sandwiches I've ever tasted were the ones with whole-wheat, alfalfa ?sprouts, avocado, Swiss cheese, and lean meats or no meat at all.
BTW, doesn't corn, potatoes, rice have more calories per serving? And what about wheat? A cup of white flour has about 400 calories per cup, and bread takes at least 5 cups of flour to even make a small loaf. Whole wheat bread contains even more calories, so if we compared it to 322 calories in an single avocado can anyone really say this fruit, (classified as a fruit) can be all that bad?
And this on internet:
Avocados contain sodium and potassium which support a healthy alkaline blood balance. Because of their low sugar content and absence of starch, avocados are excellent for diabetics or sugar-sensitive disorders. This fruit contains vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, C, iron, phosphorous and magnesium. Avocado is high in vitamin E which slows down aging.
People who say avocado's are fatting, never seem to consider that bread, mashed potates, any whole grain are far more fatting.
Kevin,
Has the pressure of the upcoming election finally gotten to you? Does thinking about avocados make your stomach calmer?
Beats the heck out of me. Don't care much for avocados, anyway.
I could tell you - but you could just as easily look at the nutritional data and decide for yourself:
avocados
apples
Yes, you can start an avocado tree by putting toothpicks in the seed and allowing part of it to rest in water. I've done it. But it gets to a size where you have to put it in a giant pot or outside. Outside doesn't work here. It should where you are.
And I've wondered how healthy they are, too.
Avocados are actively good for you. You can get a more objective handle on the nutritional benefits here: http://www.whfoods.com/genpage.php?tname=foodspice&dbid=5
Yes, they do have more calories than an apple, although this shouldn't be an "either/or" proposition. You could easily make room in your diet for avocados by eliminating lower nutrient-density foods...and if you're anything like your average American, you've got plenty of 'em in your diet. If you track your diet (this needn't be fancy: a sheet of paper or a notepad file will do), you'll see what I mean.
"Apple or avocado" is a false dichotomy (like "apples and oranges," lol) - both are healthy foods in different ways, and you could easily have both...esp. if you eliminated the mayo on that turkey sandwich and ate it open-faced.
To make that turkey sandwich healthier ditch the turkey then add the avocado.
Also, take the apple over the avocado all things being equal. Virtually everyone from all nutritional schools of thought agree that eating less calories is consistent with living longer
Don't listen to nutrionists, Kevin. That's a science more dismal than economics even. Isolating a variable experimentally is nearly impossible to do, so they have to trust metabolization studies (that don't say anything certain about long-term effects) and population studies (that don't isolate a variable.) This is why nutrition science is driven by fads, and how every 10 years it seems like they change their mind about very basic things.
Just eat what tastes good in moderation. Our appetite and taste in food has evolved over centuries to maximize our fitness to survive. Many of our nutrition problems stem not from enjoying our food too much, but enjoying it too little. We treat food as fuel instead of as a pleasure and a sacrament. And we cover our instincts for food with neuroses and guilt feelings.
Avocados taste good and should be enjoyed.
Quality fat is very healthful, and the avocado has good fat. Every cell wall is constructed with fat, consuming bad fat hurts cellular health, according to Dr. Perricone. L-arginine is also found in the avocado. During avocado season tpx makes a guacamole rich with other vegetables and spices, namely green onions, tomato, cilantro, chili powder and the secret ingredient tumeric, which is served as the main course, usually served on toast. tpx's spouse declares eating avocado makes her skin soft and beautiful.
Are these freedom-loving American avacados or foreign-born Manchurian avacados looking to steal the upstanding nutrients of our homeland's soil?
From what I've read across a number of differenct health publications avocados are good for you, a healthy choice - contain the "good" fat.
The key here I think is moderation. If you're gonna limit fat in your diet, limit it to the good fats, like those in avocados or almonds v.s those found say in a Whopper.
Avocado's are terrific for you.
You don't have to remove the skins if you don't want, Kevin, you can use them just like any suppository. I'd say a guy your height -- two a day should be fine to get back some healthy skin tone.
