The Incredible Avocado

[shelley]

The Avocado is the fruit equivelent of the egg. It is a perfect whole food with amazing healing qualities. The oil is very much like coconut oil, with anti-biotic and anti-fungal properties. It doesn't lend itself to oxidation/free radicals like other unsaturated oils. It's high in Vitamin E, one of the B's, fiber, potassium. It and the Olive and coconut are the only high-fat fruits. It has no cholesterol.

Avocados help tremendously with dry flaky skin issues. Avocado oil penetrates the skin deeper than any other oil and so can act as a carrier for nutrients and other oils. Eat them and use them as a skin cream for best results. Make sure the avocado is ripe (gives slightly when pressed with a finger tip) and blend it, using an egg or just the yolk for a more spreadable consistency. Apply to clean skin and leave on for 20 minutes. Wash off and throw out any extra, it doesn't keep. This is much better than commerical hand creams, which are usually full of preservatives.

For a good face mask, add just the egg white and some powdered oatmeal.

People with very dry facial skin should mix the avocado with an egg yolk, while people with oily skin should blend it with just the egg white and a squeeze of lemon. Apply to clean skin, just the oily areas. Follow with witch hazel, a natural, gentle astringent.

Lay a couple slices of avocado on the tender skin under the eyes and it will reduce puffyness.

To use avocado as a cleanser, blend half an avocado wtih about a half cup of milk and an egg yolk. Blend on frappe.

To use an avocado as a facial moisturizer, use the inside of the avocado skin first, as this is highest in oil and humectant.

You can store avocados in the refrigerator once ripe, but not the freezer. They turn brown when exposed to oxygen, so wrap tightly.

To help avocados ripen faster, place them in a paper bag and leave out on the counter. They can take days to ripen, so you can buy 5 when you grocery shop for the week and eat as they ripen, encouraging as necessary.

Enjoy!

[Invincible]

Since avocado is a fruit, can it be mixed with other foods?

[Troy McClure]

Great post shelley!

Here's something else I heard about avacados - I heard that if you eat an avacado everyday for 2 weeks it lowers cholesterol.

Invincible, since avacados are high in fat (and low in sugar) I think they can be mixed with foods. Think of them as the equivalent of olives (also high fat).

[h0ppy]

I believe avocados can be eaten with anything.

[Invincible]

That's great! I might just have one now

[Shawnamarie]

One of my favorite things to eat (I eat it almost every day!) features the avocado. Here it is:

1 tomato, diced (not always included)
1/2 large avocado
1 cucumber, quartered lengthwise and sliced
Sauerkraut
Pinch of cayenne
Sometimes a spooful of homemade mayo mixed in

I just mix it all together in a bowl. I love it! I seem to be addicted to it. My husband and I call it "crack salad".

Shawna

[J F]

Avocado combines well with everything except proteins and melons. But then, nothing should be eaten with melons, ideally. With regard to protein, if your digestion is good, it's likely not going to be so much of an issue. It's sort of mixed in with the debate about whether or not you should mix your proteins and starches. Go with your gut on that one. ba dum ching!!

[shelley]

Good points and questions, everyone!

I find that I can eat half an avocado with my meat meals no problem. For instance, I make a great dinner of beef and cheese enchiladas - a very substantial meal I only fix maybe every-other month after days of lighter meals. Sometimes I make it a little less rich by using buffalo meat, which is very low-fat and always pasture-grazed, non-hormone. On the side I serve a cut-up avocado, one for 4 people. It digests well. And I use flour tortillas instead of corn so they don't have to be fried in oil to soften them.

And I know I can have avocado with my eggs no problem, one of my favorite omelettes is avocado, jack cheese and a bit of tomato salsa.

And one of my all-time favorite meals is the seafood Louis salad, which is an avocado stuffed with a bit of crab/bay shrimp or tuna on a bed of lettuce, with tomatoes and traditionally hard boiled eggs but I avoid those. Since seafood is light it all digests very well and leaves me feeling nicely full and sated without feeling heavy.

[J F]

Wow. I just polished off a nice big breakfast, but reading your post has me wanting to eat again!

Not following my own advice, I just had half an avocado chopped up over baby greens with fresh lemon juice and sea salt dressing. That was served on the side of quinoa waffles with melted stevia butter drizzled on top and an egg over easy layed on top of that. I have always been a huge fan of waffles soaked in hot egg yolk or making a sandwich of an egg in between two waffles with some fresh crispy romaine lettuce and tomato. I don't care what some say about not mixing grains and proteins when it comes to yolk and bread.

[shelley]

heheheh yep, me too - sometimes you just gotta have that yolk/bread thing going! I'm especially fond of soft-fried eggs with sourdough toast and tobasco. YUM!

[jackierr]

Ive also heard that kefir is a good facial tonic! The real kefir made from grains, not the commercial store bought stuff. It makes sense though because lots of expensive wrinkle creams have a derivative of brewers yeast in them...hmmm. The queen of Eypt used to bathe in kefir, or so it was said, and she supposedly had silky skin. Now I have something to do with that kefir when I cant drink it in time!!! yay!

[Narnia]

Are Avocados ok on the candida diet? I know they're a fruit but they seem to be low in sugar from the nutrition data I've seen so are they fine?

[shelley]

Oh yes they're great. Very helpful in maintaining weight.

Be sure to read my candida diet guidelines. Most people's guidelines are insane. Some fruit, the astringent fruit like blueberries and pears, are allowed in small doses, especially if cooked with cinamon.

[LILA1963]

I've been eating avocados for years and suddenly I learned that my bloodtype B+ says to AVOID avocados ?????!!!!!!!!
NO WAY CAN'T DO THAT !!!

They r delicious mixed in with TUNA or with BROCCOLI/AVOCADO/GARLIC/OLIVE OIL or just as a spread in a TORTILLA ...
and so full of NUTRIENTS ... I just can NOT fathom them being harmful FOR ANYBODY ...

I'm devastated !!!
HELP SHELLEY !!!!

[shelley]

If you haven't noticed any adverse affects, don't worry about it. You can always do the pulse test to see if your body works too hard assimilating it.

When the bloodtype diet says to avoid a super-food I don't tend to listen. But when they say to avoid a not-so-important food like English muffins, I definitely listen!