Strangely enough avocados are a good source of iron. At least when I was an iron-deficiency anemic teenager I was encouraged to eat avocados...and apricots...and raisins... and lima beans (yum..I have always like lima beans.)
Why worry? Do you really want to be the world's oldest street person?
My cat prefers Breyer's Berry Swirl Real Fruit Bars®. Avacados maker her puke.
I too have nothing of value to add but will anyways: Avocados are all kinds of awesome. It would take some serious, serious health risks to get me off the avocado. I mean, like avocados would have to transmit STD's or something before I quit them.
Avos are good for you. Fat is good for you. "Good fat," that is. And by "good fat," we mean anything but trans- and polyunsaturated-fat. Yes, saturated fat is good for you.
http://wholehealthsource.blogspot.com/
And you can find a lot of other sources that say the same thing. Your body would rather burn fat than carbohydrates, for instance.
Avocados are also really, really delicious.
Foe. Green lard, ick. Just my 2 cents.
Kevin,
If you want a quote of the day, really, a quote of the year, listen to the last sentences of an NPR interview of John Bogle, founder of the Vanguard 500.
http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=96432098
A very good and brief explanation of how screwed up we are.
Well, I eat A LOT of avocados and I don't feel quite healthy. In fact, after an evening of eating them I feel HORRIBLE! (though it may be because of the nacho chips and tequillia chasers)
Kevin, your non sequitur has blown my mind.
Who can afford to eat avocados? Even the Mexican grocery charges $1.50 each now.
Anything delicious is good for you.
The end.
1) It's unlikely to have melamine, lead, or pharmaceuticals in it.
2) It's unlikely to be contaminated with E. coli, Shigella, or salmonella.
3) It hasn't been correlated with any significant health problem or disease. On the contrary sitosterol and polyunsaturated plant oils are negatively associated with heart disease in the harvard nurses study.
4) An avocado plant is a net carbon sink and as the fats do not pass through 600 pound heterotroph intermediaries and are produced locally you will minimize your carbon footprint.
The cons probably relate to water usage in southern California, but if you don't have a swimming pool you probably have enough karma to plant an orchard.
I'd say you'd be better off worrying about the rest of your food.
Yes, avocados (in moderation) are good for you. In fact, their presence increases the nutritional value of other vegetables.
source
key graf:
Enjoying a few slices of avocado in your tossed salad, or mixing some chopped avocado into your favorite salsa will not only add a rich, creamy flavor, but will greatly increase your body's ability to absorb the health-promoting carotenoids that vegetables provide.
A study published in the March 2005 issue of the Journal of Nutrition tested the hypothesis that since carotenoids are lipophilic (literally, fat-loving, which means they are soluble in fat, not water), consuming carotenoid-rich foods along with monounsaturated-fat-rich avocado might enhance their bioavailability.
Not only did adding avocado to a salad of carrot, lettuce and baby spinach or to salsa greatly increase study participants' absorption of carotenoids from these foods, but the improvement in carotenoid availability occurred even when a very small amount-as little as 2 ounces-of avocado was added.
Good for you? I dunno, but I sure like my homemade guacamole--and cheddar cheese, not to mention my Camembert and Brie, and Havarti, and of course my red wine, too. Life is too short to worry about such things. Enjoy.
Love 'em. Turkey NEEDS the fatti-liciousness of avacadoes. I'm thinking of going south of the border this Thanksgiving and making an avacado 'gravy' to pour over the turkey - mexican inspired dressing? Maybe cornbread-based, with lots of cumin, onion and even a bit of hot yellow pepper? I'm going to go eat second lunch.
carotenoids are lipophilic
Olive oil, hello!
As others have said, avocados are good for you. They get a bum rap because they have fat, but fat is necessary in a diet and avocados have good fat.
Similarly, eggs -- especially the yolk -- are very good for you despite the nutritionists telling you they'll kill you from the cholesterol. Weightlifters and people who literally manage every single thing they eat, who eat for maximum nutrition, will tell you that eggs are just about the best food in the world. Ask your governor, he'll agree. And the yolks are the most nutritious part of the egg. Think about it. An organism uses the nutrients in the yolk to develop. Like avocados, eggs have healthful stuff in them. People just don't understand that your body requires fat and cholesterol as part of a healthy diet. The people whose body is their livelihood know otherwise.
Also, I was getting cholesterol readings of 180-185 and then one day I got a reading of 252. So I did what anyone who understands eggs would do: I started eating 3 of them every day. A few months later my cholesterol was 151. Let the nutritionists put that in their pipe and smoke it. Eggs have good cholesterol.
Avocado omelets - the breakfast of champions.
Yes, advocados really are that easy to grow. Stick in a couple of toothpicks and dangle in a pot of water (but they do take a few weeks to get going so don't get carried away and have half-filled jam jars all over your sills). They are also, however, one of the most boring house plants around. They all really want to be tall trees and so just go up and up. The foliage is pretty dull too, even if you manage to keep one bush height. And they apparently take a couple of decades to get to the fruit producing stage. Try kiwi fruits instead. It's like bindweed, but with food attached.
toothpicks -- You want the fat side down. Place three toothpicks above the center of gravity for the most stabiliy and rest on the rim of a glass of water. Make sure to clean the pit well so mold doesn't get a head start. Placing in a window doesn't hurt. I think the success rate is usually 80%.
Plant it and wait 15 years or just give it to a nephew. The foliage is exotic if you live in Calgary.
You said it yourself, Kevin. Avocados are full of fat! Fat will kill you! If you eat avocados for 90 years it will almost certainly catch up with you and you will be dead!
On the other hand, it will be worth it, because they're yummy.
My teachers at West Covina PHS have told me that the only foods good for you are the ones that are eaten by the citizens of 3rd world states, and the poorer the better. Thus, we have "share your lunch" days (3 times a week) where we bring in foods that are popular in places like Eritrea and Chad.
I don't think they have Avocadoes there, but the insects are not to bad!
An avocado tree grown from a pit will take a century or longer to produce fruit.
Three avocado trees grown from three pits will take just a few years. (But you may need to shake them, import a few bees, ....)
If you have young kids, growing an avocado tree can be a lot of fun. (Not as much fun as a puppy or a kitten. Maybe more fun for them than a newborn sibling.)
/The more you know.
It is true that you need fat to remain healthy, but it's also true that Americans get a _LOT_ of fat in their daily diet. It's not like any of us are fat deficient so it's important to eat avocados.
Also, avocados have a ton of calories and if you gain weight, that is not good for you.
So, if you are eating no fat whatsoever every day, then having a moderate amount of avocados is fine. But if you are having a regular amount, avocados are tricky.
My neighbor has a 30-foot-tall avocado tree, and he doesn't like the fruit. We get the benefits.
However, the real fan of avocados around here is the family of mongoose which live under our house and in our hedge.
Would you rather have a slice of apple on your turkey sandwich or a slice of avocado? Although, if you're into turkey sandwiches, you might not mind a apple on the side.
I don't know, since coffee and coffee beans have their ups and downs, but at least in moderation I guess it's like anything else one eats.
The best sandwiches I've ever tasted were the ones with whole-wheat, alfalfa sprouts, avocado, Swiss cheese, and lean meats or no meat at all.
BTW, doesn't corn, potatoes, rice have more calories per serving? And what about wheat? A cup of white flour has about 400 calories per cup, and bread takes at least 5 cups of flour to even make a small loaf. Whole wheat bread contains even more calories, so if we compared it to 322 calories in an single avocado can anyone really say this fruit, (classified as a fruit) can be all that bad?
And this on internet:
Avocados contain sodium and potassium which support a healthy alkaline blood balance. Because of their low sugar content and absence of starch, avocados are excellent for diabetics or sugar-sensitive disorders. This fruit contains vitamins A, B1, B2, B3, C, iron, phosphorous and magnesium. Avocado is high in vitamin E which slows down aging.
People who say avocado's are fatting, never seem to consider that bread, mashed potates, any whole grain are far more fatting.
oops, I'm wrong about this: BTW, doesn't corn, potatoes, rice have more calories per serving?
They have starch, but not more calories.
Just eat Mango. A goodo Mango, and it is hard to find one in USA, is second only to sex.
If Angie Dickinson likes avocados (remember the commercials?), they're good enough for me.
Suspect that there are plenty of avocados in Eritrea, if they haven't cut down the trees for firewood. We used to get nice big ones in west Africa for about a nickel each. They grow well in the tropics.
This site provides comparisons of the nutritional qualities of fruits. There a chart at the same site comparing vegetables.
Avocados are way more nutritious than apples but are more fattening.
Avocados are fine food.
Fun factoid: turkey vultures like avocados. There were a few avocados planted in the citrus grove where I grew up, and my dad would pick the easy avocados -- but it was necessary to watch for ones that had been buzzard-nipped (unless you like eating after a buzzard).
Someone also needs to speak up for the paw-paw (Asimina Triloba). Native to the US, temperate member of the Annona family, nutritious, favored dessert of George Washington. I ate several for breakfast this morning; I planted two in my backyard about 12 years ago, I am wishing right now that I had planted a few more.
Nutritional comparison, from Kentucky State U.
Kevin,
As many others have written here, avocados are good for you. But that's not that helpful without answering your better question: which is better, an avocado or an apple?
The truth is, it depends when you eat it and what sort of activity your body is engaged in. If you're getting ready to work out or do some other strenuous activity (or are in the middle of doing it, or just finished), I recommend eating an apple. Your body could use the carbs (the sugar, really), and will quickly convert them to energy. It's also good in the morning, when your body's natural sugar levels are low.
Other than those times, it's a good idea to have good fat, and to avoid high sugar foods like apples (or bread, or chips, or candy, etc.), and avocados are an excellent source of this.
Just eat what tastes good in moderation. Our appetite and taste in food has evolved over centuries to maximize our fitness to survive.
That's not quite correct. Our appetites and tastes in food have evolved over eons, not centuries, and for nearly all our evolutionary history, food was often difficult to get. Our tastes therefore evolved to insure we would pig-out whenever we encountered foods rich in fats and carbohydrates; it was imperative for our ancestors to build up fat deposits on their bodies so as to increase the probability of surviving the next, inevitable period of scarcity.
For any given individual, a lot has to do with genetics of course, but for many people, the sad truth is that eating what you like best with regularity -- even in so-called "moderate" amounts -- is not consistent with optimal health*. If you want to maximize your physical well-being, when it comes to eating you most definitely should pay attention to our species's evolutionary history. And that translates into minimizing the consumption of processed carbohydrates, moderating the consumption of overly fatty meats (leaner protein sources, of course, are highly consistent with several million years of human evolution and should be eaten), and mostly eschewing dairy products. Oh, and eat lots of plants. I've never heard a bad thing about avocados.
*For the record, I personally have never been able or willing -- at least until very recently -- to even approach anything resembling a health-optimizing diet, and I certainly don't pass judgment on anybody who is similarly inclined. When it comes to utility maximization, who the hell am I to say that being fairly spry at age 92 is worth living a life largely devoid of desserts and pizza? And again, some people have DNA that apparently allows them to live lives of extreme gastronomic excess with few ill effects. Winston Churchill was Prime Minister into his eighties.
If you want to grow a Hass avocado, though, which is 80% of the avocados we eat, you won't get one from planting the pit. All Hass trees are grafts of a tree originally grown by the mailman Rudolph Hass. So Hass isn't a species of avocado tree, it is just one tree, genetically speaking.
@Jerry
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Avocado's are terrific for you.
You don't have to remove the skins if you don't want, Kevin, you can use them just like any suppository. I'd say a guy your height -- two a day should be fine to get back some healthy skin tone
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I strongly disagree here. You *should* remove the skins before attempting this application. The exterior is bumpy and gnarles whereas the inside is smooth and fatty. Much easier (I'm just guessing here)
My comment, which I posted 30 or 45 minutes ago is being held for moderation. I suppose because it had one link, or maybe I'm persona non grata
So much for trying to help.
[Sorry Chris, no one was around to publish it. The link was the problem as it engaged the spamfilter.. You're not persona non grata at all and we appreciate the contribution - mod.]